What we’re about
Wednesday 5th - Saturday 8th of March 2025 at Islington Central Library. All events are free!
The programme includes the Indie Publishing Fair, and a series of talks and panels from authors and publishing professionals. And all of it is completely free to attend, funded by Indie Novella, Arts Council England and Islington Libraries.
On Wednesday 5th March we will open the festival with a takeover by Jacaranda Books and a special panel dedicated to The Art of Romance, featuring a wonderful mix of romance writers: Sareeta Dominco, Lisa Bent and Rasheed Ashanti Malcolm. The following evening we will celebrate International Women’s Day with a panel of writers who will delve into craft, identity and voice: Catherine Mayer, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, and Kelly Frost and facilitated by journalist Emily Rhodes.
On Saturday 8th we will be welcoming 30 award-winning and game-changing independent publishers including Influx Press, époque Press, Jacaranda Books, Weather Glass Books, Cipher Press, Renard Press and many more who will be running stalls at the Indie Publishing Fair selling and demonstrating their wonderful books and answering any questions on the publishing process and what they publish.
We will also be hosting panels and event with some of the UK’s most pioneering authors. Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, Camilla Grudova, and Observer Debut Novelists of the Year, Santanu Bhattacharya, lead the way. Gary Budden (Influx), Jack Thompson (Cipher Press) and Jess Chandler (Prototype Publishing) form our Publishers Panel and discuss what they look for when publishing a novel and answer any budding authors’ questions. Neil Griffiths, James Tookey and Truda Spruyt, who orchestrate and run publicity for Republic Consciousness Prize, the Orwell Prize and the Booker Prize respectively, lifting the lid on what it takes to run a literary prize. And acclaimed authors Anne Hawk, Eva Wyles and Alice Chadwick speak about the writing and publishing process in our Debut Authors Panel.
