Wednesday 6 September 2023
On the eve of the 15th Chiswick Book Festival, in The George IV Boston Room above, Festival Director Torin Douglas and Programme Director Jo James showcased the wealth of local talent that Chiswick has to offer, with the help of James Barber, manager of Waterstones Chiswick, who was selling the authors’ books on-site. The 21 writers each had just two minutes to speak about their book, making this a fun, fast-paced, and fascinating evening. See pictures of them in action here.
2023 Local Authors Showcase Participants
Every year, our Local Authors Showcase offers a wide range of books from authors of all ages and backgrounds. Well-established authors this year include the former BBC journalist Alex Gerlis (Agent in the Shadows), who has published eleven spy thrillers and sold more than half a million copies, and Mary Chamberlain, who was the first author to be published by Virago: she is Emeritus Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University and her latest novel is The Lie.
Joining them are: Elizabeth Loudon, who has just published her first novel, A Stranger in Baghdad, after a career as a teacher and charity development consultant; Louise Burfit-Dons, who returns with her fourth thriller, Our Man in Kuwait; and several authors of historical fiction.
Brian Clewly Johnson’s fifth book is Everything Goes, a novel set in the Far East in World War II; Annette (AR) Duckworth’s The Napoleon of Egypt, about the Pharoah Tutmose III, is a follow-up to her novel The King and her Children; and Chris Lethbridge, a writer and TV documentary maker, has written The Redemption of William Wynne, based on the real-life story of the Royal Engraver to King George III, a historical novel set in the louche art world of 18th Century London and Paris with scenes in Chiswick, Hammersmith and Feltham.
In non-fiction, BBC journalist Dougal Shaw’s CEO Secrets is based on interviews he conducted for BBC Business; Stein Ringen has written The Story of Scandinavia: from Vikings to the Welfare State; Bob Osborne’s book is Zennor Spirit of Place; and James Thellusson has gathered lots of school stories in School’s Out: Truants, Troublemakers and Teachers’ Pets. There are several ‘how to’ books: former BBC News presenter Rachel Schofield has written The Career Change Guide: Five Steps to Finding Your Dream Job; Patrick Tucker has published the latest edition of Secrets of Screen Acting; Alan Kelly has tips for publishing your own books in Books To Be Written; and Sara Ward is Living the Good Life in the City.
There are a several books for children: What’s New, Harper Drew? by Kathy Weeks; Rawry’s Missing Tooth by Corina Stanescu; What Football Job Can You Do?, the second careers advice book by Emma Juhasz; and Zoe Antoniades returns with the latest in her Cally and Jimmy series.
Criminologist and bridge player Helen Erichsen grew up in Chiswick and her debut crime novel Murder by Natural Causes reflects all these experiences. By contrast, Donna Freed grew up in the United States and her book, Duplicity: My Mother’s Secrets, is about real life crime – she discovered she was the daughter of notorious con artists in one of the biggest true crime stories to grip America in the 1960s.