The 18th Chiswick Book Festival begins on 9 September 2026 in The George IV Boston Room when we showcasethe wealth of local literary talent that Chiswick has to offer.
Two well-known local figures – the Rev Martine Oborne, vicar of St Michael’s Church Elmwood Road, and Karen Liebreich, founder of gardens charity Abundance London – will be taking part in the Chiswick Book Festival’s Local Authors Showcase 2026. The ever-popular event, which opens the Festival each year, will take place at the George IV pub in Chiswick High Road on Wednesday, 9 September hosted by a new presenter, Capital Xtra DJ Jojo Silva. Each of the 20 of authors is given just two minutes each to talk about their books in front of a packed audience, making it fast, fun and fascinating! Tickets are on sale here.
Other speakers will include the New Scientist podcast editor Rowan Hooper; the author of the FT Guide to Business Ethics Pablo Lloyd; Sue Elliott, who has written the history of the newly opened Trent Park House of Secrets in Enfield and Sir Robert Lechler, Professor Emeritus at King’s College London. Two novelists recently featured on ChiswickW4.com will also be speaking about their latest books – Dan Batchelor and Rebecca Thornton.
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Scroll down for more details about the speakers and books
List of Speakers
| 1. | Alwyn Hamilton | The Notorious Virtues |
| 2. | Christopher Jarvis | Life Keeps Lifeing |
| 3. | Dan Batchelor | Jack Palmer II: The Resistance |
| 4. | Hillie Marshall | Playing Cupid |
| 5. | Jack Waddington | I’m on a Journey to See You Sam |
| 6. | Karen Liebreich | Chiswick Fruit Timeline |
| 7. | Mariesa Dulak | The Ice Cream Crocodile |
| 8. | Martine Oborne | The Trials of Jessica Lovegood |
| 9. | Matt Barber | Nora the Nerdie Neanderthal |
| 10. | Nadim Sadek | Quiver Don’t Quake: How Creativity can Embrace AI |
| 11. | Natalie Hay | The Parent Carer: A Survival & Advocacy Handbook for Raising Children with Additional Needs / SEND |
| 12. | Nick Bromley | Cry Havoc |
| 13. | Pablo Lloyd | FT Guide to Business Ethics |
| 14. | RL Heber | Faculty of Liars |
| 15. | Robert Lechler | Restoring the Casa Rotta: A Tale of Umbrian Adventures |
| 16. | Rowan Hooper | Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life’s Greatest Collaborations |
| 17. | Sam Stephens | The Joy of Games |
| 18. | Simon Thomsett | The Angry Widow |
| 19. | Sue Elliott | Trent Park: A Century of Secrets |
| 20. | Tim Marriott | Revelation |
Fiction: from sexism in the Church of England to crime and stories set in New England, Germany and Greece.
Rev Martine Oborne’s first novel The Trials of Jessica Lovegood tells the story of a female vicar whose bishop doesn’t believe women should be priests: she suddenly gets an amazing gift of healing – which starts off as a great blessing but ends up as a curse. Faculty of Liars is the fourth novel by Rebecca Thornton, a former WHSmith Fresh Talent author, writing under the pen-name RJ Heber; it takes readers deep inside the polished halls of an elite New England institution — a place where prestige is everything, secrets are currency, and reputation is protected at any cost. The Angry Widow is the second novel by former theatre director, producer and promoter SJ Thomsett; it follows the aftermath of a horrifying crime through the eyes of two people directly involved, including the victim’s widow, whose ordinary suburban life is about to change for ever. Patmos – the final ferry stop in the Dodecanese – forms the backdrop to a modern journey of reflection and change in Revelation by Tim Marriott, an actor well known to patrons of the Tabard Theatre. And Cry Havoc is the new novel from Nick Bromley, associate director of the Tabard Theatre: on New Year’s Eve 1919, a naive young British soldier in Germany meets a modern day Mephistopheles in the guise of a senior officer and embarks on a series of farcical, dangerous and deadly adventures.
Fantasy, sci-fi and circus stories for Young Adults and children
Alwyn Hamilton is the New York Times-bestselling author of the Rebel of the Sands trilogy and a former Chiswick Waterstones bookseller: her latest novel is The Notorious Virtues, a Young Adult fantasy thriller. Dan Batchelor, a Chiswick primary schoolteacher, has released the second instalment of his Young Adult sci-fi trilogy, Jack Palmer II: The Resistance, about a young boy thrust into the chaos of an alien invasion. The latest book by Mariesa Dulak, a primary school librarian, is The Ice Cream Crocodile, a rhyming tale full of circus fun about celebrating difference and overcoming prejudice. Nora the Nerdie Neanderthal, a children’s book by West End & TV actor and producer Matt Barber, has yet to be published and will have its first public airing at the Showcase.
History and memoir: from a house of spies and a dating agency to a brother’s illness and a restored house in Umbria
Sue Elliott has written seven works of social and oral history: as a student she lived at Trent House in the 1970s and her fascination with the building led her to explore its history in Trent Park House: A Century of Secrets. Hillie Marshall has been a radiographer, singer, pantomime performer, theatre impresario and relationship counsellor: Playing Cupid is her funny and honest memoir of building her Dinner Dates introduction agency. I’m on a Journey to See You, Sam by Jack Waddington is a brother’s diary to the sibling he lost to Duchenne muscular dystrophy, exploring grief, disability, and the silence that follows loss. Restoring La Casa Rotta by Professor Sir Robert Lechler, Professor Emeritus at King’s College London is ‘a tale of Umbrian Adventures’ about acquiring a ruined remote farmhouse in central Italy.
Non-fiction: from apples and pears to business ethics and carers, and from poems to games
Karen Liebreich is the founder of Abundance London which beautifies open spaces in W4: Chiswick Fruit Timeline: A History in Apples and Pears tells Chiswick’s distinguished fruity story, from the birth of what became the Chelsea Flower Show, to new varieties that became standard fruits for the world. Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life’s Greatest Collaborations by Rowan Hooper, New Scientist’s Podcast Editor, has been called “a stunning portrait of cooperation in nature”. Natalie Hay is an award-winning, disability-inclusion campaigner and the author of The Parent Carer: A Survival and Advocacy Handbook for Raising Children With Additional Needs/SEND. Pablo Lloyd interviewed 50 business leaders and analysed 400 reference materials to write The Financial Times Guide to Business Ethics: he goes inside businesses to reveal why some fall short and how others lead the way. Nadim Sadek is a columnist for The Bookseller and a consumer psychologist: in Quiver, Don’t Quake: How Creativity Can Embrace AI he reframes AI as a creative collaborator, liberating the creativity of all eight billion people on Earth. Life Keeps Lifeing is an embodiment of poetry and life by Christopher Jarvis, who as community development officer for Hounslow Council is passionate about inspiring others. And Sam Stephens is the author of The Joy of Games, ‘the ultimate escape from the endless screen scroll’, offering 66 engaging games to reconnect with friends and family.
Notes to editors:
The Chiswick Book Festival has always highlighted and promoted local authors. The Observer wrote: “Chiswick may be Britain’s most literary location” following the first edition of the Festival’s online archive, The Chiswick Timeline of Writers and Books. This now lists almost 500 authors who have lived in Chiswick W4 and written a book. They include two winners of the Nobel prize for literature, one Booker prize winner, two Oscar winners, a poet laureate – and several writers from our Local Authors Showcase over recent years.
The 18th Chiswick Book Festival will take place from 9-14 September 2026. For tickets, programme details and updates, visit the festival’s web site.