Saturday 30 September
10:00 - 17:00, Dame Alice Owen, Angel
Day 1 -
Saturday 30 September
Speakers
Laura Dockrill
Laura Dockrill is an award-winning children’s author, illustrator, script-writer and performance poet.
As a script-writer she co-wrote Goldfish which was nominated for the BAFTA for Best British Short in 2020. As a playwright her work has been seen at the Bush Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall and the Young Vic, and she is developing an original series idea with Sister Pictures.
Laura has published an adult memoir What Have I Done? detailing her struggles with post-partum psychosis and is now being adapted for television. She’ll be discussing the memoir and what the experience has taught her.
Taylor Dior Rumble
Taylor-Dior Rumble is a writer, born and raised in south-east London. She started her journalism career at BBC News at the age of 18 and has since gone on to produce and cover stories ranging from the politics of Black hair to colourism in Hollywood.
Her first novel, The Situationship, released this summer is published by #Merky Books.
Taylor will be appearing on a panel alongside Jyoti Patel to discuss being debut #Merky Books writers and their respective careers.
Jyoti Patel
Jyoti Patel is an author and winner of the 2021 #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize. An extract of her debut novel, The Things That We Lost, was chosen as the winning submission from over 2,000 entries for the 2021 #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, a competition that aims to discover unpublished, underrepresented writers aged 16-30 from the UK and Ireland.
Jyoti has been selected as one of The Observer’s 10 Best New Novelists for 2023.
She’ll be appearing alongside Taylor on our #Merky panel.
JP Watson
JP Watson is a writer and the founder of award-winning publisher The Pound Project, based in Birmingham. The company has published more than 20 titles by authors and illustrators such as Jess Phillips, Sebastian Faulks, Dolly Alderton, Richard Curtis and many more.
JP will be discussing The Pound Project unique funding model, the state
of publishing and becoming an entrepreneur in the creative arts.
Rebecca Perry
Rebecca has written two full-length poetry collections – Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit – both published by Bloodaxe Books (2015, 2021), as well as four pamphlets.
Her poetry has been shortlisted for awards including the T S Eliot Prize and her first collection won the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. Her first work of creative non-fiction, On Trampolining, was published by Makina Books in 2023. She is from London, where she also lives.
Stalls
Herne Hill Books and Clapham Books
We are over the moon to announce that both Herne Hill Books and Clapham Books will have a stall at the festival.
This means that once you have heard our panelists speak, you can head to the market section of the festival and purchase a copy of their book - you may even be able to get them to sign it for you whilst they are there!
Femmestival
FEMMESTIVAL is an all-female music festival which seeks to close the gap women often face in the live music sector, by showcasing the women making waves across London's local music scene. This year's inaugural festival will bring together ten female artists and DJs, while also looking to spotlight female-owned small businesses with a range of stalls. There will also be a series of online projects for festival-goers to collaborate on in advance of the event, reflecting FEMMESTIVAL's aim to place collaboration and community at the heart of their work.
You can find FEMMESTIVAL on Instagram @femmestival.uk, or on their website, www.femmestival.co.uk.
