The Chiswick Book Festival wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our chairs, who’ve taken time out from their busy lives to read the books and prepare questions for authors that will get the best out of each session. Here are the faces you’ll see on stage along with links to details about their sessions.
Alex Gerlis
Thriller writer Alex Gerlis chairs My Family and Other Spies with Alistair Wood and The Army That Never Was with Taylor Downing.
Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith chairs Amorous or Loving: The Highly Peculiar Tale of English and the English with Rupert Gavin
Caroline Frost
Caroline Frost chairs Can We Be Great Again? Why Britain Has More Influence Than We Think with Jeremy Hunt and India's Forgotten Histories with William Dalrymple and Sam Dalrymple
Caroline Raphael
Caroline Raphael chairs Authors as Detectives: C.S. Lewis and Josephine Tey with Nicola Upson and Fenwomen at 50: A Portrait of Women in an English Village with Mary Chamberlain
Clare Clark
The award-winning novelist Clare Clark chairs Harold Wilson with Alan Johnson; Outstanding Debuts with Reeta Chakrabarti and Aisha Hassan; and Crime waves with Jeremy Vine & Andrew Cartmel
David Shreeve
David Shreeve chairs Caroline Cecil Bose & Rosanna Greenstreet in World War Two Love Letters with Mihir Bose and Matthew Fay
Fee Mak
TV & radio presenter Fee Mak chairs The New Breed of Book Clubs with Emily D'Souza, Linda Malek, Omma Ahmed, Peju Alli-Balogun, and Que Wolf
Fr Kevin Morris
Fr Kevin Morris chairs A Second Act: Nearly Dying and Really Living with Matt Morgan
Jo James
Our programme director Jo James is the host of our Local Authors' Showcase the fun, fascinating and fast-moving evening that features the wealth of local writing talent that Chiswick has to offer.
Jojo Silva
Teacher and Capital Xtra DJ Jojo Silva chairs Fearsome Females with Ellen Alpsten & Nicola Rayner; The First Female Detectives with Sara Lodge; The Immigrant Experience with Jamila Pereira and Manny Domingos
Julia Wheeler
Julia Wheeler chairs The Business of History with Tom Levitt; Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York with Andrew Lownie
Julian Worricker
Julian Worricker chairs The Nazi Mind with Laurence Rees; The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History with Lyse Doucet; and The Traitors Circle with Jonathan Freedland
Katie Razzall
Katie Razall chairs The Guardian: Witness in a Time of Turmoil with Ian Mayes & Alan Rusbridger
Paddy O’Connell
Paddy O'Connell chairs Good, Occasionally Rhyming: A History of the Shipping Forecast with Robert Stepney & Kathy Clugston
Rebecca Jones
Broadcaster Rebecca Jones is in conversation with Anton du Beke about his career and latest book Monte Carlo by Moonlight
Ronni Ancona
The comedian and actor Ronni Ancona talks to Kathy Lette about her new novel The Revenge Club
Ryan Tubridy
Ryan Tubridy chairs Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer, with Patrick Maguire & Gabriel Pogrund
Torin Douglas
Our festival director chairs Jane Austen: Fact & Fiction with Gill Hornby, Aisling Walsh, Phyllis Logan, Kevin McNally; The Dream Factory: Shakespeare's Theatre in Shoreditch with Daniel Swift; and the Young Poets Prize Giving with Dean Atta