Twenty authors from across Ealing with strong connections to the borough will be taking part next month in the second Ealing Book Festival local authors showcase.
The authors, who span all ages, will be given two minutes on 25 April 2025 at Pitzhanger Manor to pitch their book to an audience of book-lovers and to have it on sale afterwards.
They are:
- Ali Thurm – The River Brings the Sea – an environmental disaster drama. Ali has taught in Ealing primary schools.
- Anthony Smith – Literary Waves – Poetry and travel writing. Ex-English teacher, Anthony has lived in the Borough for 50 years.
- Bethan Marshall – The Last Letter – Historical fiction set in Ireland 1908. Bethan is an academic at King’s College and a former governor at Ellen Wilkinson.
- C.R. Westbrook – Troublemaker – a dark comedy thriller. Caroline is a magazine journalist.
- Cathie Wallace – Orchard Stories – the social history of a North Ealing block of flats and its residents over 50 years. Cathie is an academic and current Ealing school governor.
- Cliff Martin – Help! Children Have Taken Over the World! – for 10-13 year-olds. Cliff is a former Ealing Gazette and Times journalist and visits schools to inspire reading.
- Ian Farr – Where’s My Son! – Psychological thriller. Ian is a former Ealing Studios film editor who has worked on Foyle’s War among other dramas.
- Jaiveer Asthana – Sticks & Stones: Self-defence for Kids – for 8-11 year-olds. A trained chef, Jaiveer runs a local Board Games club with 300+ members.
- Jean Brewster – Missy Big Bungalow – Biography: growing up in what is now Thailand and was then Siam. Jean was a lecturer at Thames Valley University.
- Jason Rohan – S.T.E.A.L.T.H. Rising Storm – thriller for 10-13 year-olds. Jason did an internship at Marvel Comics and has taught in Japan.
- Jonathan Oates – Harold Greenwood and the Kidwelly Poisoning – True crime. Jonathan is Ealing’s Archivist and a much-published writer of local history.
- Lindsay Swan – Accidental Lives – Travel/Biography, telling the story of how she and a colleague set up a charity in India. Lindsay had a successful career in PR and is now on the Independent Monitoring Board of a London prison.
- Lucien Young – Trump: the Prison Diaries – Humour/Political satire. Lucien is a recent arrival to Northfields and loves its community feel. He has established a successful track record in political satires.
- Lucy Lock – Flingo/Flamingoes – Children’s Fiction/Factual. Lucy, an ex-teacher, founded FictFact, a publisher of children’s books designed to be read aloud.
- Mariesa Dulak – The Silver Shadow – a storybook for children about protecting the natural world.
- Nicola Rayner – The Paris Dancer – Historical fiction, based on a true story. Nicola is a journalist and novelist with several books published.
- Peter Prickett – Moments That Could’ve Changed Football Forever – Sport. Peter has written 5 books about football and is involved with local clubs.
- Saz Vora – True Love Again – Romantic fiction in a British Gujerati setting. Saz is a trustee of Ealing Music Therapy.
- Simon Piesse – Colombianisimos – Poetry: ‘an ode to the dazzling country that is Colombia’.
- Veronica Heley – book tba. Veronica is a much-published 90-year-old writer of ‘cosy crime’. She has lived in Ealing for 60 years and published more than 80 books. Her ‘Ellie Quicke’ crime series is set in ‘The Avenue’ aka Pitshanger Lane.
More than 1,300 people attended the first ever Ealing Book Festival which took place at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery.
This year’s Ealing Book Festival will once again take place at Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery from 24 April – 27 April 2025. Highlights include an appearance from acclaimed author and playwright Hanif Kureishi, discussing his new memoir Shattered – which focuses on the aftermath of the devastating, life-changing fall he had in Rome at the end of 2022.
Meanwhile globally acclaimed author Tracy Chevalier – best known for historical drama Girl With A Pearl Earring – will be talking about her new novel The Glassmaker.
British-Nigerian author Abi Dare will discuss her new book And So I Roar, the sequel to her 2020 best-seller The Girl With The Louding Voice – while Booker Prize nominee Andrew O’Hagan will be talking about his latest book Caledonian Road, which follows the story of an art historian’s dramatic fall from grace.
To book tickets for the authors showcase, click here.
