The Women’s Equality Party book club in York will be discussing Bad Girls: the Rebels and Renegades of Holloway Prison on March 18th. I’ll be joining them on Zoom at 6.30pm, to talk about the background to the book and answer questions. Guest speaker Dee Sheehan will be talking about WEP policy on women […]

I’m looking forward to tutoring an online Arvon fiction week, ‘Take your writing to the next level’, from November 23rd to the 27th, with Adam Handy. More info here

  I’ve been working with volunteers at Dorich House Museum, the studio home of sculptor Dora Gordine & Richard Hare, on The Squatter Years: Recovering Dorich House Museum’s Recent Past. The project launched last summer, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Volunteers have been busy during lockdown, researching and investigating the extent of the […]

  February 19th, 2020 The suffragettes of Holloway Prison, Suffolk Book League, Ipswich. 7.30pm, the Ipswich Institute, IP1 3A.

  February 19th, 2020 Historical fiction workshop based on Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World, plus discussion on pathways to publication, University of Suffolk.

  November 18th, 2019 I’ll be teaching on Arvon’s non-fiction tutored retreat from November 18th to the 23rd at the Hurst, Shropshire, with Colin Grant and guest speaker Helen Jukes. Information about grants here

October 2nd, 2019 Lord Leycester Hospital, High Street, Warwick, 10.30am I’ll be talking about Bad Girls and the history of Holloway Prison at the Warwick Words History Festival.

On September 14th, I’ll be joining Carl Cattermole and Erika Flowers at the opening event of this year’s Archway With Words festival. I’ll be talking about the history of Holloway, Carl will be talking about his brilliant book Prison A Survival Guide, and Erika will be discussing her powerful art work which includes the new […]

  June 2nd I’ll be talking about Bad Girls and the history of Holloway Prison at the Derby Book Festival, 12pm-12.55pm.

  May 14th 2019 A History of Holloway Prison, The Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association, Islington Town Hall, London, 6.30pm

April 16th, 2019 Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute, London N6 6BS ‘Bad Girls or Freedom Fighters?’ I’ll be giving a talk on the history of Holloway, from the suffragettes to the women of Greenham Common.

  April 14th, 2019 Yarrow Hotel, Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs, 3pm I’ll be talking about the Thanet landscape and the real life figures who inspired Daisy Belle: Swimming Champion of the World as part of BroadstairsLit.  Tickets include a prosecco cream tea. The event is held in association with Friends of Oasis, raising money for the […]

  March 20th, 2019 I’ll be talking about the history of political prisoners at Holloway Prison at Housmans Bookshop, radical booksellers who have been running since 1945. The event starts at 7pm. Kings Cross, London N1

  February 10th 2019 I’ll be joining film directors Patrick McLennan and Samuel Smith for a Q&A at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley, following a screening of The Ponds: Still Waters Run Deep. It’s a joyous film that really captures the spirit of pond swimming on Hampstead Heath, where people having been enjoying the waters […]

  December 12th Vote 100 Women and prisons. Portcullis House, London. 6pm When I started writing Bad Girls a few years ago I never imagined I would take part in a panel discussion at Portcullis House during Vote 100, Parliament’s year long celebration of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. I shared the stage […]

  November 1st, 2-5pm, Kingston University, Knights Park, Main Lecture Theatre I took part in a Women and Prison workshop and symposium day at Kingston University on November 1st, to talk about the background to Bad Girls, the different class divisions at Holloway Prison in Victorian and Edwardian times, and the legacy of the site […]

  October 7th, Redhills, Durham, 2pm -3.30pm I talked about the history of Holloway Prison at the Durham Book Festival as part of a panel discussing radical women, along with Dr Fern Riddell. The event began with a performance by Sarah Sayeed – Song for Sophia – inspired by Victorian suffragette Princess Sophia Singh. The […]

October 6th, Crown & Mitre Hotel, Carlisle, CA3 I gave a writing masterclass, Bringing the Past to Life: Starting to Write Non-fiction, at this year’s Borderlines Book Festival, followed by an illustrated talk on the history of Holloway Prison, sponsored by the Royal Literary Fund. A number of suffragettes were in the audience, members of […]

  Daisy Belle was officially launched at the Mixed Pond on Hampstead Heath on Saturday. The heavens smiled on us and the weather was perfect, while the water was suitably chilly…. Hampstead Heath Leisure & Events Manager Paul Maskell gets the evening started Channel swimmer Frank Chalmers sang a tribute to Daisy Belle And I […]

  July 8th, 12.15 The Guildhall Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 I talked about the suffragettes at Holloway Prison – and how their defiance changed not only the prison service but the course of history – during the Lichfield Festival. The festival’s theme this year was ‘Extraordinary Women’, and the talk took place at the Guildhall, pictured […]

  June 30th, 12.30pm. Queen’s Park, London, NW6 ‘Bad Girls and Brave Women: Reflections of a Centenary’ – I joined Shami Chakrabati, Rachel Holmes and Melissa Benn to discuss the history of women in Britain, from exceptional political pioneers to non-conformist rebels to the invisible women who don’t usually make it into the history books… […]

I joined Dr Helen Pankhurst to discuss the history of women’s rights at the Hexham Book Festival on May 5th. Helen’s new book, Deeds not Words, outlines a century of fighting for equality. It was brilliant to share the stage with Helen and also a little surreal, seeing as Bad Girls discusses the experiences of […]

I gave an illustrated talk on the history of Holloway Prison and the role of the chaplain, as part of the Parish of Old St Pancras’ Spring History Lecture Series on April 30th. The talk was introduced by Fr James.             The churchyard was the original burial place of Mary […]

June 9th. 4.10pm. Bath Spa University I gave a talk at the end of term summer event for students from the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Classes take place at Corsham Court, a former royal manor where peacocks roam the grounds. I spoke about how to earn a living as a writer, […]

The audience at the Bad Girls talk at West Hampstead library on May 22nd shared many of their own experiences of Holloway. One man, a former solicitor, recalled a horrific visit to Holloway in the 1960s when he was working with a 16-year-old client, while the writer Anna Meryt spoke of her time teaching in […]

Caitlin gave an illustrated talk on ‘The Hollowayettes: the Suffragettes at Holloway Prison’ as part of Conway Hall’s Thinking on Sunday series. Conway Hall, in the Holborn area of London, has a long tradition of celebrating free speech and hosting radical speakers including suffragettes. It is also home to the library of the Ethical Society. […]

  Haunt London, which promotes London history and folklore, organised a sell out event at the Backyard Comedy Club in East London on April 17th. Caitlin spoke about ‘The Hollowayettes: the Suffragettes at Holloway Prison’, while the brilliant Sarah Jackson revealed the stories of the East London Suffragettes. Sarah co-founded the East End Women’s Museum, […]

May 27th, 12.30pm. The Adnams Spiegeltent, Norwich I explored the real-life stories of those incarcerated at Holloway Prison over 164 years, including the suffragettes and other freedom fighters, at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival in conjunction with Writers’ Centre Norwich, in conversation with Helen Dawson, former governor of HMP Styal.