Historical Fiction Essay

As I mentioned here, I will be spending a big chunk of 2011 focusing on Historical Fiction.

First, I will be a part of the 2 year Historical Fiction genre study being run by ARRT.  Also in mid-April, I will be presenting a 3 hour overview of the current state of Historical Fiction somewhere in the Northern Suburbs (date and place still not finalized, but it will be from 1-4pm).

As a result, I have Historical Fiction on the brain these days.  So, when I checked my RSS feeds this morning, this essay by Snowden Wright in The Millions really caught my attention.

Entitled, "Exiles of Historical Fiction," this essay is both a review of the new historical novel Exiles by Ron Hansen and a critical look at the genre of Historical Fiction in general.  I would highly suggest reading this article if you are interested in historical fiction or have any patrons who are.  It talks at length about common trends in the genre.  This also speaks to appeal issues, as certain readers may enjoy the books Wright is discussing for their construction and style as much as for their plot.

Also of note in the world of Historical Fiction is this rundown by Sarah Johnson of all of the historical books which won awards (in all reading levels) yesterday at ALA Midwinter.  The post includes links to her reviews of some of the winners.  In an interesting side note, we will be using Sarah's 2 books to help guide the ARRT genre study.

If you want to know more about ARRT and the Historical Fiction genre study, you can leave me a comment or go here.  You must be an ARRT member to participate in the genre study, but it only takes $10 to join.