We can’t wait to welcome ex-Alleyn’s student Caleb Azumah Nelson back to Dulwich to talk about his latest novel Small World. Caleb’s debut novel won the Costa First Novel Award and Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards.

The one thing that can solve Stephen’s problems is dancing. Stephen has only ever known himself in song. But what becomes of him when the music fades? When his father begins to speak of shame and sacrifice, when his home is no longer his own? How will he find space for himself: a place where he can feel beautiful, a place he might feel free?

Set over the course of three summers in Stephen’s life, from London to Ghana and back again, Small Worlds is an exhilarating and expansive novel about the worlds we build for ourselves, the worlds we live, dance and love within.

Caleb will be in chatting to Marie-Claire Amuah whose debut novel One for Sorrow, Two for Joy was published in August 2022.

A Dulwich Festival event.

Back

Jojo Moyes’s novels have sold 51 million copies around the world, hit the Number One spot in 12 countries and have been translated into 46 languages. Her most recent novel, The Giver of Stars, was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

Her latest novel Someone Else’s Shoes explores the power of female friendship and tells the story of two women in their forties who find their lives irrevocably altered when they accidentally swap gym bags…

Nisha Cantor and Sam Kemp are two very different women. When wealthy Nisha is cut off by her husband, she doesn’t even have the shoes she was standing in.

That’s because Sam, struggling to keep herself and her family afloat, has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. Now Nisha’s got nothing. And Sam’s walking tall with shoes that catch eyes – and give her career an unexpected boost.

Except Nisha wants her life back – and she’ll start with her shoes . . .

Back

We’re delighted to be welcoming Dulwich College alumni and bestselling author Tom Rob Smith back to the College for a special event to celebrate the publication of his new book Cold People.

The world has fallen. Without warning, a mysterious and omnipotent force has claimed the planet for their own. There are no negotiations, no demands, no reasons given for their actions. All they have is a message: humanity has thirty days to reach the one place on Earth where they will be allowed to exist . . . Antarctica.

Cold People follows the journeys of a handful of those who endure the frantic exodus to the most inhospitable environment on the planet. While they cling to life on the ice, they must also confront the most urgent of challenges: can they change and evolve rapidly enough to ensure humanity’s future? Can they build a new society in the cold?

Tom will be chatting to Dr Joseph Spence, Master of Dulwich College.

Tom Rob Smith attended Dulwich College from 1987 to 1997. Tom won the International Thriller Writer Award for Best First Novel, the Galaxy Book Award for Best New Writer, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the inaugural Desmond Elliot Prize. Child 44 is now a major motion picture starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman.

Back

Persiana Everyday is a new collection of more than 100 fuss-free, crowd-pleasing recipes for everyday eating. Designed to ensure maximum flavour with the greatest of ease – including no-cook, quick-prep, quick-cook and one-pot dishes – Persiana Everyday is full of generous, inviting and delicious recipes to cook again and again for family and friends. Recipes include pomegranate and harissa roasted aubergine steak; sticky tamarind, garlic & tomato green beans; orange & dark chocolate rubble cake, and more.

Persiana Everyday will be the go-to cookbook for those who love food packed with flavour but whether due to a busy family or simply due to life’s demanding pace, just don’t have the time to spend in the kitchen.

Sabrina will be demonstrating some recipes from this new book and will be chatting to Guardian journalist and author Felicity Cloake.

Sabrina Ghayour is one of the strongest voices in Middle Eastern food today. Sabrina’s debut cookbook, Persiana , was awarded ‘Best New Cookbook’ at the Observer Food Monthly awards 2014 and ‘Book of the Year’ at the 2015 Food & Travel Awards. Her follow up books, Sirocco, Feasts, Bazaar, and her most recent book Simply were all Sunday Times bestsellers.

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Back

Village Books and Alleyn’s School Enterprises are delighted to welcome bookshop favourite Elly Griffiths to Dulwich to celebrate the publication of her new thriller Bleeding Heart Yard.

DS Cassie Fitzgerald has a secret – but it’s one she’s deleted from her memory. In the 1990s when she was at school, she and her friends killed a fellow pupil. Thirty years later, Cassie is happily married and loves her job as a police officer.

One day her husband persuades her to go to a school reunion and another ex-pupil, Garfield Rice, is found dead, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of her old friends has killed again. Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies?

It’s in Cassie’s interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like the latter and she seems to be succeeding. Until someone else is killed…

Elly Griffiths is the author of the bestselling series featuring Dr Ruth Galloway. The most recent, The Locked Room , was a Sunday Times hardback number one. The series has won the CWA Dagger in the Library and has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Back

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s Middle East Editor has been covering the region since 1989. More recently he has been reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine from the heart of the conflict. The Making of the Modern Middle East is his account of the making of the modern Middle East.

In this new book, in part based on his acclaimed podcast, Bowen takes us on a journey across the Middle East and through its history. He meets ordinary men and women on the front line, their leaders, whether brutal or benign, and he explores the power games that have so often wreaked devastation on civilian populations as those leaders, whatever their motives, jostle for political, religious and economic control.

With his deep understanding of the political, cultural and religious differences between countries as diverse as Erdogan’s Turkey, Assad’s Syria and Netanyahu’s Israel and his long experience of covering events in the region, Bowen offers readers a gripping and invaluable guide to the modern Middle East, how it came to be and what its future might hold.

Jeremy Bowen is the BBC’s International Editor. He has reported from more than seventy countries, covering thirteen wars including those in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Chechnya, Somalia, the Middle East, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. His previous books include Six Days, War Stories and The Arab Uprisings .

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Back

Robert Harris is the bestselling author of Fatherland, The Ghostwriter, Munich, and more. Act of Oblivion is his spellbinding new novel reimagining the biggest manhunt of the 17th century: the search for two Englishmen, charged in the killing of King Charles I…

1660. Colonel Edward Whalley and his son-in-law, Colonel William Goffe, cross the Atlantic. They are on the run and wanted for the murder of Charles I. Under the provisions of the Act of Oblivion, they have been found guilty in absentia of high treason. In London, Richard Nayler, secretary of the regicide committee of the Privy Council, is tasked with tracking down the fugitives. He’ll stop at nothing until the two men are brought to justice. A reward hangs over their heads – for their capture, dead or alive.

Act of Oblivion is an epic journey across continents, and a chase like no other.

Robert Harris is the author of fourteen bestselling novels including the Cicero Trilogy – Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator – Fatherland, Enigma, The Ghost, An Officer and a Spy , which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, and more. His work has been translated into forty languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Back

Maggie O’Farrell is a bestselling and award-winning author. She has written eight novels and in 2020 her novel Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Maggie will be discussing her latest novel The Marriage Portrait with journalist Hannah Beckerman.

The Marriage Portrait brings to life Florence in the 1560s as Maggie tells the tale of Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici. When Lucrezia’s sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d’Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust into the limelight. Alfonso quickly asks for her hand in marriage and Lucrezia faces court life for the first time.

As Lucrezia sits in uncomfortable finery for the painting which is to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferrarese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.

With the drama which she illuminated Shakespeare’s world, Maggie brings Renaissance Italy to life and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her survival.

Maggie O’Farrell’s novels include The Hand That First Held Mine, Instructions For A Heatwave, and The Distance Between Us.

This event will be followed by a book signing.

Back

This is your chance to meet Jacqueline Wilson as she signs copies of her new book (and the first in the series by an author other than Enid Blyton) The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure.

Milo, Mia and Birdy are on a countryside holiday with their parents when they wander into the Enchanted Wood. Among the whispering leaves, there is a beautiful tree that stands high above the rest. They soon discover that the Magic Faraway Tree is home to some remarkable creatures, including a fairy called Silky, her best friend Moonface and a whole host of talking animals. Together the siblings explore the Faraway Tree and the extraordinary places they discover above it, including the Land of Unicorns, the Land of Bouncy Castles and the Land of Princes and Princesses.

“I had such fun writing a brand-new Faraway Tree book. I read the three original Enid Blyton books many times as a child, marvelled at all the adventures and wished I could be Silky’s best friend and share Moonface’s toffee shocks. It’s a privilege to be able to write about Enid Blyton’s iconic characters and invent new children and magical creatures of my own for new readers to enjoy.”

In a gorgeous hardback package beautifully illustrated throughout by Mark Beech, this is a book that will be treasured by existing Faraway Tree fans of all generations, as well as readers who are discovering the magic of the Faraway Tree for the first time

We want all fans to have the best possible experience meeting Jacqueline. In the interest of the limited time available and to maximise the number of readers that Jacqueline can meet, the following terms and conditions will be in effect for this book signing. We are putting these rules in place for the safety and enjoyment of everyone involved.

Please respect each other and Jacqueline on the day. Be kind to each other and take the opportunity whilst in line to make some friends. We look forward to seeing you there!

Terms and conditions :

Due to the anticipated high turn-out, please come prepared to queue – we will aim to keep you updated on your waiting time which may be around an hour. You will need to queue outside on Calton Avenue so please do come dressed appropriately for the weather and keep hydrated. Our shop is small so to keep everyone safe we’ll be letting you in a few at a time.

Jacqueline is very sorry but in the time allowed she will only be signing copies of The Magic Faraway Tree: A New Adventure at this event. Please don’t bring along other books from home, as they will not be signed.

For health and safety reasons Jacqueline will not be participating in any posed photos. We request that customers stay in front of the signing table. You are welcome to take photos of Jacqueline while she is signing.

Please note the event may be filmed of photographed, as an attendee you consent to footage and/or images of you being used for promotional purposes.

If you have further questions, please contact: events@village-books.co.uk

Back