Author of The Mermaid of Black Conch
12:00 noon UK Time
Goldster Book Club
Monique Roffey is a writer, lecturer, professor of contemporary fiction and founding member of Writers Rebel which combats climate change. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Monique has had life-long links to the Caribbean region and has set four of her six novels there. Her latest The Mermaid of Black Conch won the 2020 Costa Book of the Year Award with a myriad of praises from her peers. Set on an imaginary Caribbean island, Monique unfolds a tantalising tale in a mythical love story between a fisherman and a mermaid. “Sensuous, beguiling,” says The Sunday Times. “Roffey's tale convincingly transplants a mythical creature into a modern setting .”
Monique teaches creative writing both in Port of Spain and at Manchester Metropolitan University. She describes herself as something of a magical realist. Writers Rebel, which she helped found, is an associated group to the highly effective and disruptive Extinction Rebellion. She is a leading literary voice on climate change and against the continuing use of fossil fuels. “For half a century scientists have warned about global heating,” she has written, “and for half a century they have been largely ignored, in large part because the fossil fuel lobby has pumped vast sums of money into stories calling climate science into question.” Join Monique Roffey with Humphrey Hawksley for Goldster Inside Story at 12.00 UK time Thursday April 13th 2023 to discuss writing, global warming and love on a magical imaginary Caribbean island.
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