The Book Social was launched in 2026 as a new imprint for fiction and non-fiction titles.

The mission of The Book Social is to put readers first and central to all of its activities. This means building a unique and major reader community in the UK and internationally, through working closely with book groups, libraries, reader events, while partnering with online and other existing reader communities.

Breakthrough is a collective of authors that has created an innovative, award-winning independent publisher putting freedom and fairness for creatives – and quality and originality for readers – at the heart of its ethos. A diverse and eclectic list includes fiction and non-fiction, debuts and series, YA and adult sci-fi/fantasy, love stories, mysteries and thrillers, humour and satire, business books and short story anthologies.

Recent launches include Awakenings: why neopaganism and the folklore renaissance matter by Stevyn Colgan (who will be on stand), Curious Events Lately Occurring in this Neighbourhood by the Sunday Times bestselling Tom Cox, the award-winning surreal satire collection from Zena Barrie (also on stand) and romcom The Earth Husband by Dan Brotzel (also at the fair!) among nearly 20 other titles.

I am a director, steering group member and volunteer of One Planet Abingdon Climate Emergency Centre located under the County Hall Museum in Abingdon Market Place.

We are implementing the climate and ecological emergency declaration made by Abingdon Town Council in 2019. We have adopted the ten principles of One Planet Living devised by Bioregional and serve Source Climate Change Coffee, the highest rated coffee by Ethical Consumer and home made cakes, soups and curries made from the best meat free ingredients.

After 5 years experimenting with volunteerism we have probably placed Abingdon on the top of the league of climate emergency centres coming out from behind the cakes to discuss the latest climate events and nature loss and recovery.

Last year we we received the prize from the Ridgeway Education Trust (the two senior schools and sixth form in Didcot) for ‘best employer’ for work in the schools on climate literacy and providing work at the CEC. We are not expecting to prevent bad climate events happening but the people in Abingdon might be more aware and prepared for the worst.

Tom Lloyd was born in 1979 in Berkshire. After a degree in International Relations he went straight into publishing where he still works. He never received the memo about suitable jobs for writers and consequently has never been a kitchen-hand, hospital porter, pigeon hunter, or secret agent. He lives in Oxford, isn’t one of those authors who gives a damn about the history of the font used in his books and only believes in forms of exercise that allow him to hit something.

Visit him online at http://www.tomlloyd.co.uk.

John Mair publishes a range of books on topical subjects such as the BBC; popularism and the media and the popular Jericho book – a new edition will be published shortly. Other books include A history of Rum and a book about Inspector Morse including a series of walks around Oxford. He also produces the famous Jericho Tea towel. John Howson’s book of his education blog will also be on sale on Stall N36.

Peter studied social, political and economic geography, and later languages at The Goethe Institut in Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Germany. Having written aural histories, obituaries and magazine articles throughout his life, in 2011 he returned to writing full-time.

His first published novel, Mazzeri, about the shaman of Corsica, was published by Troubador in 2013. Subsequent works include Ontreto (Lipari, Sicily), Boarding House Reach (Norfolk), The Wind Between Two Worlds (London), The Truth in Fiction (short stories), What you Don’t Know About Me (a novella), and Constant Tides (Messina, Sicily), which has been translated into Italian. Theo’s Voice, a story of aphasia, is his latest work. Peter’s interests include listening to and researching personal histories and landscapes, believing that both our epoch and our surroundings shape us as much as our DNA.

He lives in Midhurst, West Sussex, with his wife, Carol, and is currently writing a second novel set in Lipari, Sicily.