On Wednesday 8th November, author and MBT Trustee, Louise Doughty, discussed her latest (and 10th!) novel, A Bird in Winter, with fellow author and Trustee, Henry Sutton, at Laura Devine Immigration’s Literary Lounge.*

Louise’s exceptional latest work, A Bird in Winter, is a spy novel that follows Bird, a woman on the run. Donning multiple disguises as she flees north across land and overseas, Bird has to work out who is on her trial and who – if anyone – she can trust. In true Doughty-style, the novel is “suffused with the idea that something is going to happen… it normally does, and it’s normally quite dark.”

The Malcolm Bradbury Trust was delighted to be Louise’s named charity for the evening where funds were raised in a raffle. Louise and Henry shared a few words on the work and ambitions of the Trust – “Studying creative writing has, for many years, been a preserve for those who want to go to university and those who can afford to go to university. The Malcolm Bradbury Trust looks to enable those who can’t necessarily get on that ladder, to enhance their opportunities and support their educational development and beyond.”

Louise, herself, was of the first generation in her family to go to university, she shared. “For me and for someone from my background, to go to the UEA and to study creative writing was just immense. That’s what this charity is about – finding those writers who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford to do this. It puts money in their pockets to pay the fees and helps with a bit of subsistence while they’re studying creative writing and hopefully become the novelists of the future.”

Thank you to all those who came and supported!

*Laura Devine Immigration host Literary Lounge events throughout the year where authors are invited to present and discuss their books, meanwhile raising funds for the author’s named charity.