Writers-Wheel-Magazine-Issue-6-Midsummer-2015

Summer 2015Sarah-Beth Watkins is basking in the success of herlatest title, a biography of Lady Katherine Knollys:The Unacknowledged Daughter of Henry VIII, whichis attracting some very positive reviews in the wakeof the recent spate of televised Tudor popularity.How much of her success does she attribute to therecent adaptation of Wolf Hall and was her booktimed to coincide with the release of this historicaldrama? Or was it a matter of being in the right placeat the right time?Wolf Hall has great costumes and setting wise it’sfabulous but Cromwell is a dry character and I foundthe first couple of episodes quite slow going. It hashowever created a renewed interest in the Tudors soit’s lucky that my book hit the shelves at the sametime as it was televised. Pure luck really – it wasn’ttimed as such.Lady K, however, isn’t Sarah-Beth’s first excursioninto historical non-fiction since Ireland's Suffragetteswas published last year, explaining how the struggleof the suffragettes in Ireland was different to that ofthe UK, in that many of the Irish suffragettes werealso involved in the struggle for national independence.These two subjects appear to be worlds apartbut is the common link an admiration for strong,positive women who often change the face of history?I’m interested in various different periods in historyand I love reading about women whose lives weknow little about. In the course of researching mydegree, where one module was the role of women inpolitics, I realised I didn’t know anything about theIrish suffragettes, British yes but not Irish. I was alsoworking with women’s groups at the time and weoften discussed politics and women’s current lack ofparticipation. A trip up to the National Archives inDublin where primary sources can be found set meoff on the suffragette trail.And Lady Katherine was another woman whoselife had been affected by the politics of the time. Shehad a passing mention in books about her mother,Mary Boleyn, but I wanted to find out her life storyand get it down in one volume.All these women had a part to play in history andyet they have been neglected. The Irish suffragetteswon the right to vote before the British suffragettesdid. Lady Katherine, as Henry VIII’s daughter carriedon his line to this present day. Strong, positive womendefinitely and their stories deserve to be writtenabout.An experienced freelance writer who has written forvarious publications over the past 20 years, she beganher career writing for parenting magazines andhas since gone on to write on many different subjects.Her experience ranges from feature articles,human interest and historical articles as well asshort stories and book reviews. She has written on avariety of topics including self help, women’s development,parenting, literature and how to information.She has written over 300 articles for theweb on a variety of subjects. It’s obvious that she’sserved a long apprenticeship to reach this level ofher career but which element of it has given her thegreatest personal satisfaction?That’s a tricky one because I think when you are firststarting out every success gives you satisfaction andalso spurs you on to write more. I was delighted tobe taken on as a regular contributor to a magazineand then with several websites but I always wantedto write books. Had many half started ones in adrawer. That was always my goal – to be an author.So having my first book published by Compass Bookswas a big deal. To finally have a print book with myname on the cover!Now with the history books, that’s a level I’d onlydreamed of reaching. My book Ireland’s Suffragetteswas a personal interest and I really wanted thosewomen’s stories to be told, although I knew the marketfor the book would probably be fairly small. It’sdone well though and one reader contacted me fromSpain to thank me for writing about her great grandmotherand filling in some gaps in her life. I was sodelighted by that!Lady Katherine has reached a much wider audienceand given me more confidence to write historicalnon-fiction. You need to be committed to writethis type of book. You are going to live and breathethe times for months, even years, on end. Its successhas brought me to a great point in my writing career.And given me ideas for many more books!Sarah-Beth is also the author of Telling Life's Tales: AGuide to Life Writing for Print and Publication, TheWriter's Internet: A Creative Guide to the WorldWide Web; The Life-Style Writer: How to Write forthe Home and Family Market and Life-Coaching forWriters: Realising Your Creative Potential . In 2013she joined the JHP team as publisher of ChronosBooks, the new history non-fiction imprint that aimsto bring history to a new generation of readers thatsheds new light on old information and uses newsources and top notch research to explore historical23