Blood! Sex! Crime!

On Why We Devour Sensationalism

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This event took place on 14 June 2022

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Blood! Sex! Crime!
On Why We Devour Sensationalism

Watch event again now

This event took place on 14 June 2022

A conversation among writers who frequent the dark places…featuring Hallie Rubenhold and more

Drawing inspiration from the Breaking the News exhibition, this conversation gets under the skin of the darker side of news, examining our ongoing appetite for sensational stories and asking whether it obscures the view of those on the inside of the story.

Featuring Hallie Rubenhold, the bestselling author of 'The Five' which tells the stories of the five woman believed to have been murdered by infamous London serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Her other work includes Lady Worsley’s Whim and The Covent Garden Ladies, on the true story of a notorious guidebook to Georgian London’s prostitutes, which was adapted into the BBC2 drama Harlots.

Joining Hallie will be Shrabani Basu, a journalist and Sunday Times best-selling author. Her books include the critically acclaimed Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, Victoria & Abdul (now a major motion picture) and Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan. Graeme Macrae Burnet is a Scottish author of CASE STUDY, His Bloody Project and The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau. Tamara Tubb is Project Curator in the British Library’s News, Radio and Moving Image team, and is one of the curators for the Breaking the News exhibition.

The event is hosted by Bee Rowlatt.

This event was part of the LKN exhibition Breaking the News exploring the power and history of the news in the UK.

Speakers

Hallie Rubenhold

Author and Historian

Hallie Rubenhold is a bestselling author, social historian, broadcaster and historical consultant for TV and film. Her book The Five was a Sunday Times Bestseller, won the Baillie-Gifford Prize for Non-fiction, and has been optioned as a drama series. Her other works include The Covent Garden Ladies, on the true story of a notorious guidebook to Georgian London’s prostitutes, and Lady Worsley’s Whim about the 18th century’s most infamous adultery trial.

Headshot of Hallie Rubenhold

Graeme Macrae Burnet

Author

Graeme Macrae Burnet is the author of The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, the Man Booker shortlisted His Bloody Project, The Accident on the A35 and CASE STUDY. His Bloody Project which is ‘a novel on which Robert Louis Stevenson might have bestowed envy,’ (Robert McCrum) and has been published in over 20 languages. Graeme was named Author of the Year in the Sunday Herald Culture Awards 2017.

Headshot of Graeme Macrae Burnet

Shrabani Basu

Journalist

Shrabani Basu is a journalist and Sunday Times best-selling author. Her books include the critically acclaimed Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Case of the Foreigner in the English Village, For King and Another Country; Victoria & Abdul (now a major motion picture,) and Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.

Headshot of Shrabani Basu

Tamara Tubb

Curator

Tamara Tubb is Project Curator in the British Library’s News, Radio and Moving Image team, and is one of the curators for the Breaking the News exhibition. Her research interests include celebrity throughout the ages, early modern textual cultures and the 21st century news environment. Before joining the Library in 2016, Tamara worked as a teacher, researcher and digital media executive.

Headshot of Tamara Tubb