Jo James, one of publishing’s best-known event organisers, is to step down as programme director of the Chiswick Book Festival following this year’s festival which opens this evening, Wednesday September 10th.
This is the 17th Festival and the speakers she has lined up for Chiswick this year include Gill Hornby, Lyse Doucet, Axel Scheffler and William Dalrymple, all of whose events have sold out. Some tickets remain for Alan Johnson, Kathy Lette, Reeta Chakrabarti, Anton du Beke and other speakers.
Torin Douglas, the director of the Chiswick Book Festival, said: “Jo is one of the most popular, experienced and effective Festival organisers in the book world and we are immensely grateful for all she has done to raise the scale and profile of the Chiswick Book Festival in the past ten years. She will be a very hard act to follow.”
Jo James said: “I have loved working with the team at the Chiswick Book Festival over the last ten years, and am immensely proud of everything we have collectively achieved. This year has been the most energized I can remember, with new members of the team bringing a wealth of experience in all sorts of different areas. But after ten years it’s time to hand over the programming to a newer (and probably younger) person – to give the Festival a fresh new voice that will resonate with the audience and the local community. I suspect it’s going to be quite an emotional few days!”
Jo has worked with many of the festival circuit’s best-known authors. Sir Michael Palin said of her: “Jo James is one of the ablest people I’ve ever dealt with. She is well-organised and unflappable, good with people but not tolerant of fools.”
Jo was events manager at Ottakars and Waterstones before working for the Cheltenham Literature Festival, where she has programmed events and run the Writers Room for many years. She is involved in many other festivals including the Literature Festival At Sea on board the Queen Mary 2 and the Stratford Literary Festival.
Jo James will host this year’s opening event in Chiswick as usual – a Local Authors Showcase at which 20 writers each speak for just two minutes in front of a packed audience in the George IV pub. The highly popular format has since been picked up by other festivals.
The Chiswick Book Festival is unusual in that all its profits are donated to reading and community charities. Since 2009 it has raised more than £150,000 for charities, including its current beneficiaries, Read for Good, Read Easy Ealing and Koestler Arts, as well as St Michael & All Angels Church, which runs the Festival and is itself a charity.
Torin Douglas said: “Our unusual financial structure and huge reliance on community volunteers means we’re looking for a very special person to take over from Jo. I look forward to hearing from anyone who would like to know more.” Please email: admin@chiswickbookfestival.net.
The 17th Chiswick Book Festival will take place from 10-15 September 2025. For tickets, programme details and updates, visit the festival’s web site.