Spotlight on Local Authors at the Chiswick Book Festival


Event kicks off with Clare Balding, Alvin Rakoff and 20 writers at Waterstones

Two minutes each for writers to sell their story at Waterstones
Two minutes each for writers to sell their story at Waterstones

The Chiswick Book Festival opens this week and there’s the usual strong focus on local authors.

On Friday, Clare Balding will present the prizes for the annual Young People’s Poetry Competition, supported again by ChiswickW4.com. She will also talk about her own book for children, Fall Off, Get Back On, Keep Going.

Later that evening, 94-year-old TV, film and theatre director Alvin Rakoff, who lives in Bedford Park, will talk about his memoirs to the Festival director, Torin Douglas, in the Andrew Lloyd-Webber Theatre at Arts Ed. His book I’m Just The Guy Who Says Action was launched this week to a star-studded audience including George Clooney.

And before then, in a pre-Festival event on Tuesday evening, 7 September, 20 authors will talk about their books at the Waterstones Local Authors Party in the Boston Room at the George IV in Chiswick High Road. Each writer has just two minutes to ‘sell’ their book, which it is hoped will make this a fast-paced, fun and fascinating evening.

There’s a wide range of books, from thrillers, memoirs and biography to non-fiction, self-help and children’s books. You can see all the authors and titles below and read more by clicking here.

 

Running order

Author first name

Author last name

Book title

1

Calum

Kerr

Dirty Money, Terrible People

2

Zoe

Antoniades

Cally and Jimmy, Twins In Trouble

3

Jason

Sandy

Thames Mudlarking – Searching for London’s Lost Treasures

4

Nicholas

Bromley

Stage Ghosts and Haunted Theatres

5

Albie

Amankona

Still Breathing: 100 Black Voices on Racism

6

Catherine

Jessop

Pulling Through: Help for Families Navigating Life-Changing Illness

7

Ryan

Wilson

Let That Be a Lesson

8

Eleni

Kyriacou

She Came to Stay

9

John

Griffiths

The Write Escape – how one actor coped with COVID

10

Kim

Ansell

Frederick the Fox

11

Jim

Sitch

Donald Trump and Me

12

Kate

Mikhail

Teach Yourself to Sleep: An ex-insomniac’s guide

13

Lena

Shah

Impetus – No cover up

14

Mark

Pallis

The Fabulous Lost and Found and the little French mouse

15

Helen

Batten

The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene: Actress, Writer, and Rebel Victorian

16

Josephine

Perry

I Can: The Teenage Athlete’s Guide to Mental Fitness

17

Andrew

Maunder

Enid Blyton: A Literary Life

18

Susie

Pearl

The Art of Creativity

19

Brian

Dobbs

Black and White: The Birth of Modern Boxing

20

Louise

Burfitt-Dons

The Secret War

 

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September 5, 2021