Sweetbitter Song: Rosie Hewlett

Rosie Hewlett is coming to The Auditorium on Sunday 25 October, from 5pm to 6pm, to talk about her latest novel, Sweetbitter Song. It's a sapphic retelling of The Odyssey that puts the focus on Penelope, a heroine usually remembered for her fidelity to Odysseus. If you've read the original, you know her as the wife who waited; Hewlett gives her a different side to that.

It's not a casual take on the classics. Hewlett has a first-class honours degree in Classical Literature and Civilisation from the University of Birmingham and has studied Greek mythology in depth, so the grounding is there. This is her third book: her self-published debut, Medusa, won the Rubery Book of the Year award in 2021, and her first traditionally published novel, Medea, became a Sunday Times bestseller. Both of those also reworked Greek myth, so Sweetbitter Song fits right into the sequence she's been building.

The session is for readers aged 16 and over, and it's followed by book sales and a signing with the author, so you can get your copy signed on the night. The venue is The Auditorium at The Forum on Millennium Plain, NR2 1TF, which has parking, disabled parking, wheelchair access, a hearing loop and disabled toilets. Tickets are £10.