Ninth Chiswick Book Festival Hailed As The Best Yet

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From Austen to Auschwitz, the Beatles to Brexit , and lots of cake

Clare Balding

Organisers of last weekend’s Ninth Chiswick Book Festival say it has been hailed as the best yet by many of the authors and audience members who attended. Income from ticket sales and sponsorship was slightly up on last year’s record figures, and Waterstones say their book sales were also up.

“We even sold more than £700 worth of cakes!” said Festival director Torin Douglas. “And the feedback has been excellent – with many of the authors commenting on the buzz around the events and praising the audiences for their questions.”

Jeremy Vine, who was the Saturday night speaker in St Michael & All Angels church, thanked the organisers “for all your work giving us Chiswick residents something to be proud of in the shape of a Book Festival that gets better every year.”

Author and broadcaster Robin Lustig said: “The audiences were among the best, in terms of both size and enthusiasm, of all the events I’ve done since my book was published at the beginning of the year.”

One audience member emailed: “This year's festival has been one of the best yet. I've been attending for the last 4-5 years and the organisation and range of speakers is second to none.”

Another tweeted: “Congrats to all involved. Wonderful talks, now inspired to visit @WstonesChiswick more now too!”

A Jane Austen evening was held at Chiswick House

You can read the Book Festival's Twitter.to catch up.

And InterAct Stroke Support, one of the three reading charities supported by the festival, tweeted “We had a fab time @W4BookFest last weekend – brilliant to meet everyone and promote our work.”

Jeremy Vine

More than 60 authors took part in over 40 sessions, many of them held in St Michael & All Angels Church which hosts and runs the Festival. The vicar, Fr Kevin Morris, said: “The range of subjects and the quality of the speakers was fantastic. At times it was incredibly moving, at other moments it was very funny and it was always interesting and informative.”

Wartime Women

Other events were held at Chiswick House, Chiswick Library, the Tabard Theatre, Waterstones and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Theatre at ArtsEd. Pictures of many of the events can be seen on the Festival website: www.chiswickbookfestival.net.

The Art of the Political Interview

The Children’s Festival was also very successful, with long queues for Clare Balding and David Baddiel to sign their books. David Baddiel was pictured with a biscuit featuring the cover of his book, Birthday Boy.

Inspire Little Minds, Storytelling

More than two dozen children won prizes in the annual Young People’s Poetry Competition. And two lucky children won books from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, for winning the Tallest Sunflower Competition organised as part of the Golden Jubilee Bedford Park Festival. Mara Buzuleaz, who has just turned 5, was the winner, growing a sunflower 2.32 metres high. The runner-up was 10-year-old Onno van Kampen Brooks.

The ukelele enthusiasts

Kew was one of more than two dozen Festival partners that sponsored events and coverage, including all the local media organisations.

Let Them Eat Cake - the volunteers at the cake stall

Pictures by the Chiswick Book Festival team

September 24, 2017