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| By Kjetil Bjørnsrud - Own work, [Wikimedia Commons] CC BY-SA 3.0, |
Back in September 2011 Debra Brown launched an exciting new project for history lovers and Anglophiles everywhere. This was the start of what we now know as the EHFA Blog (English Historical Fiction Authors).
Oddly, we don’t write about fiction, but about history, and not all of the contributors are fiction authors (although most are).
Confusing? A little, but that’s because Debbie’s project grew and grew, attracting a vast number of regular and guest contributors, and we’ve had over six and a half million hits on the blog over that time.
We’ve posted articles on topics ranging from pre-Roman history to WWII and they always prove popular.
Who’s ‘we’? Well, we have guest authors who write for us from time to time, some frequently, and we have regular contributors who can be relied upon to write wonderful articles for us on pretty much a monthly basis.
Then we have a team of editors: Cryssa Bazos, Charlene Newcomb and Annie Whitehead - all historical fiction authors who between them cover a wide range of English and British history.
At the hub of this, Debbie has overseen everything. She’s the one who’s always been there to sort out any glitches on the blog (it looks fabulous on the outside but believe us, its innards are as complicated as any robot’s). She’s made executive decisions about content, she’s been the driving force behind two published anthologies of selected articles (Castles, Customs and Kings) and she has also been unendingly supportive of the contributors, especially those who are new to blogging.
A while ago, Debbie took a back seat with regards to the day-to-day running of the blog but it is a testament to her being so synonymous with the blog that even now most of the email messages we receive are addressed to her.
Today we are sad to say that for personal reasons, Debbie is standing down from the blog completely. We are enormously proud that she feels she is leaving it in capable hands, but we will miss her guiding hand enormously. This is why, instead of the usual Sunday Round-up, we have decided to take a moment to pay tribute and say a huge and heartfelt Thank You to Debbie for all that she has done for the blog over the last eight years. We wish her well, we thank her for all her hard work, and her inspiration. The moment when she formulated a plan for this blog was a ‘lightbulb’ moment indeed. Thanks to her idea, the blog has grown and grown, and we are proud to be part of it. EHFA is known for publishing articles of quality about all aspects of English and British history. We’ve been privileged to work with some fantastic authors over the years and we hope to be able to continue to do so. The fact that the blog is held in such high esteem is down to Debbie’s vision, hard work, and enthusiasm.
We thank her, we will miss her, and we are proud to take the baton and keep it moving. We would also like to invite you - readers, contributors or both - to take a moment to leave a comment in support and thanks for all that Debbie has done for the blog over the years.
Annie, Charlene and Cryssa
EHFA Editing Team
