What counts as a ‘Hull novel’? Who counts as a ‘Hull Novelist’? We remember Winifred Holtby and her novels ‘The
Land of Green Ginger’ and ‘South Riding’ but what of figures like Margaret M.Brash, J.E. Buckrose, Cecily Danby, May Sinclair, and O.F. Walton? Now largely forgotten and unread, each of these authors has a Hull connection of one kind or another.

Some were born in the city, others made Hull the setting for one or more of their novels. Their work may now seem old fashioned, relics of a bygone age, but their novels may tell us much about the times in which they lived and the kinds of stories that once attracted a wide readership. My talk will consider whether such authors deserve to be ‘recuperated’ so that they can form part of Hull’s literary and cultural heritage.