Saara El-Arifi & Rosie Hewlett

Join the award-winning, bestselling author behind FAEBOUND, Saara El-Arifi and Sunday Times bestselling writer Rosie Hewlett for an evening of history, mythology and feminist storytelling.

In conversation together, Saara and Rosie will unpack their new novels and explore what makes mythology and historical retellings so alluring and why it feels more urgent in 2026 than ever before. Hosted by Stylist Magazine’s Shahed Ezaydi, join us for an evening of stories.

Afterwards, Saara and Rosie will take your questions before signing copies of their brand-new books, which will be available to purchase on the night.

About Saara El-Arifi’s new book: Cleopatra
'Enchanting, smart, and subversive – this is El-Arifi’s masterpiece' R. F. Kuang

YOU KNOW MY NAME. BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall. Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.

Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children. How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, divinely blessed to rule.

Death will silence me no longer. This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived. From one of the most remarkable and acclaimed storytellers of her generation, the #1 bestselling author of FAEBOUND and THE FINAL STRIFE, this epic and groundbreaking new novel shows us Cleopatra on her own terms.

About Rosie Hewlett’s new book: Sweetbitter Song
'As dazzling as Madeline Miller's reimagining of the Iliad in The Song of Achilles' ELODIE HARPER

One fateful night in Sparta, a young slave girl encounters a mysterious, grey-eyed princess. Melantho and Penelope, though from different worlds, are instantly connected. But betrayal soon tears them apart.

Years later, on Ithaca's rocky shores, Melantho is sent to serve Princess Penelope and her new husband, Prince Odysseus. Hardened by slavery, Melantho vows to stay distant from Penelope. Yet, the undeniable pull between them proves stronger than ever.

As war ignites Greece, Odysseus and Ithaca's men are called away and, in their absence, Melantho finds a new world opening up before her – one where women rule, where family can be found, and where love is finally given the space to bloom.