The Bookseller has just announced that Queens of the Underworld will be published by The History Press in October 2021.
For the next year I’m going to be on the hunt for forgotten criminal women – who were they, what made them so successful, and why don’t we know about them today?’
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… Continue reading
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 above.… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
May 27th, 12.30pm. The Adnams Spiegeltent, Norwich Caitlin 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. She was in conversation with Helen Dawson, former governor of HMP Styal. Continue reading
May 30th, 7.00pm. Blackwell’s Oxford, OX1 3BQ Caitlin gave a talk about a century of women, crime and punishment at Holloway Prison, as part of Blackwell’s Every Woman Series, a year long series of events run in conjunction with the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in the UK. Blackwell’s first opened… Continue reading
Sept 13th, Highgate Library, 7.30pm, London N19 5DH ‘Remarkable Women’ – an illustrated talk on both the history of Holloway Prison and the women who inspired Daisy Belle: Champion Swimmer of the World. Continue reading
‘Caitlin Davies meticulously records a much-needed and balanced history of this home to ‘royalty and socialites, spies and prostitutes, Nazis and aliens, terrorists and freedom fighters’ and thousands of very ordinary desperate women, many of whom had experienced violence at the hands of men…. Bad Girls is a chronicle (of) the ongoing fight to replace a… Continue reading
‘A rich, superbly researched, definitive history of Holloway Prison, which closed in 2016, and of the many disobedient, defiant, dangerous women and girls incarcerated there. There are many heartbreaking stories within stories within stories.’ Continue reading
Jo Good has long been interested in prison – she once played a prison officer in the 1999 TV mini series Daylight Robbery – and she had plenty of questions to ask about both inmates and governors at Holloway. She found Bad Girls ‘such a good read…fascinating.’ Listen here Continue reading
March 24th, 11.15am-12.15, Southwark Cathedral Caitlin took part in a day of talks exploring women’s history to mark a century of women’s suffrage. Speakers included Elizabeth Crawford on the art of suffragette propaganda and Tessa Dunlop on the Century Girls, as well as silent films from the BFI archive. Continue reading
March 24th, 2-5pm Caitlin was part of a panel event exploring the legacy of the suffrage campaign through the eyes of writers today. Panelists included: Elizabeth Crawford, author of Art and Suffrage: a biographical dictionary of suffrage artists, June Purvis, author of Christabel Pankhurst: a Biography, Di Atkinson, author of Rise Up, Women! The Remarkable… Continue reading
March 13th, 6.30pm. Islington Town Hall, London Political Freedom Fighters at Holloway, part of International Women’s Day celebrations. Speakers included Di Atkinson on the suffragettes at Holloway, Kim Bonnar on the Irish Republicans, Carol Turner of Labour CND on the women of Greenham and Marj Mayo on community plans for the prison site. Continue reading
‘Prison to Parliament: the Suffragettes and Holloway. Caitlin Davies’ book Bad Girls delves into the history of Holloway, shedding new light on the extraordinary stories of the women imprisoned there, including the Suffragettes’ Read the full interview here Continue reading
‘Davies’ absorbing study serves up just enough sensationalism – and eccentricity – along with its serious inquiry. (She) uses the prison as a prism through which to chart changing attitudes to women over the past 164 years – beginning with the Victorian notion of “double deviance”, which suggested that female criminals had broken not only… Continue reading
March 10th, 10.00am. Turner Contemporary, Margate ‘100 years and counting!’ A day of talks, debate, and discussion. POW! is a festival of Arts and Culture celebrating and exploring issues around Feminism, Women and Girls. The day kicked off with the experiences of the suffragettes at Holloway Prison. Continue reading
Caitlin took part in a panel discussion on ‘Gender Behind Bars’ as part of the Women of the World Festival at the Royal Festival Hall. Participants included representatives from Women in Prison, Inquest and the Centre for Criminal Appeals. The focus was on the harm of prison and how to reduce the number of women… Continue reading
Bad Girls launched at the London Metropolitan Archives, now home to the Holloway Prison archives. It was fantastic to celebrate the book’s publication on International Women’s Day, alongside those who have lived and worked at Holloway. The audience included relatives of imprisoned suffragettes, a descendant of the Duchess of Sutherland jailed in 1890, and a… Continue reading
Caitlin gave a talk about the suffragettes and Holloway Prison to current inmates at Downview, Surrey. This was part of Historic England’s HerStories campaign. The women at Downview will be producing suffragette inspired banners, along with artist Lucy Orta and the London College of Fashion, for a mass participation art event this summer. Continue reading
I joined Open Book, BBC Radio 4, to explain the importance of books to the suffragettes imprisoned in Holloway. While their cells were provided with a book on domestic hygiene, A Perfect Home and How to Keep It, the suffragettes wanted a more challenging read. Some favoured Dickens’ prison novels, others chose the work of… Continue reading
Interview with Emily Finch. ‘Suffragettes made the most of their prison experience – it was a powerfully run PR campaign. The now empty 10-acre Holloway Prison site was once the hub of the women’s suffrage movement.’ Continue reading
‘Smashed windows, broken rules: the dark suffragette sites of London’. Jo Griffin explores the importance of suffragette sites in London, including the notorious Holloway Prison. More here Continue reading
Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, is MP for Islington North – the borough which is home Holloway Prison ‘Caitlin Davies writes with warmth, empathy and humour about the women – some brave and rebellious – who spent time in Holloway Prison. Assiduously researched, “Bad Girls” documents interweaving struggles… Continue reading