Booking & Enquiries

Sophie welcomes enquiries relating to:

• festival appearances and cultural events
• author interviews and chaired conversations
• podcast and media interviews
• journalism commissions and essays
• book club visits (in person or via Zoom)
• potential mentorship and coaching for emerging writers

Looking for a speaker who can bring art, literature and hidden histories vividly to life?

Public Speaking

Sophie Haydock is a dynamic speaker, interviewer and cultural curator known for lively, intelligent conversations about art, creativity and the stories history left untold.

Drawing on her work as a novelist, journalist and curator, Sophie brings warmth, wit and deep curiosity to conversations on stage. Her events explore the women behind great art, the strange alchemy of creativity, and the hidden lives that shape cultural history.

She appears regularly at literary festivals, bookshops and cultural institutions, and is an experienced on-stage interviewer, known for thoughtful and compelling conversations with writers across contemporary literature.

Highlighted venues and festivals include:

Hay Festival | Cheltenham Literature Festival | National Gallery | Sotheby’s | Hatchards | Fane Productions | Gladstone’s Library

Authors Sophie has interviewed on stage include Tracy Chevalier, Joanne Harris, Jay Rayner, Tessa Hadley and Donal Ryan, and she has chaired events for James Cahill, Susan Stokes-Chapman and Lucy Steeds, among others.

She is available for festival appearances, keynote talks, chaired conversations, author interviews, panel discussions and cultural programmes.

Sophie also enjoys visiting book clubs, either in person or via Zoom, to discuss her novels, historical research and the creative process behind writing fiction.

Popular event topics:

Sophie regularly speaks about art, literature and the hidden histories behind creativity. Popular event themes include:

The Women Behind the Masterpieces
The muses, lovers and collaborators who shaped modern art – and the stories history forgot to tell

Scandal in the Studio: Egon Schiele and the Women Who Inspired Him
The real lives behind one of the most controversial artists of the twentieth century

The Matisse Marriage
Love, rivalry and the devastating ultimatum at the heart of one of modern art’s greatest partnerships

Writing the Women Back into Art History
How fiction can reclaim the voices history pushed to the margins

From Mudlarks to Masterpieces
How fragments of the past – objects, archives and overlooked stories – become the seeds of novels

Digging Up Stories
From licensed mudlarking on the Thames foreshore to researching the women behind modern art, Sophie explores how lost objects, forgotten archives and overlooked histories become the starting point for fiction

Podcasts & Radio

Sophie is a thoughtful and engaging podcast and radio guest, speaking about historical fiction, art, creativity and the untold stories behind cultural history. She has appeared on podcasts and radio shows including:

BBC Radio 4’s Free Thinking, hosted by Shahidha Bari
Confessions of a Debut Novelist, hosted by Chloe Timms
Behind the Spine, hosted by Mark Heywood
The Real Writing Process, hosted by Tom Pepperdine
Life in Food, hosted by Laura Price
Real Folk, hosted by Jo Burke

She welcomes invitations for podcast interviews, radio appearances and media conversations.

Journalism, Commissions & Literary Work

Sophie is available for journalism commissions, essays and cultural commentary, particularly on art, literature and creativity.

She writes for publications including The Sunday Times, Financial Times and The Guardian, and welcomes invitations to contribute features, interviews and opinion pieces.

She is also happy to consider book endorsements, literary judging, festival collaborations and editorial contributions where her expertise in literature and art history may be helpful.

Coaching & Mentorship

Sophie occasionally offers mentorship and coaching for writers, particularly those working in historical fiction or narrative non-fiction. If you are interested in working together, please email to discuss availability and suitability.