Book Launch - Lying Perfectly Still

Lying Perfectly Still

Northumbria University academic and Orange Prize longlisted auther, Professor Laura Fish launches her latest novel this Black History Month.

Lying Perfectly Still explores themes of identity, culture clashes and wealth disparity.

'Leaving Oxford and the shocking death of her father behind, Koliwe travels to AIDS-ravaged Eswatini to take a job as an aid worker. The Southern Africa she encounters is a far cry from her father’s stories.

As she becomes enmeshed with Thandi, a local girl hiding a disturbing past, Koliwe feels increasingly split between her English identity and her rediscovered African roots.

When Thandi goes missing, Koliwe's search for truth leads her deep into the mountains, where the harsh realities of wealth, poverty, tradition and modernity, clash.'

The book launch will include a reading of an excerpt from Lying Perfectly Still, and a talk from the author. Professor Fish will also take part in an interview and question and answer session. 

There will be a drinks reception ahead of the event from 6pm. 

About the Speaker

Professor Laura Fish is an award-winning writer of Caribbean heritage. She is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing Programme at the University of East Anglia (UEA) 2002, and was awarded a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from UEA in 2007.

Laura is a Fellow of the Iowa International Writers' Programme. She has held posts as a Creative Writing tutor at the University of St Andrews, University of Western Cape, UEA, and Newcastle University, where she was the RCUK Academic Fellow in Creative Writing 2007–2013.

Laura has over 10 years’ experience with the BBC in broadcast television and radio in news, current affairs, features and light entertainment. She has been invited to read from and talk about her work internationally.

When Words Fail Us, Expressing the Unspeakable: The Other Side of Me

Australian National University (ANU) Visiting Fellow, Australian Studies Institute (AuSI) May - July 2024