We have collected various opinions from staff who work in the IHR about what historical fiction means to them. What is their favourite historical novel and why? How do they view fictional writings when researching the past?
During the week following the conference we also ran a competiton for visitors to tell us their opinions. These can be found in the comments sections as you scroll down this page.
Novel approaches 
I am very sorry I missed this excellent conference, but at least I can now listen to all the lectures. I am not a historian or a creative writer but I research historical fiction (in Spanish) in Latin America, in particular fiction about the Wars of Independence from Spain (1810s 1820s). There is a huge boom in historical fiction in Latin America, especially featuring women’s history and written often by women novelists. Subjects that might interest British writers and historians are for example the unsuccessful British invasion of Buenos Aires in 1807, and the role played by British informal armies (volunteers, merecenries) in the Wars especially in Colombia. Some of the most eminent army officers in the Wars were British eg General William Miller in Peru or Daniel O’Leary’s, Bolivar’s aide de camp. And of course this was when Cochrane created the Chilean navy from ships he captured from the Spanish fleet. Patrick O’Brien’s novels are popular in Argentina and Chile, and there are excellent historical sources and books on these Wars, in Spanish.
We have constructed a databse and website about women’s participation in these Wars, in English. It contains over 2000 biography entries. See http://www.genderlatam.co.uk.