Ealing to get its own book festival with launch event featuring local author and broadcaster Rory Cellan-Jones – EALING.NEWS – The Voice of Ealing 7 towns

Plans for the Ealing Book Festival are taking shape with a launch event happening next month featuring local author and broadcaster Rory Cellan-Jones and author and illustrator duo Judith Eagle And Kim Geyer.

The launch event on 16 November 2023 will take place at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery and is supported by estate agency Savills.

Later in 2024, a full Ealing Book Festival will take place which will be based around Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery and is set to put reading and writing back to the cultural agenda for the borough. Previously, a Ealing Literary Festival ran for a number of years before being absorbed into the much larger and more successful Chiswick Book Festival.

For its launch event, former BBC technology reporter Rory Cellan-Jones speaks to former BBC journalist Rebecca Jones about his newly published book Ruskin Park which reveals a love affair between his parents, both BBC employees. Mr Cellan-Jones knew little about their love affair until his mother passed away and left him with a file labelled ‘For Rory’.

Earlier in the afternoon, author Judith Eagle and illustrator Kim Geyer will showcase a 1950s mystery for young detectives. They will get an opportunity to solve clues to find a hidden painting in the Manor, just like Caro Monday — the heroine of their latest book, The Stolen Songbird.

Catherine Jaquiss, chair, Ealing Book Festival said: “We are delighted to be launching a new Book Festival for Ealing and for the interest that everyone we have spoken to has shown. We hope that we can bring a dynamic and varied programme which can reflect the vibrant and diverse borough of Ealing.”

Ms Jaquiss added: “We are extremely grateful for the generous support that Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery and Savills have provided to ensure we can start the first chapter of this journey and look forward to meeting more people who would like to be involved and support Ealing Book Festival.”

To book tickets for the launch event, click here.