Kate Mosse: 'It’s the texture of everyday life that matters'
BY Katie Smart
15th Feb 2023
Kate Mosse is the author of nine novels and two short story collections, including the number one bestselling The Joubert Family Chronicles (The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears) and the multimillion selling Languedoc Trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel). Her books have been translated into 38 languages and published in more than 40 countries. Her latest book, part detective story, part family history and part dictionary of 1000 women missing from history – Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World was published in 2022. A champion of women’s creativity, Kate is the Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction – the largest annual celebration of women’s writing in the world – and sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World.
Kate is known for her breathtaking depictions of landscapes, epic and immersive historical worldbuilding and captivating relationships between characters. We spoke to Kate about the Women’s Prize Trust, her approach to writing historical fiction and what it was like working on our new five-week online course: Writing Fiction with Kate Mosse.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Late in the day! What I wanted, when I left university – doing mostly drama and feminism in my spare time, not writing – was to find a way of working in books. I started as a secretary in a publishing company, worked my way up to be Editorial Director, then realised that it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life. I wrote two non-fiction books and two (not very good) novels while I was setting up the Women’s Prize for Fiction, then working in a theatre. It was only with my fifth book, Labyrinth – a novel inspired by the history of southwest France – that I became a writer and loved it!
The Women’s Prize for Fiction – and now Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction – is one of the most respected and celebrated literary awards in the world. What led you to set up the prize twenty-seven years ago, and have the aims of the prize evolved since then?
In February 2023, we launched the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and the reaction from writers, readers and the publishing and bookselling industry has been amazing. Our goals with this sister prize are the same – namely, to honour, amplify and promote exceptional writing by women and to press those books into the hands of readers, female and male, who’ll appreciate them. The issue is that although women’s work is published, it is not given the same gravitas, appreciation or taken as seriously as work by male counterparts. In non-fiction, only 25 % of non-fiction books reviewed are written by women. When we did a survey last year on fiction reading habits, a project called ‘Men Reading Women’, only 19% of men admitted to ever reading a book by a woman. There is still an idea that men’s work is universal – i.e. intended for everyone – and writing by women is intended for women only. The bottom line is that readers are missing out. Great books are for everyone.
Your latest non-fiction book Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World celebrates over 1,000 unheard and under-heard trailblazing women from history. Do you have a favourite previously unknown story or perhaps a woman that has stayed with you – something you discovered through your research for the book?
I am about to take my first ever one-woman show on the road inspired by Warrior Queens. There are so many extraordinary, trailblazing women from all places in the world, all periods of history. There’s a phenomenon in science called ‘The Matilda Effect’, a phrase coined by American science writer Margaret Rossiter in 1993, whereby the work of female scientists was routinely attributed to the men who worked aside them, or even for them! So, Eunice Newton Foote discovered that too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could cause temperatures to rise – what we now call ‘greenhouse gases’ way back in 1856. But she had to sit in the audience and listen to a man present her work, because women weren’t allowed to be scientists, and claim credit for it! Or, Josephine Cochrane from Chicago, who invented the dishwasher!
You’re currently working on The Joubert Family Chronicles, a series of epic historical fiction novels covering three hundred years of history beginning in 16th century France and ending in 19th century South Africa, via Holland and the Canary Islands. How do you approach your research? Do you have any tips for budding historical novelists?
It’s all about immersing yourself in the history of the period – what people thought, what they wore and ate, the structures that governed their lives. If you like, research is building a stage set for the actors to play on. So, libraries and archives, searching out old maps and letters, visiting art galleries and museums. It’s the texture of everyday life that matters, as much as the dates and the ‘real’ history. For me, landscape too is very important – so in my forthcoming novel The Ghost Ship, which is set partly in La Rochelle and Amsterdam, and partly on the High Seas (it’s a pirate novel!), I spent a great deal of time learning about ships and seafaring of the 17th century and what life on board would be like. The key is that the reader trusts that you know your stuff.
You recently contributed to Marple: Twelve New Stories. What do you think is it about Agatha Christie’s beloved character Miss Marple that resonates with you and so many readers?
Miss Marple is one of the great unsung heroines of literature – an older woman who exists in her own right, not as an adjunct to someone else, a character who is principled and moral, but with a twinkle in her eye, a gentle feminist hero who always gets her man. I loved writing the story and bringing my version of Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple to the stage.
What books have you enjoyed reading recently?
I have been writing and promoting non-stop for the past six months, so almost all of my reading has been connected with the projects I’m working on. But I’ve been lucky to be sent some exceptional non-fiction coming out this Spring, including Leah Broad’s group biography of four British composers, Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World, and Natasha Carthew’s memoir of growing up in Cornwall, Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience. On the fiction side, I was sent Tom Hanks’ first novel – yes, that Tom Hanks – and it is absolutely fantastic. Called The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece it really blew me away.
Can you share the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
Write every day to take away the fear of the blank page/screen. You won’t necessarily have time to work on the novel you have dreamt of writing, but a few sentences here and there – to get your muscles fit for writing – will help you to get going: observations, descriptions of things you see, fragments of dialogue. Oh, and read. You can’t be a good writer unless you are a good reader.
You’re the chair of judges for Discoveries. What do you think sets this unique writing development prize for unpublished women writers apart?
The Women’s Prize Trust set up Discoveries in partnership with Curtis Brown and Curtis Brown Creative, supported by sponsorship from Audible. It is one of the most extensive and comprehensive unpublished writers’ programmes anywhere and what sets it apart is that all the sixteen longlisted authors receive mentoring and support in their writing, with additional support for the shortlist of six. The winner will be offered representation from a literary agent at Curtis Brown. The aim is to demystify the publishing process, to encourage women of all backgrounds to believe that their voice matters, to support writers at the earliest stage of their careers, and provide guidance and advice about how to get a novel started, then finished. In 2023, we had more than 3,000 entries – which is amazing – and a sign of how well the project between the WPT and CBC is working.
Interested in entering Discoveries 2024? Watch the judges' advice video here.
What will you be looking for from entrants when reading for Discoveries?
We’re looking for potential, for original voices, for imagination, for a story that sweeps you along and a great sense of place and atmosphere. Most of all, we’re looking for someone who has a voice of her own and who is passionate about the story she wants to write.
We’re so excited about the new Writing Fiction Kate Mosse course. What was your favourite part of creating the course?
I loved filming with the CBC team – they are so professional, and the brief is so clear, that the days just sped by. It’s also really interesting for a writer like me, who has been around for a while, to go back and think about her own process. I learnt a fair bit about my own writing technique while I was trying to share my thoughts. It’s been a great experience and I can’t wait to see the work that comes out of the course from the participants.
Kate’s latest novel The Ghost Ship is out now. Order your copy.
For more details on the Women’s Prize Trust visit their website.
Write compelling stories set in vividly realised fictional worlds. Join our five-week online course: Writing Fiction with Kate Mosse.
Best of luck preparing your submission to Discoveries 2024. We’re so excited to read your work!