Described by R.F. Kuang as ‘enchanting, smart, and subversive', Cleopatra is the must-read new novel from Saara El-Arifi, the award-winning author of 'Faebound'.
Hailed as one of the most remarkable and acclaimed storytellers of her generation, Saara is a #1 Sunday Times bestselling author and British Book Award Winner, known for her fantasy and historical fiction. We're delighted to welcome her to Penarth to talk about her debut literary novel, an epic and ground-breaking story which shows us Cleopatra on her own terms...
Cleopatra:
YOU KNOW MY NAME. BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.
Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall.
Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.
Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.
How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, divinely
blessed to rule.
Death will silence me no longer.
This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.
***
Saara El-Arifi is a No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy and historical fiction. El-Arifi knew she was a storyteller from the moment she told her first lie. Over the years, she has perfected her tall tales into epic ones. After a decade of working in marketing and communications, she returned to academia to complete a master’s degree in African studies specialising in Cleopatra’s myth and her impact on Black women. She lives in London.
Thursday 19 March | 7.30 pm
Penarth Pier Pavilion, The Esplanade, CF64 3AU
Tickets: From £5.00
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