Novelist P.D. James Comes to Trinity

Posted on: 09 October 2013

The bestselling crime author P.D. James spoke in Trinity’s Public Theatre at a special event last night hosted by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Trinity’s School of English.

In honour of the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, P.D. James spoke  to Irish crime novelist Declan Burke about her life-long passion for Jane Austen, her latest novel Death Comes to Pemberley and some of her other crime novels.

“Great Writing Great Places is the title of our autumn series of literary events. P.D. James in the Public Theatre in Trinity is truly great writing in a great place,” said Jane Alger, Director, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to hear about two of our most enduring literary passions – the novels of Jane Austen and the world of the crime thriller. Many people have tried to write a sequel to Pride and Prejudice but I think P.D. James has out-smarted them all with Death Comes to Pemberley,” added Head of Trinity’s School of English, Associate Professor Eve Patten.

Pride and Prejudice is one of the world’s best loved and best known novels and in Death Comes to Pemberley,  P.D. James draws the characters of Jane Austen into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem in a pitch-perfect recreation of the world of Pride and Prejudice. Death Comes to Pemberley is currently being made into a 3 part mini- drama series for the BBC to be screened in December. 

P.D. James was born in Oxford in 1920. Her first book was published when she was in her late thirties. She is the author of 20 books, many of which have been filmed. In 2000, at the age of 80, she published her autobiography Time to Be in Earnest. She has won awards for crime writing in several countries including Britain, America and Scandinavia. She was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991. She lives in London and Oxford and has two daughters, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.