THURSDAY 8 AUGUST 2024
12PM to 1PM
LOCATION: Hosted in-person in the Milstein Exhibition Centre & Seminar Rooms at Cambridge University Library. Directions
TICKETS: Free, booking essential. Suitable for adults, under 18s welcome when accompanied by an adult.
ACCESSIBILITY: Accessible parking, step-free access, accessible toilets and a hearing loop are available for this event.
**Due to popular demand we are hosting a repeat of the sold out talk being held at 5.30pm the same day. This lunchtime event will be a talk only - attendees are welcome to explore the Murder by the Book exhibition before or after the event.**
As part of Murder By the Book, we celebrate the life and work of one of our greatest crime writers, who died ten years ago this autumn. The exhibition’s curator, Nicola Upson, looks back on P.D. James's extraordinary achievements and lasting contribution to the genre. The talk will be illustrated by Mandy Morton’s audio archive, in which P.D. James discusses her work and reads from some of her most popular novels. Both Nicola and Mandy enjoyed a long friendship with the author, and this very special event - coinciding with Faber's reissue of the Adam Dalgliesh series - will give a unique insight into her creative process and legacy.
Nicola Upson read English at Downing College, Cambridge. Her debut novel, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series featuring the crime writer Josephine Tey and was serialised on BBC Radio 4. The series was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2018 for Nine Lessons and longlisted for the Gold Dagger in 2021 for The Dead of Winter. She is also the author of Stanley and Elsie, a novel about the painter Stanley Spencer.
Mandy Morton is an arts journalist who has produced and presented programmes for local and national BBC radio. She produced the P.D. James biography for BBC Radio 2, and her extensive audio archive chronicles the life and work of some of our leading writers, actors and musicians. Mandy has collaborated with Nicola Upson on In Good Company, a book featuring the history of Cambridge Arts Theatre, and more recently writes a popular crime series of her own.
P. D. James (1920-2014) was a bestselling and internationally acclaimed crime writer best known for her books starring poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh. She wrote nineteen novels as well as several short story collections and works of non-fiction. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languages, and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Among many international prizes, awards and honours, she received the highest honours in both British and American crime writing: the CWA Diamond Dagger for a lifetime contribution to the genre, and the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award. She was inducted into the Crime Writing Hall of Fame in 2008.
Photographs: Nicola Upson and Mandy Morton © Cambridge Independent, and P.D. James © Ulla Montan.