Fifteen New Authors Added to Chiswick Writers Trail
Carla Lane, Lynn Redgrave and Edgar Wallace among names in enlarged edition
Torin Douglas announcing the new names on the list
June 2, 2023
The Chiswick Writers Trail has been enlarged to include fifteen more authors who have lived in the local area.
There were already 21 novelists, dramatists and poets on the trail but this has been increased to 36 to mark this year’s 15th Chiswick Book Festival.
New names on the list include Carla Lane, creator of three of TV’s most popular comedies, The Liver Birds, Butterflies and Bread; Lynn Redgrave, who wrote Shakespeare for My Father and other plays about her famous family; Samuel Richardson, called ‘one of the fathers of the English novel’ for Pamela and Clarissa; Geoffrey Household, author of Rogue Male; and Edgar Wallace, creator of King Kong and one of the most prolific and filmed writers of the 20th Century.
The trail has been steadily growing since it was started five years ago with Dylan Thomas and James Berry and humourists Michael Flanders and Stephen Potter added last May and six more poets added in September 2022, including William Morris and the two earliest names, Lady Mary Sidney and John Donne, Prebendary of Chiswick, both born in the 16th Century.
Chiswick writers on the original 2018 Trail include WB Yeats, Harold Pinter, Dame Iris Murdoch, John Osborne, WM Thackeray, Alexander Pope, EM Forster, JG Ballard, Anthony Burgess, Nancy Mitford and Robert Bolt.
The trail now boasts one Booker Prize, two Nobel Prizes for Literature, three Oscars, five plaques and a Poet Laureate. The enlarged map, sponsored by The Chiswick Cinema, can be picked up in local bookshops, St Michael & All Angels Church and The Chiswick Cinema or downloaded here.
The launch event for the new trail at the Chiswick Cinema was attended by many of those who helped compile the list or live in houses and roads featured on the trail as well as theatre and film directors, local councillors and the designers of the Writers Trail maps.
Attendees at the Chiswick Writers Trail launch event
Torin Douglas, director of the Chiswick Book Festival, said, “When we created the Chiswick Writers Trail in 2018, I was delighted to have found 21 acclaimed writers who had lived here. After assiduous research, we have added 15 notable dramatists, novelists and poets and enlarged the map. We hope local residents and others will enjoy exploring the Trail and finding out more about the writers who made Chiswick their home.
“I’m very grateful to those who have helped us establish Chiswick’s remarkable literary heritage – and particularly to Val Bott of the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society, who has unearthed many names and kept me on the straight and narrow! Thanks too to Chris Parker of The Chiswick Cinema, for sponsoring the new edition, enabling us to keep it free of charge. And my particular thanks go to Karen Liebreich of Abundance London, who created the Chiswick Timeline mural which inspired the Writers Trail; to Sarah Cruz who designed the 2028 Trail map; and Jennifer Yen, who has built on Sarah’s work to create the beautiful new 2023 edition.”
The Writers Trail forms part of the Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books, an online archive of more than 400 writers who have lived in Chiswick - or are linked with the area - and written a book. It is listed chronologically and by genre.
In 2019 The Observer wrote that ‘Chiswick may be Britain’s most literary location’.
The 15th Chiswick Book Festival will take place from 6 to 13 September 2023. For latest programme details and updates, visit the festival website.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |