Famous author in town

North Hykeham Library had a very special visitor recently – author Karen Maitland. She has written three fantastic books: Company of Liars, Owl Killers and The Gallows Curse. The theme of the three stories is medieval mysteries, and we were lucky enough to interview her to find out more.

Karen Maitland got her inspiration after visiting Brousse in Belgium. It used to be a large city where only women were allowed. They were independent and well known, but not very liked. When Karen came back to England she wanted to find out if there had been any such cities in England. Unfortunately, all evidence had been wiped from English records which was very mysterious; this led on to her writing her first fictional story ‘Owl Killers’.

Karen isn’t like other authors; she goes ‘above and beyond’ to make sure that the information in her stories is as precise as possible. To do this, she has created an area in her garden where she grows medieval plants. She includes each plant in her stories and is able to include the aroma, appearance and taste.

Karen is also part of a group called the ‘Medieval Murderers’.  This is a group of five friends who work together to create medieval stories; one of these is called ‘Hill of Bones’. The Medieval Murderers write one novel a year and they are as thrilling as the mysterious tales Karen does alone.

Karen mentioned her new contract that she has signed which means that she will be publishing two new stories: ‘The Vanishing Witch’ and ‘The Raven’s Head.’ Also she wanted to support her local library because without it she would never have been able to write her incredible tales.

All of the research she did was from books found in the library and she used to be a librarian when she wrote her first book. Lastly, she would never have become the popular bestseller she now is if library users hadn’t picked up her books and read them. She was very grateful for the library and that is why we should continue to support them.

Libraries are very important for the community and budding authors like Karen Maitland.

North Hykeham was overjoyed to have Karen visit them and everyone had a fantastic night. Needless to say, many of her books were sold and borrowed.

Elizabeth & Hayley, Year 10, Priory LSST