Agenda

How do writers draw from real life without being bound by it? What responsibility do they have to the truth and to their readers? In this conversation, Jayne Marshall and Carys Shannon explore the creative space where reality and imagination meet. The discussion will also consider how truth itself can become a storytelling device - a trope used to build tension, subvert expectation, or explore emotional weight within a narrative.

Join Jayne and Carys for a thoughtful exploration of authenticity, invention and truth in storytelling & readings from their works.

Jayne Marshall - is from the UK but lives in Madrid, Spain. She is an editor and a fiction writer and essayist. Her work has appeared in Prairie Schooner (USA), Transnational Literature (UK), and other magazines and anthologies. She has been nominated for the Aesthetica Creative Writing Prize (UK). Her debut essay collection A Line Drawn or Printed – Six Routes Through Madrid was published in June 2025 by Modern Odyssey Books. She also writes a column for The Madrid Review.

Carys Shannon - is originally from North Gower, Swansea, and now divides her time between Wales and the Spanish Pyrenees. She has had short stories published by Honno Press, Parthian Books and Mslexia Magazine, as well as broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her first novel, Truth Like Water, was published in October 2025 by Parthian Books.

Following the discussion and readings there will be a Q&A. Refreshments will be served and there will be a signing. The event is free, places are limited and we ask that you buy a 3€ voucher, redeemable at the event.