One-on-One: L.M. Elliott
In Symposium's One-on-One Town Hall series, Pipeline executives sit down for in-depth and personal conversations with our friends in publishing, screenwriting, and filmmaking.
For our next session, Jeanne Veillette Bowerman speaks with New York Times best-selling author L. M. Elliott to unpack the layered process involved in creating accurate and riveting historical fiction.
This candid discussion dives into the challenges of forging back into history, sometimes where no original documents exist, including how to handle both the accuracy of little period details as well as larger historical facts, and where the appropriate line between fact and fiction lies.
The conversation (and wine ...) will flow openly about historical and biographical fiction, an author's process during research and writing, resources and how to organize them, and the importance of accurately depicting the time period and surrounding events in the most entertaining way possible.
[Recorded April 27, 2022]
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L. M. Elliott was a senior writer for the Washingtonian magazine, covering women’s issues, mental health, and the performing arts for twenty years before becoming a New York Times best-selling author of historical and biographical fiction. Her twelfth and latest, Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves—set in Tidewater Virginia during the deadly U-boat attacks on our East Coast in 1942—has been called “superb,” “deeply moving,” and “an engrossing must have” in four starred reviews in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, ALA Booklist, and School Library Journal. Her novels explore a variety of eras (the Italian Renaissance, the American Revolution, WWII, and the Cold War), and are written for a variety of ages. Many have been named NCSS/CBC Notables, Kirkus Bests, Bank Street College Best Books, and Jefferson Cup Honor Books. Her best known works are Under a War-torn Sky and Hamilton and Peggy! To learn more about Laura, follow her on Twitter or Instagram @L_M_Elliott.