Chiswick Book Festival Tickets Go on Sale
Jeremy Hunt, Lyce Doucet and Kathy Lette among authors participating
A selection of the participating authors in the 2025 Chiswick Book Festival
|
July 8, 2025
The Chiswick Book Festival will return for its 17th edition from 10 to 15 September, offering a varied programme of talks, workshops, walks and family events across multiple venues in the heart of Chiswick. Organised by St Michael & All Angels Church, the festival is a non-profit community event supporting literacy and arts-based charities, and has raised more than £150,000 since its inception in 2009.
This year’s line-up includes politicians, journalists, historians, novelists and entertainers. Notable participants include Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, former Labour minister Alan Johnson, journalists Lyse Doucet, Reeta Chakrabarti, and Jeremy Vine, author and broadcaster Kathy Lette, as well as artist Axel Scheffler.
The six-day schedule begins with an online book club event featuring Abigail Dean discussing The Death of Us. Thursday includes a showcase of local authors and a panel on Jane Austen’s legacy with novelist Gill Hornby and actors Phyllis Logan and Kevin McNally.
The main weekend programme takes place from Friday to Sunday, centred on venues around Turnham Green, including St Michael & All Angels Church, ArtsEd Theatre, Chiswick Cinema, and Theatre at the Tabard. Topics range from politics and history to memoir and crime fiction. Jeremy Hunt will reflect on the UK’s international role post-Brexit, while Alan Johnson discusses his biography of Harold Wilson. Lyse Doucet presents her new book on Afghanistan through the story of Kabul’s Inter-Continental Hotel, and Joan Smith offers a reassessment of women in Imperial Rome.
Workshops on memoir writing, social media branding, and handwriting analysis are offered alongside guided literary walks through Chiswick and talks on historical topics such as the D-Day deception plan and the cultural history of The Guardian.
The festival also features a children’s programme, held at local venues including Chiswick Library, the Catholic Centre, and Orchard House School. Events include storytelling with Axel Scheffler, comic strip workshops with Kev F Sutherland, and talks on topics ranging from astronomy to adventure fiction. A poetry prize-giving event for young writers also forms part of the weekend’s schedule.
Proceeds from the festival support St Michael & All Angels Church and three literacy charities: Read for Good, Koestler Arts (which promotes creative writing in the criminal justice system), and Read Easy Ealing (offering adult literacy support). A charity drinks event will be held on Saturday evening to raise further funds.
Most venues are within walking distance of Turnham Green tube station. Tickets for all events can be purchased online via the festival website. Waterstones Chiswick will be on hand to sell books, with many authors available for signings after their talks.
The festival’s continued success is supported by a network of volunteers, local businesses, and cultural institutions, including ArtsEd, Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, and Chiswick Cinema.
For programme details and to buy tickets, visit the festival's web site.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |