Two members of the recently revived Authors XI cricket team Alex Preston and Tom Holland talk about their recent books and celebrate the historic cricket team both now play for and write about.

Preston’s third novel, In Love and War, follows Esmond Lowndes journey from innocence in 1937 Florence, through sensual awakening to becoming a hardened resistance fighter in 1944. Preston is also author of This Bleeding City and The Revelations, and teaches creative writing at the University of Kent. Holland, meanwhile is a historian, presenter of Radio 4’s Making History, and winner of the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History for Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic.  His most recent books are Dynasty, the story of the first Caesars, and Athelstan: the Making of England in the Penguin Monarchs series.

While Preston and Holland are two different writers, they share a passion for cricket and are members of the Authors XI cricket team, originally set up in 1891 and revived in 2012. The two will talk about the club and their recent exploits on the cricket field, including a match against the Vatican, captured in their contributions to the book The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon and in a recent Town & Country magazine article by Preston.

Discussions will be chaired by writer and journalist Paul Blezard.

NOTE: This event was originally timed for 2pm but has been changed to 10.30am due to unavoidable circumstances.