Jonathan Coe is one of Britain’s greatest living novelists whose books shine a light on how we as a society see ourselves. From his hit 1994 book What a Carve Up, through The Rotters Club, Number 11 and Middle England, he has found a moving, funny and true way to tell the story of Britain. … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival presents: Jonathan Coe"
It’s time everyone knew the story of Charles Ignatius Sancho. In the mid-1700s, a boy born on a slave ship found his way to Georgian London and miraculously survived. The boy grew and went on to tread the boards of London’s theatres, become a composer, lead the fight to end slavery and become the very … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival presents: Paterson Joseph"
Natalie Lee is familiar to thousands of people through her Instagram presence as @StyleMeSunday. Her book, Feeling Myself, is about how warped society’s approach to sex has become and how the shame that surrounds conversation about sex can hold women back. It’s an honest and revealing memoir in which she digs deep into her own … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival presents: Natalie Lee"
Forensic psychiatrist Sohom Das has spent 15 years trying to understand, treat and rehabilitate dangerous people. His work takes him to high-security prisons and securely locked hospital wards across the country, as well as to courtrooms where he gives evidence as an expert witness. ‘The vast majority of psychiatric patients are not violent,’ he says. … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival: Sohom Das"
Ladybird Books are instantly recognisable. As well as helping generations of children to learn to read, they represented a vision of how people perceived their lives as things were changing around them. Helen Day is the unofficial – but unchallenged – historian of the role the books played in our lives. She will be celebrating … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival presents: Helen Day – Visions of our future"
Until 1965, Wanstead was truly a part of Essex, and even now there are tell-tale signs all around us of a time before it became part of a London borough. In the 1980s, though, Essex became the stuff of tabloid headlines, supposed stereotypes and populist politics. Author Tim Burrows, in his book The Invention of … Continue reading "Wanstead Book Festival presents: Tim Burrows"
Parents have plenty of worries to occupy their minds… how to deal deal with anxiety, peer pressure, phones, stress. And that’s just the parents – children face a whole load … Continue reading "How to be the Grown-Up: Wanstead Book Festival presents Martha Deiros Collado"
NB. THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. Ticket-holders will be contacted by email. Death of a Bookseller has become a hit novel in the past year but unlike many popular crime … Continue reading "Death of a Bookseller: Wanstead Book Festival presents Alice Slater"
Next year marks 10 years since Geraldine Roberts’ book The Angel and the Cad revived a generation’s interest in the tragedy of Wanstead House. Historian Hannah Armstrong, author of Wanstead … Continue reading "The Angel, The Cad and The House: Wanstead Book Festival presents Geraldine Roberts and Hannah Armstrong"
In the first Wanstead Book Festival Family Book Day, staged jointly as part of Redbridge Libraries’ Fabula festival, a day of fun, stories and books for children. 11.30am Celebrated … Continue reading "Family Book Day featuring Tola Okogwu, Supertato and Joseph Elliott"
Philosopher Julian Baggini has for two decades demystified the role of philosophy in public life, discussing in clear and easy-to-understand terms the principles behind some of our modern dilemmas. In … Continue reading "How The World Eats: Wanstead Book Festival presents Julian Baggini"
From Captain Scott to JFK, from Mother Teresa to Che Guevara, Otto English’s Fake Heroes debunks conventional wisdom about some of history’s biggest names, bringint to light some of the darker truths they would rather have kept buried, while also celebrating unsung heroes. Otto English, aka journalist Andrew Scott, has become one of the country’s … Continue reading "Fake Heroes: Wanstead Book Festival presents Otto English"
New York Times bestselling author Daisy Goodwin tells the story of a scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer in history, Maria Callas, and one of the richest men in the world. Callas’s glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty made her the toast of opera houses all over the … Continue reading "Diva: Wanstead Book Festival presents Daisy Goodwin"
Paul Sinha is an award-winning comedian, a quizzing mastermind and a happily-married husband. But for much of his life none of these seemed remotely imaginable. As a boy, Paul struggled … Continue reading "One Sinha Lifetime: Wanstead Book Festival presents Paul Sinha"
A free talk by a local writer David Fulton on the disappearance of Yugoslavia, looking at the country’s diversity (ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural). After dealing lightly with these issues … Continue reading "Whatever Happened to Yugoslavia?"
