We've had an amazing array of writers talking about their books - so here is our first summary, featuring the non-fiction books that have been spotted at the festival.
You can buy these books via our Bookshop.org page, or you can get some of them in person from us at the last couple of events, or from a local bookshop or online store of your choosing. (Where they are only available direct from the publisher, we've put a link!)
Non-fiction – Memoir
The Volunteers Carol Donaldson
When Carol's world suddenly unravels, leaving her single and jobless, she stumbles upon an unexpected opportunity: leading a ragtag team of countryside conservation volunteers. At first glance, the prospect of nurturing Britain's diverse wildlife in the great outdoors seems like a dream come true. However, reality paints a different picture: her office is a ramshackle porta-cabin overrun with mice and plagued by leaky ceilings, and the volunteers are far from impressed with her lack of practical skills. The Volunteers is a heartwarming tale that celebrates the redemptive force of the woods and wildlife. It underscores the universal need for belonging and illustrates how, even in the most unexpected places, we can find a community to call our own.
Three Instances Of Not Meeting Jarvis Cocker Sam Hall
Three Instances Of Not Meeting Jarvis Cocker is not really about not meeting Jarvis Cocker, it’s a story about loss and the loss of love of all kinds. It's about not only the loss through death, but also the loss of friends as you get older.
Printed in full colour on 120gsm recycled paper, with 250gsm recycled cover, Three Instances Of Not Meeting Jarvis Cocker, is an illustrated fictionalised memoir.
“… a raw and beautiful rollercoaster ride. It manages to be both huge and understated.”
Kiskadee Girl Maggie Harris Kiskadee Girl is a family memoir of growing up in Guyana between 1954 and 1971. Woven tales of family history are drawn from across the diaspora.
"And you, my country, return to me when it rains. This English rain borrows the force of the Trade Winds and pelts down bangalang on conservatories, slate roofs, tiles..." Buy from Cane Arrow Press
Americaned Melissa Todd
Sex worker Melissa has planned a tour of America, but then her mother dies. Laid low by loss but also caught up in her obligations, she and her work husband learn to face grief, fear, and American highways and visiting the homes of her literary heroes all down the East coast.
Non-fiction – Climate emergency
Hothouse Earth Bill McGuire
Bill McGuire, Professor of Geophysical and Climate Hazards, explains the science behind the climate crisis and for the first time presents a blunt but authentic picture of the sort of world our children will grow old in, and our grandchildren grow up in; a world that we catch only glimpses of in today's blistering heatwaves, calamitous wildfires and ruinous floods and droughts. Bleak though it is, the picture is one we must all face up to, if only to spur genuine action—even at this late stage—to stop a harrowing future becoming a truly cataclysmic one.
Non-fiction – Social history
Secret Missions of The Suffragettes Jennifer Godfrey
Over two evenings in March 1912, more than 250 women – old and young, rich and poor, strong and delicate – were arrested and charged with using hammers and stones to smash the windows of shops and offices across London. The youngest amongst them was 19-year-old teenager glass-breaker and Kent working maid, Ethel Violet Baldock, while the eldest was 79-year-old Mrs Hilda Eliza Brackenbury, owner of suffragette safe house, Mouse Castle, in Campden Hill Square.
Discover their stories, motives, plans, tactics and antics as Jennifer Godfrey explores the connections, friendships and collaborations that would help change the course of history for women in Britain.
Non-fiction – Fantasy and sci-fi
The Worlds of Dune Tom Huddleston
Beginning on Arrakis and going planet by planet, The Worlds of Dune offers a supremely deep dive into Herbert's universe – detailing along the way the many diverse strands that he wove into his epic creation to offer a visually rich accompaniment to this sci-fi legend.
In the decades since its publication, Frank Herbert’s Dune has become arguably the best-selling and certainly the best-known science fiction novel ever written. So how did an ex-Navy newspaperman from Washington State come to write such a world-conquering novel? And how was he able to pack it with so many layers of myth and meaning?
Herbert’s boundless imagination was sparked by a dizzying array of ideas, from classical history to cutting-edge science, from environmentalism to Zen philosophy, and from Arabic texts to Shakespeare’s tragedies.
Non-fiction – Media Studies
Albion’s Eco-Eerie Phil Smith
In Albion's Eco-eerie: TV and Movies of the Haunted Generations Phil Smith takes us through a selection of weird films and TV shows and uncovers a wholly unexpected ecological and political message.
Maxine Peake is a nig fan and so are we! “'Albion's Eco-eerie' is a fantastic exploration into culture’s obsession with ‘the other’. Dissecting some of our most regarded folk horror creations, to present us with the political and theoretical heart that beats inside.”
Buy from Temporal Boundary Press.
Non-fiction – Real life crime / Social history
Private Inquiries Caitlin Davies
The female private detective has been a staple of popular culture for over 150 years. But what about the real-life women behind these fictional tales?
In Private Inquiries, Caitlin Davies traces the history of the UK's female investigators. Caitlin also follows in the footsteps of her subjects, undertaking a professional qualification to become a Private Investigator. After a century of undercover work, it's time to reveal the secrets of their trailblazing forebears.
Non-fiction – Music
Where Songs Come From – The Lyrics and Origin Stories of 150 Solo and Carter USM Songs Jim Bob
A fantastic read that is funny, sad, insightful, nostalgic, philosophical, moving, intelligent, personal, wide-ranging, and inspiring. A must-buy for fans.
Buy from Cherry Red Books
Non-fiction - Folklore / Queer history
Queer as Folklore Sacha Coward
Queer as Folklore is an exhilarating journey across centuries and continents which reveals the unsung heroes and villains of storytelling, magic and fantasy. Featuring images from archives, galleries and museums around the world, each chapter investigates the queer history of different mythic and folkloric characters, both old and new.
Leaving no headstone unturned, Sacha Coward will take you on a wild ride through the night from ancient Greece to the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race, visiting cross-dressing pirates, radical fairies and the graves of the ‘queerly departed’ along the way. Queer communities have often sought refuge in the shadows, found kinship in the in-between and created safe spaces in underworlds; but these forgotten narratives tell stories of remarkable resilience that deserve to be heard.
Next up - more books from the festival!
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