In the new book The Prisoner and the Writer, Heather Camlot and Sophie Casson tell the intertwined stories of Alfred Dreyfus and Emile Zola - theirs is a story of antisemitism, international intrigue, and the mercurial nature of justice. In 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was accused of betraying France and exiled to a prison on Devil's Island. At the same time, the well-known writer Emile Zola began to question Dreyfus' guilt and felt it was his duty to help the exiled captain who was targeted and blamed because he was Jewish.
Camlot and Casson will be in conversation with Hsu-Ming Teo, Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at Macquarie University, Australia, about the book, which details the Dreyfus Affair and how the two men's courage changed the world.
Heather Camlot is the author of the nonfiction What If Soldiers Fought with Pillows? and the Skipping Stones Honor Award Novels The Other Side and Clutch, the latter of which was named among Kirkus' Best Middle-Grade Historical Fiction. A journalist for more than twenty years, she has written, edited and translated for various publications, including Quill & Quire, Owl, TV Guide Canada and Style at Home. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Sophie Casson has illustrated The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock, a finalist for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, Quelle pagaille! by Danielle Marcotte and Laurence-Aurélie Théroux-Marcotte, a finalist for the Governor General's Award, and Helen's Birds by Sara Cassidy. Her highly acclaimed illustrations are inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and World War II-era posters. Sophie's award-winning work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, the New York Times, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, and Nature, as well as in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Sophie lives in Montreal, Quebec.
Hsu-Ming Teo is Professor of Literature and Creative Writing, and the Head of the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature (MCCALL) at Macquarie University, Australia. Her publications include Desert Passions: Orientalism and Romance Novels, The Popular Culture of Romantic Love in Australia, Cultural History in Australia, and The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction. She is currently working on Repairing the Past, Repurposing History: Conflict, Colonialism, and Exoticism in 21st Century Romantic Historical Fiction. She has written on Australian children's Holocaust fiction and is currently working on a research project analyzing the problematic representation of the Holocaust in women's romantic historical fiction.