Book lovers are in for a treat this weekend as a number of high-profile Ealing authors take to the stage at this year’s Chiswick Book Festival –with criminal fiction set to take centre stage alongside non-fiction authors, playwrights children’s authors and those celebrating some of the borough’s most notable history and culture.
The 14th year of the event – which started life as the Ealing Literary Festival, will see special events taking place in Ealing and Acton, in a festival which runs from September 7-14 and features something for readers large and small.
Among the local writers taking part – including those who either live or have previously lived in the area – are Alex Gerlis (Agent in Peril): Caroline Frost, author of the Carry on retrospective Carry On Regardless); historical writer Catherine Pepinster (Defenders of the Faith), and former Conservative Party Chairman Chris Patten (Hong Kong Diaries).
Meanwhile thriller writers Emma Curtis (Invite Me In); Nicola Rayner (You and Me), and Susie Lynes (The Baby Shower, The Housewarming), will take part in Criminal Women, talking about their exploration of people’s darker side in their writing. The talk will be hosted by local award-winning playwright Lisa Evans.
One highlight promises to be a evening marking the 60th anniversary of the Ealing Club – now the subject of a new anthology which recounts the borough’s role in the creation of R&B, and the ‘Marshall’ sound of guitar-based rock music which became familiar all around the world.
The event will see two of the book’s Authors Ralph Brookfield and Robert Hokum, discuss Ealing’s role in this, as well as the history of the Club – the venue where the Rolling Stones first got together.
The daughters of actor and comedy songwriter Michael Flanders – best known for his work with writing partner Donald Swann – will also be taking part in a talk. Stephanie and Laura Flanders, both journalists, will appear at Acton’s Act One cinema, where they will discuss their father’s impact on comedy as well as the world of disability.
Flanders, who died in 1975 and whose ashes are scattered in the grounds of Chiswick House, contracted polio as a young man serving in the Royal Navy, and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The Michael Flanders Centre in Acton was opened in his memory, and a plaque will be unveiled in his honour by Ealing Civic Society that on Wednesday September 14, the afternoon of the talk.
You can find out ticket information for these and other events at: Chiswick Book Festival – although some are already sold out.
For further information, brochures for the festival are available now at Waterstones Ealing, The Pitshanger Bookshop, Ealing Central Library and Gunnersbury Park Museum – or you can visit the festival website for a complete list of everybody taking part.
