The London Review of Books has covered Bad Girls in its latest edition, providing a potted history of HMP Holloway. Continue reading
The London Review of Books has covered Bad Girls in its latest edition, providing a potted history of HMP Holloway. Continue reading
The Royal Literary Fund’s ‘In Focus’ presents short films featuring RLF writers. In the latest film, we responded to the question ‘What Book Are You Reading at The Moment?’ Watch the film here Continue reading
Women at the Kenwood Ladies Pond in the 1920s, copyright John Neal. Burgh House in Hampstead is hosting an exhibition The Ponds: Photos from the Hit Documentary, featuring film stills, behind-the-scene moments and archive images from the wildly successful film The Ponds. John Neal, whose great grandfather Walter May was the first attendant at the… Continue reading
Peabody has acquired the site of HMP Holloway Prison and has announced its intention to build 1000 homes, of which 60 percent will be ‘genuinely affordable’. Their aim is to create ‘a high quality and inclusive new neighbourhood’ on the 10 acre site, which once housed the nation’s most infamous prison for women. The plans… Continue reading
Family Likeness features in a series of book cover rocks to be displayed during The Care Experienced Conference at Liverpool Hope University on April 26th. The rocks were painted by @PoisonPinkDaisy, and include mum’s books Shadow Baby and How to Measure a Cow and dad’s book Relative Strangers. The conference will debate the care system… Continue reading
The Isle of Thanet News has featured the Daisy Belle event at the Broadstairs Literary Festival, where I’ll be talking about champion Victorian swimmers and their links to the Kent coast. The event raises funds for the Oasis Domestic Abuse Service. Read more here Continue reading
I’m thrilled to be starting work at the magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, offering bespoke writing advice to students and staff. This is a new partnership between the RLF, the V&A and the Science Museum. The RLF Fellowship scheme was launched 20 years ago, to place established writers… Continue reading
June 6th 2019 The story of two Edwardian baby farmers and the history behind The Ghost of Lily Painter. Finchley Probus Club, London, 11am Continue reading
June 2nd I’ll be talking about Bad Girls and the history of Holloway Prison at the Derby Book Festival, 12pm-12.55pm. Continue reading
May 14th 2019 A History of Holloway Prison, The Clerkenwell & Islington Guides Association, Islington Town Hall, London, 6.30pm Continue reading
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. Continue reading
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 Oasis… Continue reading
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 Continue reading
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 since… Continue reading
Last May I was lucky enough to swim with seals in the Scilly Isles, thanks to a trip organised by VisitIslesofScilly.com and Scilly Seal Snorkelling. The islands are home to around 700 Atlantic grey seals, and we provided their evening entertainment. A shortened travel feature appears in the Mail on Sunday. Continue reading
RLF Fellows feature in regular, bite-sized audio recordings, exploring issues related to the writing life. Here’s mine on ‘How I Write’. Listen here Continue reading
The Ponds: Still Waters Run Deep follows the swimmers of Hampstead Heath over the course of a year. It’s a joyous film that really captures the spirit of pond swimming, at a place where people having been enjoying the waters since the early 1800s. Watch a trailer here. The film, directed and produced by Patrick… Continue reading
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 with… Continue reading
An interview in the Ham & High about the women who inspired Daisy Belle, ‘the story of a courageous Victorian swimmer, who races down the Thames, floats in a whale tank, and tries to swim across New York harbour.’ Continue reading
Hornsey Road Baths in Islington, north London, were once known far and wide for staging performances by international swimming champions, which was why I decided to use the baths as a setting in Daisy Belle. They opened in 1892 and famous performers included Jules Gautier And Annette Kellerman I describe some of their history in… Continue reading
‘Set in a moment of the 19th century when showbusiness fell in love with swimming, young Daisy Belle’s aptitude for the water is spotted early by her father, who stages displays of ‘natation’… Based on the life of the largely forgotten Agnes Beckwith, this is an excellent addition to the literature of swimming and its… Continue reading
The hearse arrives at City of London Cemetery November 22, 2018 Edith Thompson, executed at Holloway Prison in 1923 for a crime she didn’t commit, was today reburied at her family’s plot in the City of London Cemetery. Father Brian Creake awaits Edith’s coffin at the door to the church Edith was hanged after… Continue reading
November 14th I’ll be joining two wonderful Unbound authors to discuss our latest books at the Owl Bookshop, London, on November 14th. Continue reading
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 today.… Continue reading
October 30th, Waterstones Crouch End, London, 7pm I joined three wonderful Unbound authors – Stephanie Bretherton, Jessica Hepburn and Miranda Gold – to discuss our latest books during a mini bookshop tour, starting at Waterstones Crouch End on October 30th. Continue reading
The Ham & High covers the Unbound Courageous Women bookshop tour. Continue reading
Bad Girls has been released as an audio book by ISIS Audio Books, narrated by Annie Aldington. Continue reading
October 12th I joined Yasmeen Khan on BBC Radio London to chat about Daisy Belle and the history of swimming in London. Listen here (1hour, 8 mins into the programme) Continue reading
‘ Daisy Belle is a love letter to a forgotten golden age of swimming…Davies has a beautiful turn of phrase. To read her descriptions of water and its locations is transportive – here, you can smell the piping, hear the echo over shiny tiles and feel the warmth of the Lambeth baths; there, feel the… Continue reading
The Independent Monitor, the magazine for the Association of Independent Monitoring Boards in prisons, has reviewed Bad Girls in its October issue. ‘Caitlin Davies sets out a compelling study into the women who were held in Holloway, using individual case studies to highlight sometimes appalling miscarriages of justice and vividly illustrate what life was like… Continue reading