Alumni news
Giveaway time! Win a copy of Philippa Gregory’s new novel, Tidelands.
By: Emma Wigmore
Last updated: Wednesday, 8 April 2020
Philippa Gregory
As our Sussex community will know, reading can positively impact health and wellbeing. So, why not dedicate some of your new-found free time to be entertained, inspired and informed by one of our very own literary alumni?
Philippa Gregory has generously given us four hardback copies of her latest novel, Tidelands, to give away to our Sussex community.
The books arrived accompanied by this message from Philippa:
“To my fellow alumni, this is a real Sussex book; it is based on Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve where I lived and worked during my vacations from Sussex University. It’s a beautiful part of the world and I have relished describing the life that people would have lived there in 1689 - in the middle of the English Civil War when Charles 1 was imprisoned so near - on the Isle of Wight.”
To be in with a chance of winning your free copy of Tidelands, answer the following question:
In which subject did Philippa graduate from Sussex?
Send your answers via email to alumni@sussex.ac.uk, remembering to include your full postal address. The first four people to submit the correct answer will receive a copy of Philippa’s novel.
Philippa Gregory
Philippa was last on campus in February 2018, when she took part in our Representing the People? event, with fellow alumnae Catherine Mayer, Helen Pankhurst and Maria Balshaw. The evening raised over £1,000 for the Sussex Fund, which provides financial assistance through hardship bursaries and scholarships, as well as offering students opportunities that they might not have otherwise had.
About Representing the People? A panel debate.
To mark International Women’s Day and the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, which gave some women in the UK the right to vote for the first time, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts invited influential University of Sussex alumnae back to campus for a panel debate, hosted by the university's Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equality and Diversity Professor Claire Annesley.
Laura McDermott, Creative Director at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, led a conversation with Dr Maria Balshaw (the first female director in Tate’s 120-year history), Catherine Mayer (author and co-founder of The Women’s Equality Party), Dr Philippa Gregory (novelist, broadcaster and philanthropist), and Dr Helen Pankhurst (author, activist, great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, and ambassador for CARE International).
Listen to the podcast of the event.
The Sussex community's thoughts are with Catherine Mayer at this time. Catherine’s husband, Andy Gill, lead guitarist with Gang of Four, sadly passed away after contracting coronavirus while on tour in Asia at the beginning of the current global pandemic.