2024 Speakers

A number of our authors will be giving a talk with the opportunity to ask questions too.

These will be held in the Oak Room at the Graham Adams Centre.

There will also be 2 evening talks during the week before at The Library & The Community Hub at Galanos House.

See below for details.

Speakers for main Festival October13th at Graham Adams Centre:

11:45 - Oak Room : Rosemary Sturge

Rosemary is a writer of historical fiction, having published works based both in the UK and in Italy. Rosemary will talk about the process she follows researching and constructing her books.

12:30 - Oak Room : Suzanne Lissaman -

'You’re never too old to write your first book'

Like many people, “write a book” was on my bucket list but it was only 5 years ago, at the age of 52, that I started to make time to turn my dream into reality.

I pressed the “Publish” button for my first novel, “Be More Octopus”, in June 2023. Just over a year later, I have three published books, lots of positive reviews, a national award and I’m working on my fourth and fifth books.

I’ll share how I achieved all that, why I decided to turn down a traditional publishing deal, and what I would do differently if I were starting again.

13:15 - Oak Room: Steve Ford

Steve will talk about his book '20 West' - which charts the emotion, the physical experience, the joy and anguish of flying.

It is not a blow-by-blow account of the aviation industry. Nor is it merely one person’s story of their career in aviation. Rather, it is a collection of snapshots, some humorous, some heart breaking, of the people and the aircraft that shaped a lifelong passion for flight.

Having Trained as a professional aircraft engineer and pilot, he flew commercially for both aircraft manufacturers and airlines and with his extensive travel experience is well-placed to relate these stories.

14:00 - Oak Room: Person Irresponsible

'Everywhere I NEVER Wanted To Go'

Person Irresponsible is an author, adventurer, anxiety-sufferer and once academic who, on a whim, took it upon herself to walk from Mexico to Canada whilst fat, forty-something and very funny. It was just unfortunate timing that a global pandemic broke out just as she started slogging her way up her first mountain, emptying the wilderness of all of its tourists. It left her to mostly mutter away to herself how awful a time she was having. The full story is captured in her book “Everything You Ever Taught Me”.

Along the way she faced down bears, skirted around rattlesnakes and spent most nights wondering if her feet would ever recover. The hardest part of it all was missing her cat, The Admirable Nelson, also known as The Furry Imbecile.

So for her next adventure, she decided to buy a van, already converted into housing a bed, a kitchenette and a toilet. Throwing in the cat, gently, they set off to learn all she could about England: the home of her birth, but a place otherwise quite the mystery. Needing a route, she set off to visit all the rude and funny sounding places. Crank? Crackpot? Clown! She’s been called them all. "Everywhere I NEVER Wanted To Go" explores the Englishwoman’s culture and history of these lands via some hilarious place names.

14:45 Oak Room: Angie Moon

'Crime of the Century'

This is a comprehensive book about classic rock’s connections to true crime cases with over twenty true stories of classic rock musicians and their encounters with murderers, and musicians who committed murders

Angie will talk about the journey to writing her book and will go more in depth about a couple of narrative threads in the book: The first being about the cultural beginning, middle, and end of the 60s as discussed in my book: the JFK Assassination and The Band playing at Jack Ruby's nightclub in Fort Worth months before, Beatlemania and its effects on Charles Manson, and the Tate-LaBianca Murders (musicians who met Charles Manson), Altamont (the murder of Meredith Hunter that happened during The Rolling Stones' set), and Kent State (members of Devo were there and that's how they got their name). If there's time, Angie will also talk about the Easter eggs on the book cover and the coincidences surrounding January 1958 and February 3: The Day the Music Died - 3 February 1959, Dave Davies of The Kinks - popularised the Flying V - born 3 February 1947, Joe Meek's fortune teller friend predicting the day of Buddy Holly's death, Joe Meek's murder-suicide on 3 February 1967, and Phil Spector murdering Lana Clarkson on 3 February 2003.

External Talks

Southam Library - Tuesday 8th October 7:30 - 9-ish.

Suzanne Lissaman - "You're never too old to write your first book".

A more detailed version of the above talk.

Book your ticket here via Eventbrite - entry is free, the booking is just to ensure we have enough seats and refreshments!

Southam Community Hub (at Galanos House) Wednesday October 9th 7:30 - 9-ish

Steve Ford - "20 West"

Steve will give a more detailed talk about his adventures in aviation.

Book your ticket here via Eventbrite - entry is free, the booking is just to ensure we have enough seats and refreshments.

Please email us if you wish to attend so we can ensure we have enough seats and refreshments southambookfest@gmail.com