I’m one of a team of volunteers helping to organise the Historical Novel Society’s next conference – the first one to take place on the island of Ireland. With an exciting lineup of plenary speakers, including John Banville, Nuala O’Connor, and Vaseem Khan, our 2026 conference will be held on 21-23 August at Maynooth Campus.
The HNS2026 academic link there is Terry Dooley, Professor of History and Head of the Centre for Historic Houses and Landed Estates.
Set up in the UK in 1997, the HNS https://historicalnovelsociety.org includes published authors, aspiring authors, readers, literary agents and publishers. Anyone with an interest in historical fiction can join (annual fee is £50). There are 1400 members between the UK, Ireland, and sister organisations in North America and Australasia. The quarterly ‘Historical Novels Review’ is sent to all members.
HNS conferences inform and inspire creative links to our history, and offer published and aspiring authors a rich menu of sessions exploring all aspects of researching and writing historical novels. Authors can book one-to-ones with agents and publishers and will enjoy networking at break times and during social events.
Full details are on the https://hns2026.com website.
At present the call for parallel session speakers is open, so if any historical fiction authors would like to give a presentation, please see https://hns2026.com/call-for-parallel-session-speakers . Speakers’ books will be on sale in the conference bookshop.
Our First Chapters Competition, https://hns2026.com/competition opening in August 2025 for submissions of up to 3,000 words plus a synopsis, will be judged by HNS reviewers with final round judging by Martina Devlin, author, Karen Sullivan, publisher, Orenda Press, and Therese Coen, literary agent.
If you’re not yet a member, consider joining the HNS: the Irish chapter meets quarterly at The Harbourmaster pub in Dublin for lunch, and is friendly and supportive.
