Football isn't just a game - it's a lens through which we see class, community, identity, gender, race, love and belonging. Three writers whose fiction has taken the beautiful game as its subject come together in a rich panel discussion exploring what football means, what it reveals, and why it keeps inspiring such extraordinary literature.
 
From a graphic novel uncovering the history of women's football to the pressures of professional sport, from the terraces to the dressing room, this is a wide-ranging, passionate conversation moderated by novelist, lifelong football fan and referee Ashley Hickson-Lovence.
 
Suitable for sports fans and literary enthusiasts alike - no football knowledge required!
 
Format: Panel Discussion & Q&A
Themes: Fiction, Adults, Young People, New Voices, Literary, Book Club, Local Interest, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novel, Health & Wellbeing
Access: Live Captioning
 
Anna Trench Books: Florrie
Anna Trench is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer and teacher based in London. Florrie is her first book. It won the 2025 East Anglian Book of the Year Award and was previously shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award and the LDComics Award.
 
George Harrison Books: Season
George Harrison’s debut novel, Season, was shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards and the East Anglian Book Awards. Season was also named among the Mail on Sunday's best new fiction and was described by the Telegraph as 'a heartfelt and sensitive portrait of male bonding in the stands.' George has written about football's role in society for the Observer and has discussed his work on Front Row, Five Live and Radio Norfolk. He is a lifelong Norwich City fan.
In addition to his creative writing work, George works as a freelance editor and ghostwriter. In this capacity, he has worked on an eclectic shelf full of non-fiction books, including the memoirs of a British banker, a book about a South African spy, and the final autobiography of the late golfing great Peter Alliss. 
 
Ashley Hickson-Lovence  Books: Your Show
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is the author of the acclaimed novels The 392, Your Show and Wild East, overall winner of the East Anglian Book Awards 2024 and the YA winner of the Diverse Book Awards 2025. His poetry collection Why I Am Not a Bus Driver has been shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize and includes the poem “Munster Road,” highly commended for Best Single Poem at the Forward Prize. He holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia and was nominated for the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature in 2023. His latest novel, About To Fall Apart, was published by Faber in April.Ashley is an Honorary Patron of Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.