Alexandra Palace today launches London’s newest literary festival, North London Book Fest (21 – 24 March 2024), with headliners Natalie Haynes, Leo Vardiashvili, Peter Hain, Lemony Snicket, Erin Kelly, Michael Rosen and Stuart Turton.
The ambitious new festival will connect readers with iconic authors and up-and-coming writers, creating a feast of readings, panel discussions, Q&As, workshops and book-signings for readers of all genres and ages.
Featuring deep dives for crime and thriller fans, talks by children’s authors, discussions on modern parenting, the environment, sexism, food culture and being Muslim in Britain, the four day event will present a rich tapestry of the UK’s thriving literary scene.
The North London Book Fest is a single-site festival, hosted in the Grade II Palace’s East Wing, with events taking place in the award-winning Theatre, Creativity Pavilion and Transmitter Hall.
Erin Kelly, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Skeleton Key and He Said She Said: “I’m thrilled to be part of this new festival set in, and celebrating North London, where I live as well as write. In the name of research I’ve walked Highgate Woods, Alexandra Park, Hampstead Heath and the towpaths of the Grand Union Canal and my latest, The House of Mirrors, takes in Camden Passage and Holloway Road. I can’t wait to connect with readers in what, let’s face it, is the very best corner of the capital.”
Joint-Festival Director and Head of Creative Learning at Alexandra Palace, Mark Civil: “We’ve had a long-held ambition to bring a literary festival to the Palace, building on sold out events hosted here in recent years by the likes of Philip Pullman, Miriam Margolyes, Lucy Worsley, Bob Odenkirk, Quentin Tarantino and Jacqueline Wilson. We’ve also taken inspiration from the success of our Children’s Book Award to broaden our reach, welcoming authors and activities that will delight book lovers of all ages.”
Kate Ereira, Joint-Festival Director: “It’s a really stimulating and diverse programme, with so much on offer. We’ll be asking questions about AI and creativity, about parenting and about identity. We’re launching much-anticipated new titles from bestselling novelists and showcasing some of the year’s most exciting debuts, such as Leo Vardiashvili who is in conversation with Cecile Pin. We’ve got some of the very best children’s writers giving workshops and we’ve got fiction set right in our own neighbourhood. We’re so excited for people to come and enjoy it.”
Emma Dagnes, Alexandra Palace CEO: “As a charity our learning activities are at the heart of our cultural programme, working alongside our renowned events to provide people access to the arts. The opportunity to invite people to the Palace to share a love for the world of literature and the topics these amazing books and authors explore, is so exciting. We can’t wait to welcome everyone here in March.”
North London Book Fest is supported by Waterstones, who will be running the festival bookshop, with funding provided by Tottenham Grammar School Foundation and Haringey Council. Renaissance One and ckbk also support individual events. The festival coincides with the finale of Biblio-buzz, the annual Alexandra Palace Children’s Book Award, which will see 800 young people attend a ceremony in the Theatre on Friday 22 March. In addition to the packed festival line-up there’s a range of performances in the festival village from emerging musicians, spoken word artists, stand-ups, plus learning and engagement activities for children and families.
The action kicks off on Thursday 21 March with pub quiz night in the festival village when discerning quizzers will pitch their puzzling mastery against the fiendish mind of quiz book author Frank Paul – ‘superstar of the world of quizzies’. This is followed on the Friday 22 March by an evening of intrigue with a round-up of the latest thought-provoking crime and political thrillers, hosted by award-winning author, Victoria Dowd, of the bestselling Smart Woman’s Mystery series, ahead of packed festival across Saturday 23 March and Sunday 24 March (further details below).
THURSDAY 21 MARCH 2024
FESTIVAL LAUNCH EVENT: ‘THE CRYPTIC PUB QUIZ BOOK’ NIGHT WITH FRANK PAUL
(7pm, East Court)
Discerning quizzers, come pitch your puzzling mastery against the fiendish mind of Frank Paul – ‘superstar of the world of quizzies’.
Quizzers expect to be delighted and perplexed by wordsearch poems, jokes and rebuses, a bewildering encounter with a sphinx and a confounding murder mystery. With rounds like Motion Picture Mixture, Eight Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Gogglebox Jigsaw and Chemical Element Blind Date. Are you ready to have your mind bent, blown and boggled!
This is the perfect evening for discerning quizzers, quiz book lovers or people looking for a diverting evening out with friends.
‘It’s like a brilliant escape room had a baby with a cryptic crossword’ Darragh Ennis, The Chase
FRIDAY 22 MARCH
THEATRE
CRIME AND THRILLERS NIGHT
(7pm, Theatre)
Cosy up with leading crime and thriller authors for a thought-provoking evening of intrigue – that’s sure to delight diehard crime and thriller fans or someone simply looking for a gripping read. Award-winning author, Victoria Dowd, of the bestselling Smart Woman’s Mystery series and board of the Crime Writers’ Association and head of its London branch, chairs both crime and thriller panels.
Crime Panel with Leigh Russell, Charlotte Langley & William Hussey
The Blame – Charlotte Langley discusses her debut crime thriller exploring police corruption and misogyny, currently optioned for TV by a major UK producer. Who can you trust? When the DCI in charge become the prime suspect.
Revenge Killing – international bestselling author Leigh Russell, discusses the latest instalment of her Geraldine Steel series, which have sold over a million copies worldwide. Can Geraldine Steel help her friend to uncover the truth?
Jericho’s Dead – William Hussey discusses the second novel in the ground-breaking crime series – featuring crime fiction’s very first Traveller detective.
Thriller Panel with Sunny Singh & Peter Hain
Hotel Arcadia – Sunny Singh discusses her explosive thriller set in a luxury hotel under siege by terrorists.
The Lion Conspiracy – Peter Hain, Labour Peer and former senior government minister, discusses the final book in his trilogy of environmental thrillers.
SATURDAY 23 MARCH
THEATRE
MICHAEL ROSEN
(1.30pm, Theatre)
Michael Rosen, beloved children’s author, poet, presenter broadcaster and activist, will delight audiences with readings from a selection of picture books for young children including The Big Dreaming – a modern classic about love, hope and the dreams that sustain us. More resonant tales from the master storyteller!
LEMONY SNICKET IN CONVERSATION WITH JACK MEGGITT-PHILLIPS
(4pm, Theatre)
Our very own Biblio-buzz winning children’s author Jack Meggitt-Phillips talks to internationally renowned bestselling author of thirteen volumes of A Series of Unfortunate Events about his latest book Poison For Breakfast – a cautionary tale about the author’s own demise. ‘For curious children and adults alike’.
ERIN KELLY IN CONVERSATION WITH JANE FALLON
(7.30pm, Theatre)
Erin Kelly, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Skeleton Key and He Said She Said, discusses her latest gripping and ingenious new novel The House of Mirrors, a standalone novel, which revisits the characters from her much-loved debut The Poison Tree. Erin is in conversation with Jane Fallon, the Queen of revenge comedy whose latest novel Over Sharing is out now in paperback.
‘A bold, beautiful, sexy, full-throttle thriller: immaculately constructed with rich details’ Nicci French
TRANSMITTER HALL
NADEINE ASBALI – VEILED THREAT: ON BEING VISIBLY MUSLIM IN BRITAIN
(1.30pm, Transmitter Hall)
Nadeine’s life changed overnight. As a mixed-race teenager, she had unknowingly been passing as white her entire life – until she decided to wear the hijab. Nadeine Asbali explore themes of identity, belonging and navigating life as a visibly Muslim woman in Britain.
‘A compelling exploration of how a piece of cloth can transform your role in the fabric of society’. Dr Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch
PARENTING PANEL WITH DR BETH MOSLEY AND STU OAKLEY, HOSTED BY NELL FRIZZELL
(3pm, Transmitter Hall)
Journalist, writer and Vogue columnist, Nell Frizzell talks to Dr Beth Mosley author of Happy Families: How to protect and support your child’s Mental Health and Stu Oakley, The Queer Parent: Everything You Need to Know From Gay to Ze, about their evidenced based practical guides to modern parenting.
KEVIN MOROSKY, BLACK WOMEN ALWAYS: CONVERSATIONS ON LIFE, CULTURE & CREATIVITY (4.30pm, Transmitter Hall)
Film auteur and Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Morosky, invites the women he considers his most trusted advisors, closest friends, and biggest inspiration to explore how their impact shapes culture and nourishes society.
Kevin is joined by Gynelle Leon, founder of cult plant shop PRICK LDN, performer and writer Kelechi Okafor and mother, grandmother, artist and activist Mpho Mckenzie.
HUMA QURESHI IN CONVERSATION WITH SARA NISHA ADAMS
(6pm, Transmitter Hall)
Two novels set in our local area! Huma Qureshi’s enchanting debut Playing Games explores sisterhood and the moral questions of drawing on others’ lives for creative inspiration. She will be in conversation with Sara Nisha Adams, acclaimed author of The Reading List, whose latest book The Twilight Garden is a life-affirming story of small spaces, small pleasures – and a community lost and found.
JAY OWENS – DUST: THE MODERN WORLD IN A TRILLION PARTICLES
(7.30pm, Transmitter Hall)
Jay Owens takes us on a journey to uncover the profound impact of dust on our planet and human life in the 21st century. Drawing on a rich blend of history, science, and personal experience, Owens reveals the hidden consequences of environmental devastation caused by the relentless pursuit of profit and power.
‘Superb’ Daily Telegraph
‘Brilliant’ Sunday Times
‘Eye-opening . . . impressive’ Guardian
‘Powerful’ Nature
CREATIVITY PAVILION
PATIENCE AGBABI – THE PAST MASTER
(Midday, Creativity Pavilion)
Join poet and children’s author Patience Agbabi and leap to the Past, the Present and the Future to fight crime across time, protect our future and celebrate our differences With time travel, friendship, and the fate of the world at stake, these adventurous books following neurodivergent time-traveller Elle have won multiple awards and found a special place on countless children’s bookshelves.
This event is brought to you in association with Renaissance One.
EVE WERSOCKI MORRIS- THE WILDSTORM CURSE & THE BIRD SINGERS
(2pm, Creativity Pavilion)
Join award-nominated and bestselling children’s author Eve Wersocki-Morris for a super-interactive and spookily fun creative writing workshop!
Sharpen your pencils to create your own mythical monsters and write them into a suspenseful story.
Hear eerie extracts from Eve’s magical mystery books The Bird Singers and The Wildstorm Curse to get your ideas soaring. Perfect for young writers and illustrators aged 8+ and especially enjoyable for those with dark imaginations!
SUNDAY 24 MARCH
THEATRE
AN AFTERNOON WITH NATALIE HAYNES
(2pm, Theatre)
Author Natalie Haynes (‘a rock star mythologist’ – Washington Post) the bestselling Pandora’s Jar and Trojan War, A Thousand Ships, is standing up for the Classics at the North London Book Fest. Natalie writes for the Guardian. She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4: nine series of her show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, have been broadcast on Radio 4: all series are available now on BBC Sounds. She will make series 10 in 2024.
‘Haynes is a master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories’ Daily Telegraph
‘Haynes is a brilliant classicist as well as a stand-up comedian’ – Neil Mackay, Herald
‘Natalie Haynes is beyond brilliant’ – Amanda Foreman
LAURA BATES – FIX THE SYSTEM NOT THE WOMEN
(4.30pm, Theatre)
Sunday Times bestselling author and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, Laura Bates confronts audiences with her first hand accounts and shocking evidence in a blazing examination of the societal systems that fail to protect women, and is a rallying cry for reform.
‘Powerful’ Sunday Times
‘A persuasive page-turner’ Observer
STUART TURTON – THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD
(7.30pm, Theatre)
Author of Costa winner The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton discusses his new novel in which the last survivors of a catastrophic global event must solve a murder in race against time to save what’s left of the world.
‘Stu Turton has done it again. I finished The Last Murder at the End of the World last night and it might just be his barmiest, cleverest and creepiest mystery yet’ Tom Hindle
‘Brilliant…intoxicating…enough horror, mystery, and crime to keep anyone enthralled’ The Independent
TRANSMITTER HALL
ANDY STANTON IN CONVERSATION WITH ROBIN INCE
(Midday, Transmitter Hall)
Benny the Blue Whale: A Descent into Story, Language and the Madness of ChatGPT takes on AI as it changes the world at an astonishingly frightening speed – can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords?!!
Andy Stanton Vs ChatGPT – presided over by comedian, author, broadcaster and populariser of scientific ideas Robin Ince.
MATT CAIN IN CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW TODD
(2pm, Transmitter Hall)
Matt Cain, author of Becoming Ted and The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, discusses his utterly joyful new novel about 20 years of love and friendship, culminating at Manchester Pride – One Love.
Join Matt, former journalist and former Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine as he catches up with Matthew Todd, a multi award-winning writer and also former editor of the UK’s best-selling gay magazine, Attitude. His book, Straight Jacket, the first British book about LGBT mental health, was voted Best LGBT Book Of The Year by Boyz readers and has been described as ‘utterly brilliant’ by Owen Jones in The Guardian, as ‘life saving’ and ‘game changing’ by readers.
ROMAN WOMEN WITH ELODIE HARPER, HONOR CARGILL-MARTIN AND EMMA SOUTHON
(3.30pm, Transmitter Hall)
Forget everything you know about the classics, and join our Roman Women’s panel for alternative her-stories
Elodie Harper discusses The Temple of Fortuna the final instalment of Sunday Times bestselling Wolf Den series, hailed by The Times as ‘one of the best trilogies since Wolf Hall’.
Honor Cargill-Martin charts the story of Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius and one of the most notorious women to have inhabited the Roman world.
Emma Southon, co-host of the History is Sexy podcast, offers an irreverent and funny alternative history of Ancient Rome in A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women.
DIANE PURKISS IN CONVERSATION WITH LUCY LETHBRIDGE
(5pm, Transmitter Hall)
Diane Purkiss discusses English Food: A People’s History taking audiences on a unique journey through the centuries, exploring the development of recipes and rituals for mealtimes such a breakfast, lunch and dinner, to show how food is both a reflection of and inspiration for social continuity and change.
Diane is in conversation with Lucy Lethbridge author of the brilliantly entertaining and authoritative history of two centuries of British tourism in continental Europe, Tourists: How the British Went Abroad to Find Themselves. This event is sure to satiate food lovers and historians alike!
‘Absolute gem…English Food is a fabulous read. A richly entertaining and enlightening social history of England…Superb’ Sunday Times
LEO VARDIASHVILI IN CONVERSATION WITH CECILE PIN
(6.30pm, Transmitter Hall)
Novelist Leo Vardiashvili discusses his extraordinary debut, Hard by a Great Forest with Cecile Pin, author of Guardian Book of the Year and Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted Wandering Souls.
These two stunning debut novels depict a refugee experience. Leo Vardiashvili came to London thirty years ago as a refugee from Georgia when he was twelve years old. Hard by a Great Forest is a winding pursuit through magic and mystery returning to a lost homeland – a rare, searching tale of home, memory and sacrifice – of one family’s mission to rescue one another and put the past to rest.
Wandering Souls explores the bonds that connect people even when separated by borders or death itself, through the story of a family fleeing Vietnam.
CREATIVITY PAVILION
EWA JOZEFKOWICZ – THE WOLF TWINS
(11am, Creativity Pavilion)
Join Waterstones Children’s Book Prize shortlisted author Ewa Jozefkowicz for a creative writing workshop focusing on her two most recent middle grade novels, The Dragon in the Bookshop and The Wolf Twins, and explore the key ingredients of a good mystery story.
Children will write their own exciting openings and invent incredible mythic creatures.
ALEXANDRA SHEPPARD – ALYSSA AND THE SPELL GARDEN
(12.30pm, Creativity Pavilion)
Join Alexandra Sheppard as she introduces her brand-new novel, Alyssa and the Spell Garden.
When Alyssa is forced to spend the summer holiday with her mum’s family in North London, she discovers the magic school run by her great aunt in a secret spell garden, and her latent magical powers explode into life!
Hear about what inspired Alexandra to become an author and find out why green spaces and community are so important for our wellbeing.
ELEANOR FORD – A WHISPER OF CARDAMOM (CURATED BY ckbk, THE ULTIMATE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES TO COOK)
(2.30pm, Creativity Pavilion)
Award-winning author of Fire Island and The Nutmeg Trail, Eleanor Ford explores cooking, cultural history, symbolism and flavours of spice and how they can be used in sweet cooking and baking through 80 recipes.
This event is brought to you in partnership with online subscription ckbk
