Eva Verde in conversation with Sabah Khan
What it takes to Make a Book

Saturday 13 June 2026, 11.00am – 12.00pm
Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ

Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes in Eva Verde’s work. She has published three novels including Them Girls, and will be discussing with Sabah Khan, publicity director at Simon & Schuster Books, what it takes to write and publish a book.

Tickets: £8 / £5 concessions (students, under 27s and unwaged)
Box Office: eventbrite.co.uk

This event is part of The Writers Room

Essex Book Festival and the University of Essex are hosting an exciting 1-day programme of writers’ and writing events. Events include author talks and workshops, multi-genre panel discussions, and The Pitch (a 10-minute speed-date with an industry professional). Plus, an opportunity to engage with and explore the J.A. Baker Archive.

The Writers Room Day Pass – Five events for £25 / £15 concessions – Book a Writers Room Day Pass here

Eva Verde

Eva Verde is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work. Eva’s love song to libraries, I Am Not Your Tituba forms part of Kit De Waal’s Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers. Her words have featured in Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, also penning the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance. Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog.

Them Girls

Two sisters, a lifetime of secrets, and the chance to set the record straight…

Meet Goldie and Vee: sisters, dreamers, grafters. In their forties, both appear to have it all…

Until Goldie finds the courage to leave Benedict. Once upon a time their faux marriage worked, but when the magnetic Wolfie comes on the scene, her world of pretending falls apart.

Vee’s neat world is spiralling, too. Since her ex-husband Jamie started dating Julia her cruel school bully, Vee’s long-buried insecurities are out of control. She needs to get away, and fast.

So when Goldie suggests a holiday in France, Vee leaps at the idea. A curiously well-timed invitation – just as speculations around Goldie’s brilliantly brief pop career back in the nineties are beginning to resurface. Escaping’s one thing, but nothing stays secret forever, and as Vee and Goldie’s unresolved pasts make surprise returns, the stories them girls once told themselves begin to look very different…

A raw and real portrayal of two sisters, the lives they left behind and the lives they want to lead, Them Girls is bold and immediate and deals with themes of identity, class and the corruption of power . . .

Order a copy of the book at bookshop.org – released 09 April 2026

Praise for Eva Verde

‘This is a really powerful, beautifully written story about three generations of working class women with each character so vividly drawn that they leap off the page’
– Red

‘I loved Verde’s debut, LIVES LIKE MINE, and this is just as raw and insightful’
– Good Housekeeping

Eva Verde will be in conversation with Sabah Khan, award-winning Publicity Director at Simon & Schuster