With Galaxypalooza under three months away, we’re turning some of our attention to the fantastic guests we have already announced (with more on the way)
As such, we reached out to Chris Kempshall, public historian, author, consultant, and Galaxypalooza guest, with some questions to learn more about him before the big day on June 6th 2026.
Chris has authored a vast array of titles for Star Wars, and video games, but has also published many monographs covering historical warfare that draw on his deep learnings being a public historian and author who specialises in transnational experiences of warfare.
His Star Wars titles include Star Wars Battles that Changed the Galaxy (co-authored with Jason Fry, Cole Horton, and Amy Ratcliffe; Dorling Kindersley/DK, 2021), and Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire (DK, 2024). Chris has also authored the articles The Death Star Stratagem for Star Wars Insider 223, Combat Ready or Clankers? for Star Wars Insider 232, and Rise of the First Order for Star Wars Insider 235. Excitingly, it was recently announced that Chris’ next book, Star Wars: Star Pilots, will be published by DK in October 2026.
Where did your love of writing come from and when did you realise your talent for it?
I’ve always enjoyed writing for pretty much as long as I can remember. When I was a kid – being very cool – I used to write my own ‘stories’ in school exercise books, so writing and storytelling always brought me a lot of joy. I also did a lot of fanfiction writing in the early 2000s when I was playing Star Wars Galaxies and that really helped hone my writing and sense of both what I wanted to say and what I wanted the audience to feel.
As for when I realised I had a talent for it – I’m not sure that moment has come yet! Most of my writing has been academic in style and that’s never really the kind of thing that you can be sure if you’re ‘good’ at. As long as it’s readable then that’s often the first hurdle to clear. But I think it’s really been the release and response to Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire that I’ve had the first real sense that people enjoy what I’m writing and are feeling the things I wanted them to do.
As as long as that holds up and I’m getting ‘better’ (which again is not the same as ‘good’) with my writing every time then I’ll take it!
What interests you about aligning / comparing Star Wars with real life history?
I’m not sure if it’s so much about aligning or comparing Star Wars with real life history as it is giving an audience (like Star Wars fans/readers) the chance to see Star Wars in a different way and also feel a bit of what it means to be a historian.
By treating Star Wars – in Rise and Fall – with the same level of gravity and seriousness that I would treat a real world historical event or period, I really want to give fans the opportunity to view the Galaxy Far, Far Away through the eyes of someone who is living there. To see and feel what it must be like to have had all of these astonishing things happen and then have to try and figure out what they mean.
But I also want to give fans a taste of what being a historian is actually like, and doing that with Star Wars makes it a lot more accessible and fun but also it’s not the sort of thing you can just jump straight into without being prepared a bit beforehand and having someone watch out for you on the landing. That’s what I envision me and Beaumont Kin doing – we’re showing readers how to be a historian but helping them with it along the way.
How do you approach writing for Star Wars?
For me it’s very much a dual process. Because I’m writing ‘in universe’ it means I have to consider both the real world audience – who have all likely watched Star Wars and are fans of the saga – and also the in-universe audience – who have not watched Star Wars and have a different understanding of their galaxy.
It means we have to walk a really fine and interesting line of explaining ideas and concepts to either of those audiences that the other one is already very familiar with and doing it in a way that feels natural, logical and accessible. When writing Rise and Fall we spent much more time than people might expect talking about how to frame things for the in-universe readers to help maintain the right feel for the whole book.
Do you have a specific bit of info you have written and contributed to canon that you would regard as your favourite?
I think it’s hugely cool that the sabacc deck of wanted Imperial fugitives from Rise and Fall seems to have made the jump into The Mandalorian and Grogu. But aside from that I really like the extra depth and uncertainty that we added to the Battles of Hoth and Endor in Rise and Fall to give them a bit more flavour from the Imperial viewpoint.
What has been your reaction to the hugely positive reception to Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire?
It’s been really genuinely touching. We hoped that there would be an audience for a book like this and that Star Wars fans would get a kick out of it but I wasn’t expecting it to become such a warmly received book. It’s been phenomenal having people show so much interest and love for it (and Beaumont Kin, by extension) and it’s also incredibly gratifying that it made people think and feel all the things we really hoped it would.
With Galaxypalooza on the horizon, what are you looking forward to most from the convention?
At the moment this is looking like being my first actual Star Wars fan convention outside of Celebration! So I’m hugely excited about that as a starting point! Having the chance to do something here in the UK with Star Wars fans is going to be great and if even one person who attends it read and enjoyed Rise and Fall then it’s going to be wonderful! There might even be the chance to talk a bit about Star Pilots but we’ll see!
Find more about Chris at his website – https://chriskempshall.com/
(Interview conducted 13th March 2026, by Matt Hudson of Star Wars Sessions)