Harriet Hitchen, the author of Swindon Mountain, spoke at Swindon Festival of Literature in May. The event was hosted by Swindon Arts Centre and followed by a book signing at the Waterstones Festival Shop.
“The crowd was such a warm and engaging audience. I spoke about the research behind the book, from the archaeology to the geology, and shared some of my experiences from my former career as an archaeological illustrator.
“It was so enjoyable to answer their questions. The audience was a mixture of landscape and nature enthusiasts to serious science fiction fans, and they all had such interesting comments to make about the origins of the mountain and the ideas behind the book.”
May turned into a busy month for the author, as the following week she was invited to speak to the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage. It was a sold-out event and hosted by the museum in collaboration with Wantage Bookshop.
“The venue was a beautiful old barn which extends from the exhibition space. I love visiting museums and it felt very special to speak in such a historic building.”
While Harriet was speaking, we received the news that her sci-fi meets archaeology novel is now ranked as the bestselling book of 2025 in Bert’s Books in Swindon’s Old Town. Obviously, we’re only midway through the year, so we have to caviat that with ‘… so far’, but the challenge has been set.
Can we make summer hit read Swindon Mountain the bestselling book of the year?