Mothers and Daughters: a conversation

The bond between mothers and daughters is explored afresh by a panel of celebrated authors whose new works illuminate this relationship and its framing in society.

Gwendoline Riley is the author of My Phantoms, as well as First Love, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmith’s Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Gordon Burn Prize, and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; Cold Water; Sick Notes; Joshua Spassky and Opposed Positions. The TLS named her as one of the 20 best British and Irish novelists working today.

Esther Freud trained as an actor before writing Hideous Kinky, which was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize and made into a film starring Kate Winslet. She was a Granta Best Young British novelist and is a fellow of the RSL. Her book Mr Mac and Me won Best Novel in the East Anglian Book Awards. I Couldn't Love You More is her ninth novel.

Sonia Faleiro founded the mentorship program South Asia Speaks, and is co-founder of Deca, a journalist cooperative. Her latest book The Good Girls: An Ordinary Killing is ‘a gripping real life mystery’ (FT). Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars, was named book of the year in the Guardian, Observer and Economist.

Shyama Perera left school at 16 and got a job in the London Transport typing pool to build the skills required for journalism. At 17 she got her first break as a trainee and at 23, became the youngest reporter to work for The Guardian. Now a freelance broadcaster, reviewer and editor, she is also a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund and Chair of the South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive (SADAA).

Image: Gwendoline Riley © Adrian Lourie, Sonia Faleiro © Jonathan Ring, Shyama Perera and Esther Freud