Writing Fictional History – Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire

Description

In his recent DK and Lucasfilm licensed book Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, Dr Chris Kempshall wrote a historical investigation and analysis of the Galactic Empire based around fictitious events, designed for an 'in-universe' audience.

Join Dr Ann-Marie Foster and Dr Julia Ribeiro Thomaz to quiz Chris about how he approached writing a fictional history as an academic historian. We will probe what skills, ideas, and approaches he used to transfer his real-world background to a fictional universe, and ask how through his sci-fi writing he has helped develop public understandings of what historians do.

Speaker information:

Dr Ann-Marie Foster is a historian of modern Britain with interests in public history, war studies, and cultural heritage. Ann-Marie is currently a Chancellor's Fellow at Robert Gordon University and PI on the project AHRC ECR Fellow in Cultural and Heritage Institutions project 'Accessible Pasts, Equitable Futures', based at Imperial War Museums.

Dr Julia Ribeiro Thomaz is a Historian of France and Literary Scholar whose work incorporates Anthropology and the Digital Humanities to interrogate poetry as a shared cultural practice that is part of the experience of war. She is a Visiting Fellow in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study and a member of the Digital Humanities project Poésie Grande Guerre.

Dr Chris Kempshall is a public historian and author who specialises both in transnational experiences of warfare and modern media representations of history; predominantly computer games and the Star Wars franchise. Alongside The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire he also co-authored the licensed book Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy in 2021. He is currently the President for the International Society for First World War Studies and a Senior Research Fellow for the Centre for Army Leadership, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Date

Location

The Institute of Historical Research (IHR)
Senate House
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HU

Prices

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