BEN FERGUSSON - News

Event: Book Club at Odradek

7/2/2019

From February onwards I will be co-hosting an English-language book club with Mieke Woelky at Odradek Buch/Books in Schöneberg in Berlin. The first book we'll be reading together is Moshin Hamid's Exit West. Come along for the wine and literary chat. And pop in to Odradek if you need a copy of the book.

For more information about the event, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/473510713469102/

Event: Reading with Kate McNaughton, Berlin

21/5/2018

Ben will be reading and chatting with writer Kate McNaughton and translator Lucy Jones at Ausland in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, on 21 June.

auslandSPRACHEN
Lychenerstraße 60, 10437 Berlin
21. June 2018 – 8:30 pm
Open from 8:00 pm
(Start 8:30 pm)
Admission: 5 EUR

Kate McNaughton was born and raised in Paris and now lives in Berlin. She read English and European Literature at Cambridge and filmmaking at the European Film College in Denmark. As well as a writer, she is also a documentary filmmaker and translator.

Lucy Jones was born in England and has lived in Berlin since 1998 where she co-runs Transfiction, a translators’ collective. She has translated novels by Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Ronald Schernikau and Brigitte Reimann, among others. She also writes book reviews for German literature in English at CULTurMAG and Word Without Borders and presents The Fiction Canteen reading series for Berlin writers, poets and translators. https://fictioncanteen.blog/

The event will be simultaneously translated.

PaperBack: The Other Hoffmann Sister

11/1/2018

My second novel The Other Hoffmann Sister is published in paperback today.

The novel opens in 1902 as Ingrid Hoffmann's family move her and her sister Margarete to German Southwest Africa. In the face of casual racism, tensions with local tribes and the family's strange relationship with the aristocratic von Ketzes, Ingrid worries increasingly for her sister's declining mental health, until a shocking murder forces the family back to Germany. There, Margarete's health improves and she becomes engaged to Emil, the new Baron von Ketz. But on her wedding day on the eve of the First World War, Margarete disappears. After the war, in the midst of revolution, Ingrid returns to the von Ketzes' crumbling estate determined to find out what really happened to her sister.

You can order The Other Hoffmann Sister in paperback now from your local bookstore, or online from Foyle's, Waterstones, Amazon, WHSmith and many other retailers.

"An engrossing exploration of the ways that secrecy, racism and snobbery take their toll on its finely realised characters." (The Sunday Times)

"A richly accomplished work with a fascinating central character." (The Independent)

"A fascinating look at racism and snobbery. Broken postwar Germany is superbly drawn and events in Africa are eye-openingly horrific." (The Times)

Beth Underwood Wins the HWA Debut Crown

13/11/2017

On 7 November 2017, Beth Underwood was announced as the winner of the HWA Debut Crown. I was delighted to be one of the judges, alongside chair Emma Darwin and fellow judges Ayo Onatade, Susan Heads and Sunny Singh. Underwood's "terrifying and utterly convincing" The Witch Finder's Sister was selected as the best historical fiction debut of the previous year. The rest of the incredibly strong shortlist was made up of Emily Bitto's, The Strays, Sarah Day's, Mussolini's Island, Martin Holmén's, Clinch, Abir Mukherjee's, A Rising Man, and finally James Terry's, The Solitary Woman of Shakespeare.

You can read more about the debut crown here hwacrowns.co.uk/hwa-debut-crown/

Event: Monday Salon with The Reader Berlin

2/11/2017

On Monday 20th November, I will be joining Victoria Gosling in The Reader salon. As well as reading from The Other Hoffman Sister, I will be in conversation with Victoria. I'm also teaching an Advanced Fiction Weekend Workshop for The Reader on the 18th and 19th.

Monday 20th November – 7pm to 9pm
Cellar bar and library
Circus Hostel
Weinbergsweg 1A,
10119 Berlin

Visit www.theberlinreader.com for more information.

Weekend Workshop: Advanced Fiction

2/11/2017

On 18 and 19 November Ben will be running a weekend seminar with The Reader Berlin on Advanced Fiction. Covering both long- and short-fiction, the session will focus on discussions, practical exercises and prompts to help you hone your sentences, develop character and iron out the bumps in your writing. The seminar will cover tricky skills from using research, building character, maintaining tension and pulling off endings, as well as different approaches to ruthlessly editing your texts.

All writers are welcome. You’ll get the most out of this seminar, though, if you’ve already attended at least one creative writing workshop or course or have already attempted some fiction, whether in novel or short-story form.

For more information, and to book, visit www.thereaderberlin.com

Shortlist Revealed for HWA Debut Crown

11/7/2017

I was on the jury for the HWA Debut Crown 2017 and the Historical Writers Association have just published the shortlist of incredible authors in the running for this year's prize.

Emma Darwin, Chair for the HWA Debut Crown Crown, said: "The shortlist for the HWA Debut Crown shows just how exciting the new voices are in historical fiction. From judicial murder in the Essex marshes, to Bohemia in 1930s Melbourne, here is a range of passion, historical imagination and sheer storytelling skill which bodes well not just for these hugely talented writers, but the future of the genre as a whole."

You can read more about the wonderful books shortlisted for the HWA Debut Crown here: hwacrowns.co.uk/2017-shortlists.

The Independent Reviews The Other Hoffmann Sister

30/6/2017

The Other Hoffmann Sister has been reviewed in The Independent, with Jeff Robson describing the book as: "a richly accomplished work with a fascinating central character. And like the best historical novelists, Fergusson combines the ability both to bring the past to life with grippingly immediate vignettes, and use it to illustrate themes such as betrayal, prejudice and the deceptive nature of memory, which remain universal."

It was also included in The Independent's '10 Best Bookclub Reads': "The evocative setting and the quick-paced plot takes the reader on a whirlwind tour through South Africa, to Berlin and back again."

The Other Hoffmann Sister Published Today

3/5/2017

My second novel, The Other Hoffmann Sister has been published today, with The Sunday Times already describing it as "an engrossing exploration of the ways that secrecy, racism and snobbery take their toll on its finely realised characters."

You can order The Other Hoffmann Sister now from your local bookstore, or online from Foyle's, Waterstones, Amazon, WHSmith
and many other retailers.

Sunday Times Review: The Other Hoffmann Sister

1/5/2017

"The Other Hoffmann Sister confirms the talent for atmospheric, morally complex historical fiction that Fergusson showed in his first novel. [...] It develops into an engrossing exploration of the ways that secrecy, racism and snobbery take their toll on its finely realised characters."

Nick Rennison in The Sunday Times

You can read the full review on The Sunday Times website here.