West London has been full to the brim with book festivals this autumn and with both the Chiswick and Wimbledon offerings over for another year, it’s Brook Green’s turn to come under the literary spotlight. Now in its sixth year, the Brook Green Festival of Books has attracted a world-class line-up of writers this November to offer you an insight into their craft.
Children’s author and Blue Peter Book Award winner Lauren St. John will be talking at the Bush Theatre on 11th November about her unconventional childhood in Africa which inspired her memoir Rainbow’s End and children’s books such as The White Giraffe and The Elephant’s Tale. This year’s poetry reading, taking place on 12th November, is a selection of work from the UK’s leading poetry award, the Forward Prize, read by award-winning actors including Lindsey Duncan and Simon Williams. MP and former Home Secretary Alan Johnson will be discussing his book This Boy, a memoir about growing up in the slums of North Kensington, and journalist Geordie Grieg will examine the extraordinary life of his friend Lucien Freud. To commemorate the centenary of the onset of the First World War, one of the country’s leading historians, Sir Max Hastings, will be talking about his new account of the origins of the war, Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War 1914. And for fiction fans, on 21st November, the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Deborah Moggach, will be talking frankly about love and writing as well as her experience of working as a screenwriter on the cinematic adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
In addition to providing the local community with a literary event any reader would be itching to attend, this is a not-for-profit festival that supports Beanstalk, a national charity recruiting, training, and supporting volunteer readers who are placed in primary schools throughout England. Beanstalk works with teachers to identify and help children who may have fallen behind with their reading for any number of reasons. Last year, nearly 2,400 Beanstalk volunteers assisted over 7,300 children in 1,100 schools across England (including west London), with many of them moving up two reading sub-levels on average.
Whether you’re looking to expand your reading horizons, meet your favourite author, or gain some invaluable insight into the writing process, the Book Green Festival of Books should satisfy your bookish bug this autumn.
For more information and to book tickets, visit the website.
