Alan Rusbridger Joins Top Line-up For 10th Chiswick Book Festival

Former Guardian editor joins glittering array of speakers

Alan Rusbridger, whose new book Breaking News will reflect on his twenty years as editor of the Guardian, is to give a keynote address at the Chiswick Book Festival next month.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist will speak to Robin Lustig, former presenter of The World Tonight, about breaking some of the most significant news stories of our time – and why quality journalism matters more than ever in the era of fake news. The talk will take place in the Andrew Lloyd Weber Theatre at Arts Ed on Friday, September 14th 2018.

Rusbridger joins a glittering array of previously announced speakers: best-selling historians Max Hastings, Charles Spencer and Kate Williams; novelists Joanna Trollope, Kate Mosse and Anthony Horowitz; crime writer Ann Cleeves; food and wine writers John Torode, ’Deliciously Ella’ Mills, Melissa Hemsley and Oz Clarke; political globe-watchers Tim Marshall and Misha Glenny; children’s author Julian Clary; poet and broadcaster Roger McGough; columnist Bryony Gordon; spy writers Charles Cumming, Henry Hemming, Roland Philipps and Jane Thynne; economists Dharshini David and Stewart Lansley and many more.

The Festival opens with a celebration of William Makepeace Thackeray and his best-loved novel Vanity Fair, to be serialised by ITV in September. Thackeray went to school in Chiswick and set the book’s opening chapter in Chiswick Mall. The speakers – in the beautiful grounds of Chiswick House, on Thursday 13 September – include Thackeray aficionado Professor John Sutherland, the series screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes, and Claudia Jessie, who plays Amelia Sedley.

The Chiswick Book Festival is a non-profit-making community event, which raises money for reading charities and St Michael & All Angels Church, which hosts the Festival.

There’s something for everyone at this year’s Festival: fiction, history, politics, economics, crime, gardening, espionage, memoir, TV, children’s books and other genres. There are the usual creative writing workshops and a new Cookbook Festival alongside, bringing more sessions for those who love the world of food and drink.

Tickets are on sale now for all these sessions:

History
- Charles Spencer (To Catch A King) - Friday September 14th
- Gillian Perry (The Legacy of Anne Frank) – Saturday September 15th
- Giles Milton (D-Day: The Soldiers’ Story) – Saturday September 15th
- Kate Williams (Rival Queens) – Sunday September 16th
- Max Hastings (Vietnam, An Epic Tragedy) – Sunday September 16th

Politics, economics and the world
- Tim Marshall (Divided) - Saturday September 15th
- Caroline Slocock (People Like Us) – Saturday September 15th
- Catherine Pepinster (The Keys and The Kingdom) - Sunday September 16th
- Misha Glenny (Beyond McMafia) – Sunday September 16th
- Tom Levitt (The Company Citizen, Stewart Lansley (It’s Basic Income) – Sunday September 16th
- Dharshini David (The Almighty Dollar) – Sunday September 16th

Joanna Trollope

Fiction
- Vanity Fair, Thackeray and Chiswick – John Sutherland, Gwyneth Hughes, Claudia Jessie - Thursday September 13th
- Kate Mosse (The Burning Chambers) – Saturday September 15th
- Vesna Goldsworthy (Monsieur Ka) – Saturday September 15th
- Joanna Trollope (An Unsuitable Match), Kate Morton (The Clockmaker’s Daughter) – Saturday September 15th
- Harriet Evans (The Wildflowers), Louise Candlish (Our House), Clare Hastings (The House in Little Chelsea) – Saturday September 15th
Crime fiction
- Ann Cleeves (Vera and Shetland series) – Saturday September 15th
- Amer Anwar (Brothers in Blood) and Amanda Robson (Guilt) – Monday September 16th

Spies – fiction and non-fiction
- Anthony Horowitz (James Bond, Forever and a Day) – Saturday September 15th
- Roland Philipps (A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean), Henry Hemming (M: Maxwell Knight, MI5’s Greatest Spymaster), Charles Cumming (The Man Between), Jane Thynne (Solitaire, the Clara Vine spy series) – Sunday September 15th

Overcoming adversity
- Body Image – Bryony Gordon (Eat, Drink, Run) and Nancy Tucker (That’s When People Started to Worry) – Saturday September 15th
- Emily Mayhew (A Heavy Reckoning) and Andy Grant (You’ll Never Walk) – Saturday September 15th
- Jessica Huie MBE (Purpose) – Sunday September 16th

A scene from last year's festival

Memoir
- Bella Pollen (Meet Me in the In Between) and Will Wyatt (Oxford Boy) – Sunday September 16th

Gardening
- Vanessa Berridge (Great British Gardeners) – Saturday September 15th
Poetry
- Young People’s Poetry Competition Prize-giving – Friday September 14th
- Roger McGough (80) – Friday September 14th

Faith
- Catherine Pepinster (The Keys and The Kingdom) and Mark Byford (The Annunciation: A Pilgrim’s Quest) – Sunday September 16th
- Hats of Faith – Sunday September 16th

John Torode

Cookery, food and drink – Cookbook Festival (www.cookbookfestival.org) includes:
- Ella Mills (Deliciously Ella) – Saturday September 15th
- Jane Devonshire (Masterchef winner, Hassle free, Gluten free) – Saturday September 15th
- Melissa Hemsley (Eat Happy) – Saturday September 15th
- John Torode (Sydney to Seoul) – Saturday September 15th
- Jack Monroe (Cooking on a Bootstrap) – Sunday September 16th
- Oz Clarke (Wine by the Glass) – Sunday September 16th

Children – includes:
- Poetry Competition Prize Giving with Roger McGough Friday September 14th
- The Really Big Pants Theatre Company: SUDDENLY! - Saturday September 15th
- Julian Clary: The Bolds in Trouble – Saturday September 15th
- Gareth P Jones (The Daily Joker) - Saturday September 15th
- Hats of Faith – Sunday September 16th

Journalism, media and TV
- Alan Rusbridger (Breaking News) – Friday September 14th
- Les Hinton (The Bootle Boy, A Working Life with Rupert Murdoch) – Saturday September 15th
- Tim Marshall (Divided) - Saturday September 15th
- Misha Glenny (Beyond McMafia) – Sunday September 16th
- Ann Cleeves (Vera and Shetland) – Saturday September 15th
- Gwyneth Hughes, Claudia Jessie (Vanity Fair) – Thursday September 13th

Admission to most events on Sunday (excluding workshops and Cookbook Festival sessions) is by a single Sunday Day Pass, price £20. Some venues have limited space and they cannot guarantee admission to all sessions, so please get there early for events you particularly want to see.

August 10, 2018