events

A popular public speaker, Clare is a regular at literary and history festivals around the country, has given a TEDx talk at Stormont and spoken at the House of Lords, Royal Albert Hall, British Library, London Library, Imperial War Museum, National Army Museum, Special Forces Club, Warsaw Uprising Museum, Polish Embassy in London, and British Embassy in Warsaw, as well as at many schools and societies around the UK, and on tours in the USA, Spain and Italy. She also contributes regularly to TV, radio and podcasts.

Please use the contact form to book Clare as a speaker. 

2023

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• 19 Jan, 8pm, Great Chesterford History Society, The Women Who Flew for Hitler
• 5 Feb, 4pm, Classi Lecture with Helen Fry about The Women Who Flew for Hitler
• 24 Feb, 12 midday, National Army Museum, The Women Who Flew for Hitler
• 26 Feb, 6pm, Jewish Book Week, interviewing Mike Levy & Geoffrey Charin about the Kindertransport
• 5 March, 2pm, Jewish Book Week, interviewing Caroline Moorhead about Edda Mussolini
• 11 March, 2pm, Biggin Hill Memorial Museum, The Spy Who Loved
• 23 March, 7.30pm, Stock & Buttsbury Heritage Society, The Woman Who Saved the Children
• 26 March, 12pm, Imperial War Museum, Duxford History Festival, The Women Who Flew for Hitler
• 15 March, Melbourn U3A, details tbc
• 13 April, 12-1.30pm, Polish Institute for National Remembrance Congress, Warsaw, panel on Holocaust Remembrance
• 4 May, 11am, Anglia Parents Club, The Women Who Flew for Hitler
• 23 May, 8pm, Comberton Antiquarian Society, The Women Who Flew For Hitler
• 25 June, 4pm, Classi Lecture online, Helen Fry interviews Clare about Krystyna Skarbek.
• 2 July, Armed Forces Day, Tempsford Memorial Hall, The Spy Who Loved
• 12 July, 12.30pm, Ladies Lunch Club, Phyllis Court, Henley-on-Thames, The Woman Who Saved the Children
• 15 July, The Battle of Britain Bunker, The Spy Who Loved
• 8-11 Sept, We Have Ways of Making You Talk festival
• 23 Sept, 2pm, Biggin Hill Memorial Museum, The Woman Who Saved the Children
• 19 Oct, 7pm, Newport History Society, The Woman Who Saved the Children
• 13 Nov, Royston Ladies Lunch Club, The Spy Who Loved
• 27 Nov, 6.30pm, The Reform Club, London, The Spy Who Loved

past news

2022

• Clare was working on Agent Zo: Woman on a Mission, a biography of General Elżbieta Zawacka, the only female member of the Polish special forces, the ‘Silent Unseen’, in the Second World War.
• Television included contributions to the BBC, Rise of the Nazis ‘Downfall’; Channel 5: Dunkirk, Mission Impossible; and interviews for Italy’s RAI 4 & RAI Gold.
• Podcasts included We Have Ways of Making You Talk with James Holland & Al Murray.
• Interviews included Anne Sebba for Hatchards Piccadilly; film director Piotr Szkopiak at West Norwood Picture House; and Jonathan Freedland & Charles Spencer for the Henley Literary Festival.
• Festival talks included being the National Army Museum‘s Director’s Choice at the Chelsea History Festival; and talks at White Waltham Airfield; The London Writers Salon; Biggin Hill Memorial Museum; Ognisko Polskie; British Modern Military History Society; Braintree Museum; Chicksands Military Intelligence Museum; & Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University.

Talking about SOE agents at the Cheltenham Lit Fest, and about The Women Who Flew for Hitler at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.

2021

• Clare signed a new book deal with Weidenfeld & Nicholson for Agent Zo, a biography of General Elżbieta Zawacka, the only female emissary to reach London from occupied Warsaw, and the only woman to parachute back from Britain to Poland.
• Television included contributions to 3 series for Channel 5: The Great Esacape; Monty, Our WW2 Hero, and The Secret History of WW2, as well as Songs of Praise for the BBC. There were also interviews for Italy’s RAI and various Polish news channels.
• Zoom events included chairing a panel session for the National Army Museum on Poland’s special paratroopers the Cichociemni (Silent Unseen). Clare also joined Jack Fairweather online for the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw, and Sonia Purnell to talk about female special agents for the New York Festival of Books.
• The National Portrait Gallery invited Clare to talk about Krystyna Skarbek to mark their acquisition of her portrait for the national collection.
• Clare also chaired Anne Sebba for Jewish Book Week, and gave talks at, among other places, White Waltham Airfield, the Biggin Hill Memorial Museum, Guildford Museum and London’s Reform Club.

2020

• Clare unveiled an English Heritage Blue Plaque for Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, subject of her book The Spy Who Loved.
• Foreign translations included Italian and Russian editions of The Spy Who Loved, and a Spanish edition of The Woman Who Saved the Children.
• TV included Sky News tributes to Dame Vera Lynn, and Wing Commander Paul Farnes, and 75th Anniversary of VE Day; interviews regarding the English Heritage Blue Plaque for Krystyna Skarbek for Channel 5 and ITV News; and Dzien Dobry ‘Good Morning Poland’ on Krystyan Skarbek.
• Radio includes BBC R4, Six O’Clock News tribute to Krystyna Skarbek; BBC R4, Last Word, tribute to SOE Signals Planner Dorothy Wakely; and Times Radio with Mariella Frostrup.
• Podcasts include Dan Snow’s History Hit, History Hack on SOE, and on The Battle of Britain; Killing Time with Rebecca Rideal; WW2TV on The Women Who Flew for Hitler; and The Jewish News Podcast.
• Live events at the Estació de Franca in Barcelona; & the Theatre Royal in Bath, before lockdown.
• Online events including the BBC Big Book Weekend interview with Michael Morpurgo; MyVLF Lockdown Lit Fest with Paul Blezard; The London Library ‘Women Who Spied’ panel with Sonia Purnell and Razia Iqbal; Chiddingstone Castle online lit fest with Sam Leith; Ognisko Polskie’s 80th anniversary event, The British Embassy in Warsaw panel session top commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain; ‘An after dinner chat with… Nils Blyth’; Ognisko Polskie event with Rula Lenska; and English Heritage event with Michael Morpurgo.

2019

• The Woman Who Saved the Children republished for Save the Children’s centenary, & performed at London’s Roundhouse Theatre starring Helena Bonham Carter, Joely Richardson and Sue Perkins.
• The Woman Who Saved the Children published as a Naxos Audiobook narrated by Joely Richardson, published in Spain as La mjuer que salvaba a los niños, & optioned for screen.
• The Spy Who Loved published in Italy as La Spia Che Amava.
• TV includes BBC1 D-Day 75 with Huw Edwards, Dan Snow, James Holland & Michael Morpurgo; BBC1 Newsnight with Kirsty Wark; BBC2 series Rise of the Nazis; and BBC World News with Matthew Amroliwala.
• Radio includes BBC Radio 4, PM, with Evan Davis; various regional stations.
• Podcasts include The Spectator, Books Podcast with Sam Leith; Dan Snow’s History Hit; Better Known with Ivan Wise; Helen Carr’s Hidden Histories.
• Talks at the House of Lords; the Royal Albert Hall; The Theatre Royal Bath; The Piłsudski Institute; festivals including the Chalke Valley and Wimpole history festivals; universities including Newnham College, Cambridge, and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford; Nuthampstead Airfield, and the Hawker Typhoon Preservation Trust; a tour of Belfast for For Your Freedom and Ours; and many schools and societies. 

2018

• The Women Who Flew for Hitler paperback launched at the Imperial War Museum. Translated into Polish and Finnish; also published in the USA, and as an audiobook.
• Chapter published in the Jewish Lives Project, published by The Jewish Museum, London. 
• TV included Sky News and History Hit TV
• Radio included Radio 5 Live, BBC Ulster, Essex & Cambridge, Cambridge 105, and Newstalk 106 Ireland, plus writing the BBC Radio 4 Reith Lecture Quiz.
• Festivals included Wimpole History Festival, of which Clare is Honorary Patron, plus others such as the Chalke Valley History Festival, HistFest London, Gloucester History Festival, London History Festival, and literary festivals at Henley, Clapham, Wimborne, Flamstead, Lambeth, Stoke Newington, Sherborne, the Borders Book Fest in Melrose, Cornwall’s Port Eliot Festival, and the Anglo-French lit fest in Parisot, France.
• Talks at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, The Women’s University Club; Nuthampstead Airfield, Save the Children Belfast; Topping & Co, Ely; Ognisko Polskie, the Polish Hearth Club in London; The Art House cinema Crouch End, book shops from Wales to the West End, and various historical, literary and community societies. 
• Tour of Northern Ireland organised by the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building with talks for the Imagine Belfast Festival of Politics and Ideas, The Young Offenders College, Hydebank, The Intelligence Corps Association NI, Orange Lodges in Portadown, Sandy Row and Randalstown, and BBC Ulster.
• Reviews for the Telegraph, Spectator and History Today. A
• Blogs for Refugee Action, Safe Passage and the Project Propeller air veterans’ reunion. 
• Clare continues to support Save the Children and English PEN, and volunteers as the Patron of Reading at Saffron Walden County High School.

2017

• The Women Who Flew for Hitler published in UK and USA, and as audio-book, to excellent reviews in The Times, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Spectator, Literary Review, New Statesman, Literary Journal, TLS, The Week, The Oldie and features in the Daily Mail, BBC History magazine, Britain at War magazine and New York Post. 
• Radio includes BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme, and Women’s Hour.
• TV includes David Jason’s Secret Service for More4 TV.
• Podcasts include Dan Snow’s ‘History Hit’, BBC History Magazine ‘History Extra’, and the Bletchley Park podcast. 
• Clare was Chair of the Judges for the Historical Writers Association Non-Fiction Award 2017. The winning book was This Orient Isle by Jerry Brotton.
• Literary and History Festivals include Cheltenham, Althorp, Dublin, Henley, Isle of Wight, Beverley, Milton Keynes, Wimpole, Gloucester, Lavenham, and the BBC History Festival in York. Clare becomes Honorary Patron of The Wimpole History Festival.
• TEDx talk at Stormont, and talks for the University Women’s Club; Central Family Court; JW3 Jewish Centre; HWA ‘History by the River’; Ognisko Polskie – the Polish Club in London; and Imperial War Museum Duxford. SFive-day London-Paris SOE tour for Historical Trips.
• Bronze bust of Krystyna Skarbek by artist Ian Wolter unveiled at Ognisko Polskie, the Polish Hearth Club in London. 
• Events at Saffron Screen cinema with scriptwriter Alex von Tunzelmann after her film Churchill, and author Shrabani Basu after Abdul and Victoria.
• Respected and Protected: The Rights of Children exhibition on Eglantyne Jebb continues at London’s Central Family Court, 42 High Holborn.
• Patron of Reading at Saffron Walden County High School, & English PEN volunteer.

2016

• Penguin Random House USA published The Spy Who Loved as an audiobook.
• TV includes Channel 5‘s ‘Adolf & Eva: Love & War’ www.channel5.com/show/adolf-eva-love-war and an appearance on BBC ‘Look East’ to discuss the unveiling of 4 new blue plaques to honour SOE agents: bbc.in/2ggc1SL 
• Radio includes BBC Radio 4, ‘Great Lives’ with Gen Sir Graham Lamb and Matthew Paris.
• Five-day London-Paris SOE tour for Historical Trips, and talks for the FANYs and various literary and historical festivals and events. 
• Clare joins Writers Against Racism, and supports English PEN‘s Refugee writing anthology.
• The Royal Mail honours Eglantyne Jebb in a set of stampps recognising British humanitarians. 

2015

• Historical consultant for Universal Studios film of The Spy Who Loved
• Talks at The British Library, Liverpool John Moores University, Cambridge University Polish Society, Alderney literary festival, Waterstones Piccadilly, the Aldershot Military History Festival for Special Forces Week, the Harrogate History Festival and the launch of Katy Carr’s album Polonia at Ognisko, The Polish Hearth Club. 
• Radio includes BBC Radio 2, ‘The Arts Show’; NewsTalk Radio Ireland and LiveFM Ireland
• Articles include about female special agents for The Telegraph
• The Spy Who Loved featured among ‘Top Spy Books’ in The Wall Street Journal 

2014

• The Spy Who Loved optioned by Universal Studios.
• The Spy Who Loved published in China and Hungary, in paperback in the USA, and as a British audiobook. Vogue calls it ‘one of the summer’s most spell-binding sagas’.
• Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Ambassador Witold Sobkow lay flowers with Clare at Krystyna Skarbek/Christine Granville’s grave.
• The Folio Society republish Xan Fielding’s Hide & Seek with an introduction by Clare.
• Clare interviews Rebecca Lenkiewicz, co-writer of Ida.
• Clare becomes Patron of Reading at Saffron Walden County High School.

2013

• Poland awards Clare the ‘Bene Merito’ national honour, presented at the Polish Embassy by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
• Clare appears on BBC1 News, ITV News, Channel 5, and the The History Channel.
• The Spy Who Loved published in Poland, and in the USA to excellent reviews in The Wall Street Journal, and by Ben Macintyre in The New York Times.
• The Spy Who Loved ranked by Amazon as a ‘Best Book of the Month’ for June and July, a ‘Favourite Book of Spring’, and a ‘Best Book of the Year So Far’.
• Talks at the National Army Museum and Imperial War Museum Churchill War Rooms in London, and the Warsaw Rising Museum in Warsaw.

2012

• The Spy Who Loved published to excellent reviews in The Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, TLS, Guardian, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Express, Sunday Express, Spectator, Economist, and The Literary Review among others.
• Radio includes BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme, and ‘Women’s Hour‘.
• Talks at the Polish Embassy in London, Special Forces Club, London Capital Club, Oxford, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Dartington and Isle of Wight literary festivals, and Chalke Valley History Festival. 

2009

• The Woman Who Saved the Children wins the Daily Mail Biographers Club Prize.
• Excellent reviews in the Daily Mail, TLS and Sunday Times.
• Prime Minister Gordon Brown describes it as ‘a truly brilliant book’.
• USA book tour, plus British literature festivals including Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge and London.
• BBC Radio 4 ‘Women’s Hour’, and BBC Radio 2‘s ‘Good Morning Sunday’