Village Books

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

British architecture has always been a battle of styles. For a thousand years it has been romanesque versus gothic, gothic versus renaissance, palladian versus baroque, classical versus gothic revival. The greatest battle came in the 1960s, when modernists took control of British planning and plotted the demolition of large swathes of the centres of Britain’s cities. Most of London’s West End was to be destroyed. Piccadilly Circus, Whitehall, Nash’s St James’s, Covent Garden and Soho were to disappear. Urban Britain was to be transformed into a uniform townscape of concrete and glass. Yet by 1974 almost all these plans had been abandoned. It was one of the most dramatic U-turns in British social history. How did it happen? Simon Jenkins tells the turbulent history of Britain’s built environment. He shows how the battles of the past live on today, in arguments over tall buildings, over what should be preserved and what form new buildings should take and where they should stand. ‘Provocative, elegant, intriguing – Jenkins is a bold, imaginative writer, brilliant at challenging old assumptions and encouraging you to look at British architecture in a new light’ Rory Stewart, author of Politics On The Edge Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Book & ticket: £24 (Book RRP £12.99) Concession ticket: £10 Book tickets HERE

Join us for an evening with Terri Apter and Julia Samuel where they will be discussing Terri’s new book Grandparenting: One Love and Relationships Across Generations. One in three people over the age of 50 has grandchildren. These grandparents are the first generation to be both psychologically aware and very hands on, playing an integral role in their grandchildren’s lives. But when a child becomes a parent themselves, existing family structures are radically altered. Old tensions between parents and their adult children may come into sharp relief while new relationships with in-laws must be navigated carefully. In this warm, wise guide to being a modern grandparent, leading psychologist Terri Apter builds on cutting-edge research as well as her own experience as a grandparent. Drawing on case studies from across the world, Apter examines the crucial and changing role that grandparents play in our society. This innovative book is for grandparents and for their adult children as they reimagine their relationships with each other, and become the best parents – and grandparents – that they can be. ‘A long-awaited, well-informed, personal and well researched insight into what it means to be a grandparent. Terri Apter is brilliant, warm, human and wise…A wonderful book’ Julia Samuel, author of Every Family Has a Story Terri Apter is a psychologist, writer and Fellow Emerita of Newnham College. She is the author of many critically acclaimed books on family dynamics, including Altered Loves: Mothers and Daughters During Adolescence (a NYT Book of the Year), and The Confident Child (winner of the Delta Kappa Gamma International Educator’s Prize). Julia Samuel is a bestselling author and psychotherapist. Her first book, Grief Works, was a Sunday Times bestseller, and her following books, This Too Shall Pass and Every Family Has a Story have sold thousands of copies. Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 (includes a glass of wine/soft drink) Book tickets HERE With thanks to Bell House.

We’re delighted that bookshop favourite, M. G. Leonard will be visiting Village Books to sign copies of Hunt for the Golden Scarab, the first book in the Time Keys series. In Hunt for the Golden Scarab we are introduced to twelve year old Sim Lockier and his mum, who never live anywhere long. When dangerous strangers appear one night, Sim discovers why. His mum has been keeping secrets: she has the power to open doors in time through music and can travel into the past as a ‘key’ to doors in time, but every journey could be her last. Running for their lives, Sim and his friends are determined to outwit the sinister Council of Keys and be the first to find Nefertiti’s lost tomb, a powerful door to Ancient Egypt. They must piece together long-hidden clues if they are to solve the mystery of her golden heart scarab. Can they find it before the Council finds them? Maya will be at the bookshop from 4pm to 5pm. No ticket required!

Pollyanna Wilkinson is one of the UK’s most exciting and sought-after garden designers. She has won the coveted People’s Choice Award at both the Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows, and her designs have transformed gardens across the UK and internationally. Now Polly wants to share her expertise with readers with her new book. How to Design a Garden is a glorious mix of inspiration, expertise and advice presented with perfect clarity and Polly’s infectious enthusiasm. Polly explains all the steps you need to work through to design create your dream garden – from making early moodboards to creating timeless plant combinations. The book also contains month-by-month growing guides to help you to nurture your garden for years to come. Whether you’re a new gardener or have years of experience, Polly can help you realise your dream garden – and find joy in every step along the way too. Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Concession ticket (Under 18s): £10 Buy tickets HERE In partnership with James Allen’s Girls’ School.

Christina Soteriou is on a mission to make eating plants exciting. In Big Veg Energy, Christina shares 100 simple, tasty and nutritious recipes to be enjoyed by everyone – from long-time vegans to anyone simply looking to adopt more plant-based habits. With influences from Christina’s Cypriot roots, expect nourishing, vibrant food, including Spicy Mushroom Skewers with Peanut Lime Sauce, Sweet Potatoes with Tahini Butter Chickpeas, Roasted Courgettes with Lemony Whipped Tofu and Peanut Butter Cherry Jam Semifreddo. Always fresh and healthy, with advice for making sure meals are packed with protein and nutrients, Big Veg Energy has everything you need to move towards a plant-based lifestyle – including money-saving tips and debunked vegan myths. With chapters including Small Plates, Big Platters, Cosy Bowls, Baking Dish and Dessert Spoon, Christina makes eating plants easy, abundant and joyful, for whatever the occasion. Join us at Bell House where Christina will be discussing her new book and dishing out some tasty samples. Christina Soteriou is a chef, recipe writer and content creator who creates plant-based food for people who love to eat, inspired by the Mediterranean flavours of her Greek Cypriot heritage. Christina’s passion for food has made her determined to find creative and nutritious ways to make plant-based dishes as tasty as possible. Find her online @christinasots and at christina-soteriou.com Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 (includes a glass of wine/soft drink) Book tickets HERE A Village Books event. With thanks to Bell House.

Come to Village Books to meet Oliver Jeffers, author of the multi-million copy How to Catch a Star, where he’ll be signing copies of his new book Where to Hide a Star. Where to Hide a Star is a brand-new story from global picture book phenomenon Oliver Jeffers featuring his much-loved characters, the boy and the penguin. Once there was a boy who would often play hide-and-seek with his friends the star and the penguin. The star was always easy to find, but one day it went missing. So, the boy radioed the Martian for help and soon found himself on an exciting spaceship rescue mission to the North Pole! But there, he discovered that he wasn’t the only one who had always dreamed of having a star as a friend… Tickets: £15 (includes one signed copy of Where to Hide a Star, RRP £14.99). Entry for one family. Parents and siblings do not need to purchase a ticket. Buy tickets HERE

The Dulwich Village Christmas Stocking is back! Enjoy Christmas in the Village with music, festive food, a children's disco and a mystery stocking hunt. 11am: Festive music in the Square 2pm: Popchoir sings Christmas 2pm-4pm: Nutty's Children's Disco (St Barnabas Parish Hall) And lots more!

Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, working on some of the greatest cathedrals and churches in Britain, including the tower of Salisbury Cathedral and the dome of St Paul’s in London. Many churches are less well used than at any other time in their existence, and their quietness often gives the impression that they have always been sleepy and out of the way. For many centuries, they were the most prominent and busiest building in their community. They now offer as close an encounter with the past as it is possible to get. Church Going is a handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles, in which he reveals their fascinating histories, features and furnishings, from flying buttresses to rood screens, lichgates to chancels. Andrew Ziminski is a SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and conservation advisor to the Salisbury Diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches. He is the author of The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain. ‘A beautiful book – in which curiosity, hand-skill and creativity combine in a hymn to craftsmanship, and vernacular and sacred architecture. Ziminski is a rare and wonderful voice’ Rory Stewart ‘Fascinating – a masterly guide to the detail and meaning but also to the glory of Britain’s now most endangered heritage’ Simon Jenkins In partnership with James Allen’s Girls’ School.

Join Paul Wood for a guided walk through Dulwich Village to celebrate the publication of the revised London’s Street Trees. Paul, London’s best known tree expert will lead a circular walking tour from Village Books (Dulwich Village). He’ll be pointing out the great diversity of trees planted on our streets, followed by a book signing at the bookshop. There will also be wine and nibbles on your return to the bookshop. The first guide to reveal the full, amazing variety of London’s street tree population, London’s Street Trees is now an agenda-setting, canonical work. The capital’s street tree population has continued to grow and gloriously diversify and the book is now in it’s third edition with new revisions and additions. Every year boroughs all over the capital are planting new species, from winter-flowering cherries to brighten up winter to Hackney’s shocking pink-leaved Toona sinensis. Tickets: £10 Book tickets HERE

Helen Castor returns after a ten-year hiatus with the chronicle of the lives and reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, two cousins whose rivalry brought their nation to the brink of disintegration – and back again. Richard had birthright on his side, and a profound belief in his own God-given majesty; beyond that, he lacked all qualities of leadership. Henry had everything Richard lacked, all the qualities of a sovereign, bar one: birthright. A king who was a tyrant was replaced by a king who was a usurper. Helen Castor tells this story of one of the strangest and most fateful relationships in English history. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe and disintegration – and then brought back. At its heart, it is the story of two men whose lives were played out in extraordinary parallel, to devastating effect. Helen Castor is a medieval historian and a Bye-Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her first book, Blood & Roses, a biography of the fifteenth-century Paston family, was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2005 and won the English Association’s Beatrice White Prize in 2006. Her second book, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, was made into a BBC2 TV series. Her most recent book, Joan of Arc, was dubbed ‘a triumph of history’ (Guardian). Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Book & ticket: £45 (includes a copy of The Eagle and The Hart, book RRP £35) Concession ticket: £10 Book tickets HERE

A glorious new edition of the original gem at the heart of bestselling food writer Diana Henry’s much-loved repertoire, Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons gathers together dishes that combine colourful, aromatic and perfumed ingredients to bring pleasure to your kitchen and an intoxicating whiff of warmer climes to your table. ‘An all-time classic. The book I’m happy to return to, over and over again. It’s an utter joy to cook from, as it is to dig deep into the stories’ Yotam Ottolenghi Diana Henry is one of the UK’s best-loved food writers. She has regular columns in the Sunday Telegraph and Waitrose Weekend, her work has appeared in BBC Good Food, House & Garden, delicious. and beyond, and her broadcast appearances include BBC Radio 4. Diana has won numerous awards for her journalism and books. Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Book & ticket: £35 (includes a copy of Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, book RRP £26) Concession ticket (under 18s): £10 Book tickets HERE

In 2022, after eight years of political reporting in the US, Jon Sopel moved home to the UK. Having spent almost a third of his career abroad, he returned to find a very different country to the one he left. In Strangeland, Jon examines the new post-Brexit Britain with fresh eyes, as a native who’s been out but come back. With his characteristic wit and clarity, he unpicks the changes that have rendered his homeland almost unrecognisable from the country he once knew. Strangeland is a personal exploration of post-Brexit Britain and what it now means to be British, from the bestselling author, political insider, and presenter of the chart-topping podcast, The News Agents. Jon Sopel was the BBC’s North America Editor for 8 years, before launching The News Agents podcast with Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall in August 2022. During his time at the BBC, he covered the 2016 and 2020 elections and Trump’s White House at first hand, reporting for the BBC across TV, radio and online, as well as presenting the highly successful Americast podcast with Emily Maitlis and Anthony Zurcher. He is the author of If Only They Didn’t Speak English: Notes from Trump’s America, A Year at the Circus: Inside Trump’s White House and UnPresidented: Politics, Pandemics and the Race that Trumped All Others Tickets: Book & ticket: £35 (includes a copy of Strangeland, book RRP £22 Book tickets HERE Please note: Each ticket includes a copy of Strangeland (RRP £22). Jon is doing a very limited number of events to promote his book and we’re honoured he’s chosen Village Books and Alleyn’s School to be one of them. We are always mindful of the cost of our events but have to balance the requirements of publishers for events they allow us to host, which was to include a copy of the book with each ticket.

In January 2022, the Cellan-Jones-Coyle family said goodbye to their beloved elderly Collie Cross, Cabbage. Newly retired, Rory had become inseparable from her during daily pandemic walks which alleviated his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms. After a grief-stricken year, Rory and his wife Diane contemplated opening up their hearts again and came across a dog listing for ‘a kind girl who loves everybody and is just looking for her forever home’. Bright-eyed, big-eared and trembling, Sophie arrives in London from Central Europe in a van on 17th December. Rory holds the Romanian rescue in his arms, excited for their first walk together – unaware it is more than a year ahead. Sophie from Romania follows the journey of her adoption – from her battles with anxiety, to the joys of play and her first foray outside. This is the story of #SophieFromRomania, told in full for the first time. Rory Cellan-Jones was the BBC’s principal technology correspondent until 2021. He now writes an influential Substack column on medical innovation, tech and his beloved Romanian rescue dog, Sophie. Through this and his Twitter following @ruskin147 he spreads awareness of technological developments in the fields of medicine, health care and – more specifically – Parkinson’s. Together with Jeremy Paxman and several others he has begun a new podcast on Parkinson’s called Movers and Shakers. Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Book & Ticket: £32 (Book RRP £22) Concession ticket (Under 18): £10 Book tickets HERE

In his most thrilling novel yet and the first in a series, William Boyd, Britain’s greatest storyteller transports you to the vibrant streets of sixties London, as an accidental spy is drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession… In Gabriel’s Moon, Gabriel Dax is a young man haunted by the memories of a tragedy: every night, when sleep finally comes, he dreams about his childhood home in flames. His days are spent on the move as an acclaimed travel writer, capturing the changing landscapes in the grip of the Cold War. When he’s offered the chance to interview a political figure, his ambition leads him unwittingly into a web of duplicities and betrayals. As Gabriel’s reluctant initiation takes hold, he is drawn deeper into the shadows. Falling under the spell of Faith Green, an enigmatic and ruthless MI6 handler, he becomes ‘her spy’, unable to resist her demands. But amid the peril, paranoia and passion consuming Gabriel’s new covert life, it will be the revelations closer to home that change the rest of his story. William Boyd was born in 1952 in Accra, Ghana, and grew up there and in Nigeria. He is the author of sixteen highly acclaimed, bestselling novels and five collections of stories. Any Human Heart was longlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into a TV series with Channel 4. In 2005, Boyd was awarded the CBE. Over a glittering forty year career, William Boyd has sold over 2 million books through TCM, winning countless awards in the process. Tickets: Standard ticket: £12 Book & ticket: £30 (book RRP £20) Concession ticket (under 18): £10 Book tickets HERE

Rick Stein is back with a major new BBC Two tv series and book, Rick Stein’s Food Stories, a celebration of the best of British food and the way we eat now. Rick Stein’s Food Stories is a glorious collection of over 100 new recipes that celebrate the flavours, ingredients and stories of modern Britain. Rick travels every region of the British Isles to include not only traditional favourites but also his twist on new dishes that have become part of our national cuisine like Kubo pork belly adobo, Arros roja, Pnaeer jalfrezi and Chicken katsu curry. Join Village Books and Alleyn’s Schools Enterprises for an evening with Rick Stain and Good Housekeeping’s Gaby Huddart where he’ll be discussing his delicious and inspiring journey through Britain’s joyous and every-changing food scene. Tickets: Standard ticket: £15 Book & ticket: £40 (includes a copy of Rick Stein’s Food Stories, book RRP £28) Concession ticket (under 18s): £12 Book tickets HERE

Stand-up comedian Jenny Eclair was the first woman to win the Perrier Award – the UK’s top comedy award – in 1995. Jokes, Jokes, Jokes is Jenny’s very funny memoir about elbowing her way into the male dominated world of comedy. Daughter of Major Derek Hargreaves (spy?) and June Hargreaves (spy’s wife?) sister of Sara (born to be Head Girl) and Ben (the usurper), Jenny’s comedy career took off via drama school, cider, sausage rolls, sleeping with men who looked like they lived under a carpet, punk poetry, anorexia, bedsit misery, waitressing and not really having a clue about anything. This was a world before microphones, mobile phones, before everyone gave up smoking or started taking coke. Jenny Eclair was on the comedy circuit before there really was a comedy circuit and was the first woman to win the Perrier Award along the way. Still gigging to sell-out crowds forty years later, Jenny Eclair’s memoir charts her childhood, her career and the changing face of women in comedy, all told with hilarious brilliance. Jenny is well known for her starring role on BBC 1’s Grumpy Old Women which ran for three series and was then adapted into four live shows touring across the UK and Australia, all of which Jenny co-wrote and starred in. Continuing her partnership with Judith Holder, producer of Grumpy Old Women, Jenny co-hosts the podcast Older and Wider the podcast for people who don’t know what a podcast is, a weekly ramble about life, with additional swearing. She is also the writer of the much-loved BBC Radio Four Little Lifetimes monologues which ran for seven series. Tickets: Standard ticket: £15 Book & ticket: £35 (includes a copy of Jokes, Jokes, Jokes, book RRP £25) Special offer valid until Tuesday 3rd September. Book tickets HERE