This month, we have a talk about writing with STEM by Lauren James. She will discuss how her scientific research inspired events in her novels after studying Chemistry and Physics at Masters level.

Lauren James was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, UK, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. She is the twice Carnegie-nominated British Young Adult author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, The Quiet at the End of the World and The Next Together series, as well as the dyslexia-friendly novella The Starlight Watchmaker and serialised online novel An Unauthorised Fan Treatise. Her upcoming release is The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker.

She started writing during secondary school English classes, because she couldn’t stop thinking about a couple who kept falling in love throughout history. She sold the rights to the novel when she was 21, whilst she was still at university.

Her books have sold over fifty thousand copies in the UK alone, and been translated into five languages worldwide. Her writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly. The Last Beginning was named one of the best LGBT-inclusive works for young adults by the Independent.

Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and all of her books feature female scientists in prominent roles. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was inspired by a Physics calculation she was assigned at university. The Quiet at the End of the World considers the legacy and evolution of the human race into the far future.
Lauren lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. She has written articles for numerous publications, including the Guardian, Buzzfeed, Den of Geek, The Toast, and the Children’s Writers and Artist’s Yearbook 2020. She teaches creative writing for Coventry University, WriteMentor, and Writing West Midlands, providing creative writing courses to children through the Spark Young Writers programme.

BSFA Monthly London Meetings (all welcome- free : one does NOT have to be a BSFA member to attend)

• 6pm Fans gather
• 7pm: start of interview.
• 8pm Q&A
• 8.15pm: book raffle (win a selection of sf novels for just £1 for 5 tickets)

The estimable Chad Dixon once again provides audio and video recording’s of last month’s London event.

Here’s the audio; and the video.

The BSFA’s Monthly London Meetings are FREE!

This meeting is the reverse of the June meeting where Naomi was interviewed by Dan!
Dan Jones is signed with Snowbooks and his debut novel, Man O’War, is out now!

By day, Dan Jones works for the UK Space Agency to deliver strategic technology roadmaps for the aerospace, space robotics and cyber security sector. Find out more about Dan and his writing here.

Naomi Foyle is the author of cyberchiller Seoul Survivors (2013), named by the Guardian as ‘among the best of recent SF’, and The Gaia Chronicles, an eco-science fantasy quartet set in a post-fossil fuel Mesopotamia. Astra, Rook Song and The Blood of the Hoopoe are currently available from Jo Fletcher Books, with Stained Light due in Sept 2018.

Born in London UK, raised in Hong Kong, Liverpool and Saskatchewan, Naomi currently lives in Brighton and works as a Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. Also an award-winning poet, editor and human rights activist, she has travelled widely in the Middle East, Americas, Europe and Asia and is a non-Muslim Fellow of the Muslim Institute. For her essays and poetry about Ukraine she was awarded the 2014 Hryhorii Skovoroda prize.

When:
Usually the 4th Wed of each month (excl Dec). Fans meet from 18:00 in the main downstairs bar upstairs start at 19:00 -though some regulars go upstairs earlier. Interview starts ~19:15.

Where:
You can find us upstairs at:
The Artillery Arms, 102 Bunhill Row, London, EC1Y 8ND

Nearest Tube/NatRail: Old St-exit 3 (->Barbican). Brewery: Fullers. Hot food available. SF Book raffle* (tickets 5 for £1)

Some attendees join the Speaker/Meeting Organisers later for an informal (usually Thai) meal.