Join SYP North at their first in-person event of 2025!
We’re thrilled to be in conversation with debut author Ella Ruby Self, whose novel Abraxus Elijah Honey: A Celtic Fantasy was published by independent Northern publisher Northodox Press.
This event will offer a unique opportunity to hear directly from Ella about her publishing journey, the inspiration behind her debut, and what it’s like working with a regional indie press. Whether you’re a writer, a publishing hopeful, or simply curious about the author experience, this is your chance to gain insight into the creative and professional process behind a debut novel.
Author bio:
Ella Ruby Self is a Sheffield writer and grew up nestled against the rise of the Peak District moors. Having changed her BA last minute from Geography to English Literature, she has never looked back, going on to complete an MA in Literature and Creative Writing for which she was awarded a Distinction. Currently, she is in her first year of her PhD, looking at how folk stories are inherently intertwined with the natural landscape. Stories inspired by nature, myth and folklore have always been a large part of her life, and you can often find her up on some distant edge, lost in the woods, in abominably cold water or under big moorland sky with a notebook in her pocket and a head full of daydreams.
Book bio:
Porth Tymestl, a small Southwestern Welsh coastal village in the early 1800s. John Kincarran, lost at sea. Lost in her own sea of grief, Ffion Kincarran curses the ocean beyond the graveyard walls. Inclement weather has caused the catch to decrease, causing Porth Tymestl to fall on hard times.
When bones wash up along a stretch of lonely shore, and a man with a strange name arrives like a sea-fret from beyond the horizon, brothers Eli and Tias, having lost their father, find themselves swept up in a world older than the foundations of the earth. With the help of the enigmatic innkeeper, Smythe, Eli and Tias are plunged into a world of myth, creatures from the deep and hunt for the truth behind the storms battering the coast, which may have been caused closer to home than they originally considered.
Ella has kindly agreed to a book signing – come along to purchase her book and bag your own signed copy.