Lauren Working for A Golden World

Lauren Working is coming to The Bookshop on Monday 28 September to talk about her new book, A Golden World. It's a history of how the Americas transformed early modern England, and the evening is built around her presenting that work. If you've spent any time in the city's academic circles, you'll know her — she's a Lecturer in Early Modern Studies at the University of York, so this is one of our own coming back to talk about her latest project.

A Golden World looks at how Indigenous people and knowledge filtered into the art, fashion and literature of Shakespeare's time. It's that kind of history that starts with a specific set of objects or images and pulls on the thread until you're looking at a whole different version of the era you thought you knew. The book was shortlisted for the Eccles Institute & Hay Festival Global Writer's Award, so it's already got a bit of a reputation before it even hits the shelves.

Working isn't new to this sort of thing. Her academic book, The Making of an Imperial Polity, won the Royal Historical Society's Whitfield Prize in 2021, and she's a BBC New Generation Thinker who's spoken across broadcast media. She's also worked with the National Portrait Gallery, the National Trust, the British Library and the V&A, so she's used to taking these ideas out of the archive and into the public. If you're into early modern history, or just the way the Americas started to reshape England long before the empire we usually talk about, this is right up your street.

The talk is at The Bookshop (Topping & Company Booksellers), 1 Museum Street, York YO1 7DT, on Monday 28 September. It starts at 7pm, with doors opening at 6.30pm, so there's plenty of time to get settled before she begins.