Village Books

When award-winning food writer Felicity Cloake announced her dream to cycle across America, the reactions were… mixed: “You’ll die,” warned a Californian colleague. “You’ll be murdered,” added her mum. Friends panicked: “But… what will you eat?” Determined to prove there’s more to American cuisine than burgers and doughnuts, Felicity embarks on the ultimate coast-to-coast adventure, tackling America’s highways, byways and pieways by bike in election year, counting campaign flags and uncovering local favourites like crawfish stew and sauerkraut balls. from Memphis barbecue to Mission burritos, Italian beef to Tex-Mex-Chinese breakfast dumplings, she dives headfirst into iconic American dishes and the fascinating stories and journeys behind them. Felicity Cloake is the multi award-winning author of the Guardian’s long-running How to Make the Perfect series, the New Statesman’s food column and seven books, including One More Croissant for the Road and Red Sauce Brown Sauce, which won the Fortnum and Mason food book of the year award in 2023. In association with James Allen’s Girls’ School Tickets: Book & Ticket: £25 (includes a signed copy of Peach Street to Lobster Lane, book RRP £16.99) Standard ticket: £12 Concession ticket (Under 18): £10 Book tickets HERE

Tim Spector is on a mission to bring fermenting into our lives and kitchens. Drawing on the latest science and his own experiments, Ferment is an accessible introduction to the life-changing benefits of fermentation – for beginners and enthusiasts alike. Fermenting is one of the most ancient, nutritious and cheap techniques for preparing and preserving food and drink. With little more than time, patience and basic equipment, the humblest of ingredients can be transformed into nutritious foods with an astonishing range of benefits for our gut health, immunity and daily mood. Including practical tips and some of his favourite recipes, Ferment cuts through myths and misunderstanding to help us navigate the fascinating world of ferments and shows how they can help improve our health, our meal times and our planet. Tim Spector is Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London. He is the bestselling author of The Diet Myth, Spoon-Fed, Food for Life and The Food for Life Cookbook, and scientific co-founder of ZOE, the nutrition science company. With a focus on cutting-edge science and honoured with an OBE for his work in fighting Covid-19, Tim stands at the forefront of his field. The original pioneer of microbiome research, he is among the top 100 most cited scientists in the world. In association with James Allen’s Girls’ School Tickets: Ticket & book: £35 (This ticket allows entry for one person to An Evening with Tim Spector. This ticket also includes a signed copy of Ferment by Tim Spector (book RRP £25)) Two tickets and one book: £50 (This ticket allows entry for two people to An Evening with Tim Spector. This ticket also includes a signed copy of Ferment by Tim Spector (book RRP £25)) Book tickets HERE

Pull up a chair to Martha Collison’s table, where the recipes are big on flavour with minimal fuss, making sharing food with friends easier than ever. Whether you’re looking for a weekend brunch spread, a little treat to share over coffee with a friend, a three-course extravaganza or a weeknight winner for two, Martha has got you covered. The recipes are all easy to follow, and produce delicious results without hours of effort in the kitchen. Martha Collison is a bestselling food writer and recipe creator. She has written three cookbooks, established a regular column for Waitrose Weekend, built a dedicated online following and become resident Show Chef on the Graham Norton Radio Show with Virgin Radio. She was also a finalist in the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024, and has appeared on Saturday Kitchen. In 2014, aged 17, she took part in the fifth series of The Great British Bake Off and remains the youngest ever contestant. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

In Tree Hunting, Paul Wood seeks out the best individual trees – the most charismatic, quirky or downright spectacular – that grow in Britain and Ireland’s towns, cities and villages (and, in one case, from the crack in a church steeple). From a stumpy sycamore in Shetland, contorted by wind and hard weather, to the shining jewel in Brighton’s unlikely treasure trove of elms, Paul travels on a quest from north to south rooting out the legends and tall tales behind these marvellous specimens. As he delves into this rich ecosystem, he reveals how trees are inextricably bound to the story of our towns and cities: they have always meant a great deal to those that live near them, and they continue to shape the fabric of urban life in deep, and often surprising ways. Including sumptuous maps, grid references and charming travel notes so you can plan adventures of your own, Tree Hunting will help you unlock the secrets of Britain and Ireland’s urban forests. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

Why did so many Germans take part in the crimes of Nazi Germany? How did they come to support Hitler and follow him almost to the very end? For too long, the Nazis have been presented as little more than psychopaths or criminals. In his major new work, renowned historian Richard J. Evans makes use of a mass of recently unearthed new evidence to strip away the veneer of myth and legend from the faces of the Third Reich and present a more realistic view of Nazi perpetrators as human beings who were disturbingly like us. Hitler’s People is a chilling, brilliantly written work which allows the reader to understand the texture and values of the Third Reich and just how far individuals will go when so many normal moral constraints have disappeared. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

From the Women’s Prize longlisted, British Book award-winning, bestselling author of Small Pleasures, a new novel about love, family and the joy of freedom. Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with Gil: a charismatic, married doctor. One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen’s home. A thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story. Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

Booker Prize nominee Charlotte Mendelson, and Caledonia Novel Prize winner Elizabeth Macneal discuss their inspiration, writing process and their latest novels: The Wife and The Burial Plot. The Wife by Charlotte Mendelson: Dr Penny Cartwright is everything that Zoe Stamper is not: glamorous, sophisticated and openly gay. When they begin a passionate affair, a lifetime of wedded bliss seems within Zoe’s grasp. But this is not a love story. It’s the story of how love can bring about disaster . . . The Burial Plot by Elizabeth Macneal: A spellbinding historical Gothic thriller about murder and manipulation, set in Victorian London. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

Lugma in Arabic means a bite. For Noor, as a chef and co-author of two Ottolenghi Test Kitchen cookbooks, her career has been centred around taking bites of food and analysing them to create the perfect dish. Raised in Bahrain and now based in London, Noor takes you on a culinary journey to celebrate her own food culture. Her recipes are inspired by the foods of her upbringing: the elaborate rice dishes and black limes of the Gulf, an abundance of herbs and sour flavours from Iran, liberal spice and chilli heat from India and the vibrant foods of the Levant – to create a unique collection of traditional and re-imagined dishes from the Middle East. From Spring Time Fattoush and Stuffed Baby Aubergines to Slow-cooked Fenugreek Lamb with Pickled Chillies and Pistachio Cake with Labneh, these beautiful and inspirational recipes are full of love and warmth to be recreated in your own kitchen. “There’s an incredible generosity to Noor’s cooking, capturing the spirit of so many cooks across the Middle East: bold gestures, big flavours, whole universes of food around a single table. Noor is also a unique talent; her cooking reflects the essence of home comfort, plus an unmatched innovative palate.” – Yotam Ottolenghi Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

Ever wondered what donuts get up to when they’re not being eaten? No, because that would be silly! But it turns out, donuts have BIG PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION!!! Meet Sprinkles, the leader of the Squad; Jammyboi, who spreads stickiness EVERYWHERE; Dadnut and Lil’ Timmy, who explain obscure facts, and Spronky, who is bizarrely unconventional! But don’t mention the arch-nemeses of the donuts . . . the bagels, secretly plotting Donut Squad’s doom! Guffaws guaranteed! Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, and creator of the award-winning Mega Robo Bros series and How to Make Awesome Comics. He is also the author/illustrator of the popular middle-grade novels Freddy vs School, Freddy and the New Kid and Freddy the Superstar. Neill also runs regular comic workshops for children at The Story Museum in Oxford. Tickets: Child: £9 Adult: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

For the past five years, home cook Rosie Kellett has been living communally with six others, making delicious seasonal food on a budget of £25 per person, per week. In her first cookbook, she shares 101 low-effort, high-reward, veg-forward recipes to nourish you. There are recipes for weeknights when you’re counting down to payday, busy workdays with short lunch breaks, mornings that call for hearty yet cheap breakfasts, and special days with your favourite people. Bringing to life Rosie’s motto that ‘delicious food should be possible on any budget’ In for Dinner (the title a question asked on the warehouse group chat so they know how many to cook for each evening) is a celebration of food, friendship and community. Whether you’re in a flatshare, feeding a family, solo meal-prepping, or hosting a dinner party, Rosie will show you how to create affordable, delicious recipes to nourish you and your loved ones, inspiring you to stay In for Dinner. Rosie Kellett is a chef, food writer and supper club host. Having made a name for herself sharing recipes and stories online from her communal home, ‘In for Dinner’ is her debut cookbook, sharing 101 original recipes from her time working in professional kitchens, hosting seasonal supper clubs and cooking for her housemates. Since 2023 she has built an online following of 300k across Instagram, TikTok and her bestselling Substack newsletter, The Late Plate. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you’re in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service. In this warmly reassuring, refreshingly honest book, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time while on her latest tour of duty. She isn’t offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about our purpose and ourselves. Tickets: £12.50 Book tickets HERE A Dulwich Festival event.

Test cricket is on the cusp of its 150th anniversary. For the first time, Test Cricket: A History tells the full, gripping story of the players and stories that have shaped the game’s evolution since 1877. Award-winning author Tim Wigmore brings to life both Test cricket on the pitch and the game’s social significance around the world. This captivating tour is illuminated by over forty exclusive interviews with the game’s greatest players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Pat Cummins, Michael Holding, Muthiah Muralidaran, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Chappell, Dale Steyn and Rahul Dravid. From Bodyline to Bazball, the golden age to the rise of West Indies, and Shane Warne to Ian Botham, readers will come to appreciate Test cricket’s remarkable history like never before. A perfect single volume history for any cricket fan from an award-winning Telegraph cricket correspondent. Tim Wigmore is the author of Crickonomics, and Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution, which won the Wisden Book of the Year and Daily Telegraph Cricket Book of the Year in 2020. He is a sports writer for the Daily Telegraph, and has also written for The Economist, The New York Times, ESPNCricinfo and The New Statesman. Tickets: Book & Ticket: £35 (book RRP £25) Standard ticket: £12 Concession ticket (under 18): £10 Book tickets HERE

Join Village Books and James Allen’s Girls School for an evening with Dr Kaitlyn Regehr. Smartphone Nation will transform the way you – and your children – understand your devices and how they affect you. In this practical, agenda-setting book, Dr Kaitlyn Regehr – one of the UK’s leading experts on digital literacy – sets out how you can keep the advantages of the internet whilst identifying often hidden dangers and stepping away when you’re over-reliant. This life-changing guide provides practical tips, clear takeaways and tested strategies to empower you to take back control of your digital life. Covering misogyny, pornography, body image, advertising, violence and more, Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr explains echo chambers, the attention economy, and why we are still so unprotected when it comes to digital media. Smartphone Nation is essential reading for parents and anyone who has ever worried about how compulsively they check their phone, and will equip you not only to survive in the digital space, but to thrive. Tickets: Book & ticket: £30 (includes a copy of Smartphone Nation, book RRP £22) Standard ticket: £12 Concession ticket (under 18): £10 Buy tickets HERE

The Council of Christians and Jews South East London Branch are presenting an evening with Harry Freedman. The singer and poet Leonard Cohen was deeply learned in Judaism and Christianity, the spiritual traditions that underpinned his self-identity and the way he made sense of the world. In Leonard Cohen: Mystival Roots of Genius, Harry Freedman, a leading author of cultural and religious history, explores the mystical and spiritual sources Cohen drew upon, discusses their original context and the stories and ideas behind them. This is a FREE event. For further information, please c

Join Village Books and Alleyn’s Schools Enterprises for an evening with Ben Macintyre where he’ll be discussing his book Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama. In April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod. Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, Ben Macintyre takes readers from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the gripping minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue. Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. Tickets: Standard ticket: £10 Book & ticket: £20 (includes a signed copy of Siege, book RRP £10.99) Concession ticket: £10 Book tickets HERE