In Your Orbit: the Romantasy Authors Queering the Genre for Good

York Literature Festival are delighted to partner with Orbit and Portal Bookshop to deliver an exciting panel discussion from 4 of the UK's most innovative Romantasy writers. Join us on the 29th October at The Citadel to celebrate work from Tasha Suri, V.L. Bovalino, C.L. Clark and Francesca May.

Tickets for this event are £12 general admission. Books will be available to purchase from the Portal Bookshop team at the venue.

The conversation with our authors will be hosted by Lali of Portal Bookshop with the opportunity for audience questions towards the end of the panel.

Approximate timings:

Doors @ 6:45

Panel discussion from 7pm until 7:50

Book signing from 8-8:30 

Finish by 8:45pm 

Please note, this event may include references to adult content. Please bear this in mind when purchasing tickets for young people. 

 More information about the speakers below:

Tasha Suri

Tasha Suri is an award-winning author, a writing tutor, an occasional librarian and a cat owner. She has won the Best Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds) Award from the British Fantasy Society, the Starburst Brave New Words Award, and has been nominated for the Astounding Award and Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Her debut novel Empire of Sand was named one of the 100 best fantasy books of all time by TIME magazine. When she isn't writing, Tasha likes to cry over TV shows, buy too many notebooks, and indulge her geeky passion for reading about South Asian history. She lives with her family in a mildly haunted house in London.

From World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri comes The Isle in the Silver Sea, a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.

In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.

Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen's court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?
 
As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.
 
But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?

V. L. Bovalino

V. L. Bovalino is the pseudonym of Tori Bovalino,  the author of three YA horror novels, including My Throat an Open Grave and edited the Indie-bestselling anthology, The Gathering Dark. She is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and now lives in the UK with her partner and their very loud cat. Tori loves scary stories, obscure academic book facts and impractical, oversized sweaters. She can be found on Instagram as @toribovalino.

Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.

Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier.

She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier's to use. Grey would do anything for Kier - be anything for him - if he would only ask.

When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret.

For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke - the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her.

The Second Death of Locke is a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy and about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of The Knight and the Moth and The Six Deaths of the Saint.

C.L. Clark

C. L. Clark is a BFA award-winning editor and the Nebula Award-nominated author of The Unbroken and The Faithless, the first books of the Magic of the Lost trilogy, several short stories, and a few essays. When she's not imagining the fall of empires, she's trying not to throw her kettlebells through the walls.

The Sovereign brings princess Luca and soldier Touraine together one last time in the thrilling conclusion to C. L. Clark's beloved queer political fantasy trilogy.

Luca is the new queen of Balladaire. Her empire is already splintering in her hands. Her uncle wasn't the only traitor in the court, and the Withering plague will decimate her people if she can't unearth Balladaire's magic. The only person who can help her wants the only thing Luca won't give-the end of the monarchy.

Touraine is Luca's general. She has everything she ever wanted. While Luca looks within Balladaire's borders, Touraine looks outward-the alliance with Qazal is brittle and Balladaire's neighbors are ready to pounce on its new weakness. When the army comes, led by none other than Touraine's old lover, Touraine must face the truth about herself-and the empire she once called home.

A storm is coming. Touraine and Luca will stand against it together, or it will tear them apart once and for all.

Francesca May

Francesca May grew up in the middle of England where she spent her childhood devouring fantasy books and brewing potions in her back garden. She currently lives in Derby with her family, three giant dogs and two black cats. By day she works as a bookseller at Waterstones. By night she accidentally kills every house plant she touches and writes novels about gothic mansions, witchcraft and queer love

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Wild and Wicked Things comes a dark gothic fantasy about intoxication, obsession and a desperate hunger for knowledge, whatever the cost.

'A queer fairy tale of toxic romance that echoes with longing'  Tanya Pell, author of Her Wicked Roots

Thora Grieve finds herself destitute and an outcast after the sudden death of her husband, but a glimmer of hope arrives when a family friend offers her the chance to study botany under a famed professor. Once at the university, Thora becomes entranced by a mysterious young woman, Olea, who emerges each night to tend to the plants in the private garden below her window.

Hungry for connection, Thora befriends Olea through the garden gate and their relationship quickly and intensely blossoms. Intoxicated, Thora throws herself into finding a cure for Olea's ailment and sinks deeper into a world of beauty, poison and obsession. She's finally found the freedom to pursue her darkest desires, but will it be worth the price?