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Exhibitor Directory December 1st 2024
Here’s a list of who was booked in to exhibit at the Dcember 2024 Oxford Indie Book Fair
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Three highly praised novels, inspired by real events and real people, were followed by Sylvia’s memoir which involves the emotional chemistry of food. Crime fiction is a new venture for her so she has rooted her latest book Current of Death in an area she knows intimately.
For twenty-five years, Sylvia Vetta has written the life stories of others – 120 Oxford Castaways for The Oxford Times were turned into three books. Sylvia has a passion for telling inspirational but forgotten stories. She wants you to know about the courageous Stars artists (Beijing1979) and Asoka who was responsible for the religion we know as Buddhism but was forgotten for 1000 years.
Father and daughter have written plays, film scripts, and books together, including memoirs documenting Ray Foulk’s life as creator of the original Isle of Wight Rock Festivals: Stealing Dylan from Woodstock and The Last Great Event. They have recently published their long-awaited novel, Picasso’s Revenge, and Caroline has published her illustrated collection of humorous canine poetry.
Oxfordfolio is a high-quality self-publishing provider, taking you and your unique story from manuscript to physical book. We are experts in full-colour integrated books with over 40 years of editorial, typesetting and graphic design experience. We work primarily in illustrated non-fiction (memoirs, histories, travel, biographies) but have also launched Anglepoise Books for quality fiction. We aim is to provide a flexible service tailored to your specific requirements as we take you through the whole publishing process We work with personally selected artists and illustrators, copy-editors, proof-readers and indexers, graphic designers, typesetters, and UK printers to produce the best bespoke book for your budget.
Your Life • Your Story • Your Book
I write because I must. Music instead happened to me like the measles. A virus I contracted and fell in love with. I write about my multitudinous thoughts and experiences. The joys and pains of love relationships, motherhood, and the tortures and blue skies of my mind. I hope I leave behind a trail of words, splashed with rain, lit by sunshine… A piece of me.
At the OIBF, I’ll be launching the re-write of my debut novel The Secret Life of a God, from The Physics of Passion Trilogy – “A love quest inspired by and entwined with laws of physics, against a backdrop of cultural, racial and spiritual conflict in nineties Britain”. I’ll be giving away the first edition (2015) to anyone curious about the development of an English-second-language writer over 25 years.
I will be sharing my table with my friends from the Wordthreads writer’s group; Anila Syed with her eclectic, surreal, tender and humoresque collection of short stories Prompted, and Janet Cupit, Peter West, Robert Greener, Maggie Bannister (RIP), Chris Westwood-Marshall, Robert Greener with our poetry and prose collections, Pigeon Tales, and The Rogue Potato and the Pinging Cat.
My brilliant friend Renata Lanzoni will be there with her three books; Shattered Moon based on her real life as a globe trotter, caught – like Pran/Brian from The Secret Life of a God – in an abusive relationship, and her very practical, Oxford in One Afternoon, and The Light-packer guide.
G. M. C. Lewis will also be there with his intriguing, inward-looking The Laundry Basket.
I’m the author of Soul, a fantasy romance that takes readers on a journey of love, betrayal, and redemption as one woman crosses between life and death to reunite with her soulmate, facing the best and worst of herself in fantastical worlds. At 27, I’m a proud mom to my daughter, Iris, and have lived with fibromyalgia for over a decade, yet I’ve never let it stop me from chasing my dreams.
With 13 ghostwritten books for Urban Writers, I’ve sharpened my skills across genres, but romantic fantasy holds my heart. My diverse journey, from working security at elite London events to retail during the pandemic, has shaped the stories I create today. Through Soul, I hope to inspire readers with a message that it’s okay not to have everything figured out, while celebrating strength and hope along the way.
J. N. Fox is of Caribbean descent. She was born in Wiltshire and grew up in a small town there. Maternally she is related to Jamaicans who fought for Britain in both the first and second world wars. She lives in Oxford with her husband and writes full-time.
She has featured in the Sunday Times. Been the subject of a BBC Documentary and has written content for The Times and Telegraph.
She is the author of The Battle of Ignorance trilogy. A fictional series of contemporary literary novels that deal with integration and interracial relationships. Using fun relatable characters, she raises awareness of topical issues.
Three Voices, the first book in the series introduces readers to an experience not often depicted, that of black families living in the English countryside. Where they are amongst the middleclass and sometimes exposed to aristocratic ways.
Three intertwined voices tell an insightful story of love; Delsea a British Jamaican woman in a mixed relationship, her husband Michael, and Jonathan her soulmate. It is about struggle, and devotion. In a world where some believe in angels and their power to help solve the problems of humanity.
Patsy, a former journalist and lecturer in English Literature & Media Studies, lives in Oxfordshire with her actor husband, James Earl Adair.
The Next Girl is her debut novel, set in 1970s London, where love appears to be free and easy for everyone and art student Rosie becomes the latest obsession of charismatic psychology lecturer Max.
Captivated by his intellect and desire to know her deepest self, Rosie plunges headlong into a relationship which promises authenticity but threatens to unravel the tapestry of her life. Like the many women before her, she seems destined to lose everything in the quest for truth- but a catastrophic event shakes her to her senses and helps her forge a path to free herself from Max’s all-consuming hold.
kOrky Paul was born in Harare Zimbabwe where he enjoyed a wild and privileged childhood in the veldt. He studied Fine Arts at Durban Art School, and Film Animation at CalArts, California. Known for illustrating Winnie and Wilbur series, by Valerie Thomas, published in 44 languages with sales of 10 million. kOrky regularly visits schools promoting his passion for drawing. kOrky works in Oxford, lives in Greece.
Sarah was born and raised in a hippie surfer town in California before running away to New Orleans to read literature with the local vampires. After a hurricane and a degree, she found herself wandering around Los Angeles, dreaming of becoming a novelist in a script-writer world. The heat was a tad too much, so she moved across the pond to pursue an MA in English Language and Linguistics, focusing on practical applications of linguistic theories on fiction. She’s currently writing from her small West London balcony with her husband and two young children cheering her on.
Author Paul Gustafson taught in Oxford for over 25 years and has a wealth of educational experience. His best-known children’s books Eggbert’s Adventures has been endorsed by Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. “The cream always rises to the surface and these are the cream of children’s books, they will go on forever.”
The actress, Jenny Agutter famous for her roles in The Railway Children and Call the Midwife says, “The Eggbert books are simply charming and the characters delightful.”
And Sir Cliff Richard likes them too. “Endearing characters and eternal values, children will love and learn from these wonderful little books”
“There is no doubt that the choice of language fits well with the national curriculum and with what we know about early readers. Having seen its appeal to youngsters I have no doubt that the series appeals to a wide audience, the Eggbert books will prove invaluable in the classroom and in the home, especially at bedtime.”
Sir Tim Brighouse, Chief Education Officer for both Oxfordshire and Birmingham Education Authority 1978-1989
A Chilean artist based in Oxford, dedicated to illustration, photography, and the art world. With self-published books and a focus on exploring the book as both a concept and artistic object, this artist brings a unique perspective to their work. At this fair, they will showcase original illustrations, photographs, handmade books, and select children’s books featuring their illustrations.
Her work delves into themes of nature, conservation, and the impermanence that comes with natural cycles. In her children’s illustrations, she explores the animal world and its evolution, bringing a sense of wonder and respect for the environment into her art.
Attendees will have the rare opportunity to take home exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces, seldom seen in Oxford.
Hazel Longuet is the author of the House of Scarabs series, action-adventure books sizzling with supernatural suspense and spiced with ancient Egyptian lore. These mythological action thrillers follow a trio thrown together by a heritage passed down their family trees for over 3,000 years. The books draw much from Hazel’s experience living for over twenty years in Egypt.
Hazel’s survived a plane crash, a revolution, and even nearly drowned twice – so, to say she’s accident-prone is an understatement! A gypsy at heart, Hazel loves to travel. She has lived or worked in Bolivia, Colombia, Egypt, Dubai, and Sweden and has travelled to every continent except Australia. As a child, she lived on the grounds of Longleat, an English Elizabethan stately home, where she cleaned out lions’ cages and guided tourists around areas of the house.
I’m a Lincolnshire born and bred author who loves romance, the darker side of human nature, and all things magical. My stories walk the lines of light and dark and I love creating universes for others to visit.
Come say hi and browse through my worlds to see if there’s something you want to get lost in.
Veneficia Publications are based on the Islands of Portland and Wight.
Veneficia – Covers all adult genres
Our imprints are:
Ginger Fyre Press – Children’s titles
Highschool Horror – Written by young authors for teenager’s
Punk Wasp Publishing – For something a little bit different
Empowering Authors, Elevating Publishers.
Stardust Book Services is a one-stop shop for authors and publishers, offering the widest array of book services on the market.
From cover design to editing, character art to formatting, interior illustrations to kids’ books, and so much more, you’ll find everything you need with Stardust.
We specialise in Fantasy and Romance but work with all genres, providing bespoke services to make your book unforgettable.
M J Lawrie writes dark, adult fantasy romance stories featuring witches, shifters, zombies, vampires, fae and morally grey men to make you swoon. Her love of monsters, anti-heroes, lovable villains and fierce female main characters pushed her to start writing stories of her own. But be warned! Her stories are dark and often spicy, so come to the dark side (or table N04) and say hello. Her books include The Last Witch saga, The Stolen Fae series, The Verity duology, and her new series, Their Blood Rite.
Tim Grayson is a poet, producer, and publisher whose work spans many disciplines. He’s the founding editor of The Leicester Literary Review, poet-in-residence at Belvoir Castle, and creator of the board game Tatakai. Often called a modern-day polymath in the spirit of da Vinci, Tim’s path is shaped by both his creativity and his lived experience with ADHD. He’s written scripts for BBC Radio, coaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Combat Base Leicester, and produces the media section for Technology Record. At the fair, Tim will showcase The Leicester Literary Review, along with a limited selection of his poetry hardbacks, and Tatakai.
Janet has had shortlisted and prize-winning short stories and poetry published in online and print anthologies. Her 1st novel Beyond the Samovar, set in Russia and England, 1919-20, was published in 2019 by The Conrad Press. Her second novel The West in Her Eyes, a tale of exile, ambition and love in a fictional Russian family during the decade after the 1917 revolution was published in July 2024 by Resolute Books. At this year’s Book Fair, she will be selling both her novels and books by other Resolute authors.
Dragonhill Publications was founded by Peter R Smith. An Architect, Druid and Writer. Peter has been guided by his worry for the situation in which we find ourselves on Planet Earth in the present era. As a sideline and anti-dote to making buildings, He has written screen plays, poetry and children’s books and made the adventure game, Dragonhill, in a carefully thought out campaign spread over 35 years to gradually guide the Human race back into a more conducive relationship with the Earth. ‘The Dragon’s Edge’ is written in the distant future where the next incarnation of Earth is a conscious world interacting with the characters through dreams and visions. ‘The Search for Sacred Earth’ explores our relationships with the Animals, Spirits and Energies with whom we share our world. Peter lives near the New Forest in Hampshire.
Robert Whanslaw writes with a deep passion for narratives that intricately weave into the fabric of human experience and the complexities of real life. With a keen eye for the ordinary turned extraordinary, he explores the fragile lines that shape our destinies. His debut novel, The Boy Who Changed His World, delves into the heart of human potential. Readers can anticipate a darker side of humanity in his upcoming neo-noir crime fiction, slated for release in March 2025. Whanslaw’s writing is a raw and honest exploration of what it means to be human.
Experienced narrators available to discuss your production options and how to get your words into audio.
Ana Clements and Deborah Balm have 15 years of experience and have narrated more than 200 audiobooks.
Come along and get your questions answered.
I write since I was 12. First, diaries, then blogs, at 16, 17.
Academically – and existentially -, my interest concerns understanding people, thoughts, emotions and behaviour, and learning how we can be better people.
My first book, Ad Kalendas Graecas, is a compilation of disparate narratives, where the raw emotions of restlessness, heartbreak and the fall that they entail prevail. The texts, although separated from each other, are intertwined by passion, hope and the constant search for salvation, which always defeat cynicism, cruelty or carelessness. In a bilingual journey over a decade, the decade of early maturity, but without the experience of years, we read emotions made into literature. The letters save their author and hope to help save anyone who finds themselves in these fragments.
Published in February 2024 with Editorial Círculo Rojo, Ad Kalendas Graecas brings together in Spanish and English some of the texts written for years in the Ad Kalendas Graecas blog.
I am the author of Preposterous, Pulsating, Passionate, Poems, my first poetry book. My spontaneous poems feature famous Alumni and historical facts of modern-day life through the eyes of this unique poet.
I began composing short poems for my late wife and then as a Creative Ambassador for Age UK Oxfordshire recited my poetry at their Platinum Jubilee parties. I am a member of the Oxford Poetry Library where I compose and recite new poems at Open Mic evenings. For me, it is important to recite my poems from memory. I now work as a City Sightseeing Open Top Bus Tour Guide in Oxford, known as Poet Andrew, incorporating my poems into the tours.
I find poetry very therapeutic, putting oozing smiles on people’s faces instead of additional frown lines on their foreheads! I look forward to meeting you at the Indie Book Fair!
Writers’ & Artists’ have been providing the best and most reliable advice on all aspects of the writing process and how to get published for over 100 years.
The bestselling Yearbooks offer writers across all formats and genres – poetry, plays as well as fiction and non-fiction – up-to-date contacts for over 4,500 organisations across the media industries, including publishers, self-publishing providers and literary agents.
Editors of the Yearbook, the W&A publishing guides and www.writersandartists.co.uk will be at the Fair to answer your publishing queries.
Women into the Blue is a graphic novel in progress written and illustrated by Mélanie Gros, an author illustrator living in Oxford.
The story takes place in 3 different times with 3 different characters. Lilith, the first wife of Adam, left him for Satan before deciding to become a winemaker. Toto, Medusa’s secret daughter, is half woman, half rattlesnake. And Soineanta, a selkie who will have to make the tough decision to leave her family and go back to the sea.
The fate, or their own will (likely both) will lead the three of them to the Mediterranean Sea.
Mélanie Gros revisits old myths to fit into our contemporary realities. She believes stories have the power to change perspective and to impact our behaviour and what kind of society we want to live in.
Oxford based publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror. Come see our extensive selection of books for only £5 each. A free audiobook download from Audible with every purchase.
Doctor Stanislav Edward Shmelev is an ecological economist based in Oxford holding a PhD in Ecological Economics and Mathematical Methods (2003) supported by a prestigious European Commission PhD Fellowship. He received a LEAD Europe Fellowship (2007), an MA in Photography from Falmouth University and an Executive MBA from the London School of Economics and Political Science, New York University Stern School of Business and HEC Paris, has been employed as a Senior Researcher at Oxford University and was named one in top four most promising young economists in the world by the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the Handelsblatt Newspaper (2014).
Stanislav’s photo album ‘Ecosystems‘ which will be on sale at the fair has received letters of support and acknowledgement from HH Pope Francis, HRH Prince of Wales, HE President Macron, HE Prime Minister Rutte, and Sir David Attenborough.
Stanislav has exhibited his photography throughout the world, including at the United Nations, the University of Oxford, Arsenale di Venezia, Land of Venice, The Other Art Fair, Art for the Earth, St Ives Arts Club, Oxfordshire Artweeks, O3 Gallery, Rencontres d’Arles, Brighton Photo Biennial, Centro de la Imagen Peru, Fotonoviembre de Tenerife. His artwork has been chosen among the best contemporary artworks in the world of 2021 by the Arte Laguna Prize in Venice.
The Nasio Trust is a UK and Kenya registered charity that has been working for the past 22-years to empower communities in rural, Western Kenya to break the cycle of poverty and thrive through education, healthcare, and sustainable livelihoods. The charity supports over 300 vulnerable and orphaned children as well as small-scale farmers, entrepreneurs, and young people. Nasio’s founder and CEO, Nancy Hunt, has co-authored a book with Sylvia Vetta, inspired by her life’s events. All proceeds from the sale of the book are donated towards Nasio’s project to build the first community/ school library in the Mumias district of west Kenya.
Meet the Authors Published by Practical Inspiration Publishing
Susan Ní Chríodáin is an Oxford-based leadership consultant, coach and author of Leading Beyond the Numbers: How accounting for emotions tips the balance at work. Drawing on her career in leadership and finance, Susan offers a bold call to action for workplaces to embrace humanity alongside metrics. Her book combines insights from neuroscience, personal stories and practical tools to inspire leaders to rethink the way they value trust, connection and well-being at work. https://www.beyond-thenumbers.com
Gill Ereaut is an Oxford-based pioneer in organisational language and culture and the author of The Way We Talk Around Here: How your organization’s culture shows up in your language and why it matters. In this insightful and accessible book, Gill unveils how the everyday language of workplaces shapes and reflects their culture, offering leaders and others the tools to encourage authentic and effective cultural change. https://www.linguisticlandscapes.com
Together, Susan and Gill challenge traditional perspectives on leadership and workplace culture, offering fresh insights into how organisations can thrive by focusing on the human side of business. Come meet them at the Oxford Indie Book Fair and discover how their transformative ideas can reshape work and life.
The Oxford Independent Authors are a mutually supportive group of writers who meet to share expertise, preserve independence and join together at collaborative events. The focus of this group is on marketing, promoting, selling and raising the profile of writers; it is not a creative writing group.
We meet once a month on Saturday afternoons at Headington Library in Bury Knowle Park, starting at 1.30 pm.
If you are an independent author or working towards becoming one and would like more information please send me a message on Facebook/Instagram – @colinwadeauthor, or on WhatsApp.
Writers in Oxford is the society for published writers and authors in Oxford and Oxfordshire. Founded in 1992, it now has over 200 members spread across the city, the county, and beyond. Members represent every genre of writing: non-fiction (academic and popular); fiction (contemporary and historical, mysteries); biography, memoir, poetry, and children’s.
WiO aims to provide opportunities for published writers to meet one another in an informal and friendly way. There is an extensive program of events.
Aline P. Mora is a marketeer and brand strategist turned adult fantasy writer. Growing up, she found some of her best friends and lived some of her best adventures inside the pages of a book. So, naturally, after 15 years of building global brands, she decided to follow her soul’s desire and dedicate herself to writing and helping authors build their own brands.
When not writing magical stories about strong and witty female leads, you will find Aline enjoying quality time with her husband and two sons in their family home in London, or engaging in days-long conversations with her closest friends.
“The Heir of Light and Dark,” her debut novel, is an enticing adult fantasy series full of political intrigue, banter, and strong female characters.
Jan, writing as J.M. Carr, is delighted to bring her trilogy of ‘swashbuckling middlegrade novels’, The Wonder Girls, The Wonder Girls Resist, and The Wonder Girls Rebel, to Oxford.
The stories are about a 1930’s girl gang rescuing kids in peril from the fiendish plots of the ‘Blackshirts’, Britain’s far right of the 20s and 30s. They are inspired by her local South Coast history as well as lesser known national and international historical figures. Jan lives in Southampton.
The first Wonder Girls book was shortlisted for The Selfies in 2020 and excerpts have been featured on BBC local radio and The Bestseller Experiment podcast. Her readers are aged 9 – 90 and she is really happy that they seem to love her ‘girls’ as much as she does.
Angela is a children’s author. She has written for OUP (Oxford Reading Tree). These titles include Being Brave, Frank’s Secret Yeti, Sleuth School: Jeremy Swift Investigates, and The Laughing Shepherd.
Scaregound, her middle-grade spooky, was published with Neem Tree Press in the UK in 2023 and in the States in 2024. Angela is also the author behind the award-winning adventure park Hobbledown.
Angela is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. She lives in Oxford with her family and teaches creative writing.
Short Run Press is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading book printers and binders, we have built a reputation for quality printing and binding and excellence in service. Commitment to investment keeps us at the forefront of technology. We have highly trained staff, take great pride in our craft, and guarantee a very competitively priced product. We work with many individual authors and The Ashmolean, Oxford University Press, Bodleian Library and Oxford Archaeology, Whether it’s 50 or 15,000 copies of a book we can produce your book competitively, quickly and maintain communication with you throughout the process. We complete all books at our site in Exeter. We use FSC paper, our environmental credentials are on our website.
Julia Tedd is the author of two children’s books: Night-Time Cat and Box Cat (suitable for ages 0-6).
She also works at the University of Oxford as a Child Development and Education Researcher and Lecturer (as Julia Badger).
These books are colourful, fun and engaging; children will love the stories and you will love that they’re written to also subtly support language and grammar development.
Born in Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire, FRANCI$ is fostering PEACE through poetry powered by African Drumming.
FRANCI$ has performed Drumming UP Poetry show at the Burton Taylor Studio Theatre, Old Fire Station, Oxford poetry library, Brixton Poetry Library, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023 and WOMAD festival 2019.
FRANCI$ is currently paving the way walking every day around towns and cities by spreading African drumming healing sounds connecting people to harmonise our WORLD.
A dream comes true. Thank$ for your support. Keep drumming up PEACE ✌ 🙏
Liz was a teacher for many years. Now you’ll find her totally absorbed in writing her latest novel if she can find the time between playing her fiddle, doing her crazy acrobatics and enjoying her family.
Liz is showcasing her debut novel: The Unfinished Symphony of Love which has been warmly received with glowing reviews on Amazon. https://amzn.to/4fsd7Ez
’A beautifully written, sensitive novel, which examines some very difficult issues surrounding childhood sexual abuse and subsequent anorexia. It is poignant, at times heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting as Annie recovers and triumphs despite all the challenges that she has faced. I found it utterly absorbing to read and it is a book that will stay with me for a long time to come.’
Liz writes character-driven stories, often involving mental health challenges and journeys towards peace and recovery. She is passionate about the healing qualities and the magical and transformational power of The Arts – music, art, dance, drama, story-telling…
She has two more novels waiting in the wings. Liz is excited to announce that her next novel, ‘The Humble Pawn’ is to be published on 28 January 2025.
About a couple of the Authors: Simon and Margaret contribute to the 3rd edition Côte Tales, Oxford. by the Walton Street Writers. Available at the Book Fair for £8.00.
SIMON HOWARD has been a screenwriter, director, lecturer, journalist and writer of all sorts. He taught film and drama at Prague Film School and the universities of Westminster and Roehampton. He still does drama sessions with kids visiting from Ukraine. For several years he worked as a writer and script editor for Just Betzer, producer of Babette’s Feast. His latest film project is as a writer on the Indian documentary Risk Takers about people living dangerous lives in Mumbai. He has been a special adviser to the National Army Museum. His novels Cupid’s Hypodermic, Rough Cut and World’s End are on Kindle. So are his poetry collections Children of Manu, Living Inside Strangers, Poems for Translation and The Accidental Post-Modernist. He splits his time between Oxford, India and a few other places – especially Tuscany.
M.S. CLARY has practised social work in London, Oxford and Miami. Has won prizes for short stories and published two novels, A Spell in France and Three Albert Terrace. Has worked in fashion, and enjoys fiction, art and film noir.
1000 DAYS of FRIENDSHIP : UKRAINE
Having been doused, then drenched in the tidal wave of Ukrainian affairs for almost 3 years, it has seemed vital to combat the inevitable depression and distress with positive moves on the cultural front. Together with the vibrant hub of St. Michael’s Parish Church in Summertown, a full repertoire of initiatives has been manifested to help these ‘guests’ integrate into our communities.
STAND S69 provides a range of material to browse or to buy that can help us to understand the Ukrainian backstory, including history, comedy, cuisine, and the latest from Stephanie Baker, renowned international journalist, who traces the impact of sanctions imposed by the West. There will be Ukrainian evacuees on the stall to question directly for their individual stories.
Please take this chance to chat with us and delve a little deeper ! With the change of direction in the US, it is even more vital to engage and empathise, while also acknowledging other vulnerable groups on our doorstep.
Children’s author and Private Eye cartoonist Clive Goddard is best known for writing the award-winning ‘Fintan Fedora the World’s Worst Explorer’ series, which over the course of four hilariously chaotic adventures takes our hapless hero around the world in search of mythical treasures.
His latest book is Erik the Alien; a comedy adventure story detailing the series of events caused by an alien spaceship crashing on a Welsh sheep farm.
Clive began his publishing career 25 years ago as an illustrator for Scholastic, drawing over 30 titles including the Horribly Famous series, Bonkers Books and the Totally Series. He lives in East Oxford with his wife, Amy, and an ever-dwindling number of children and cats.At Protea Press, we empower authors on their journey from writing to publication in a supportive environment that ensures our writers maintain creative control of their work. We’re redefining independent publishing with a flexible, collaborative approach that brings writers together in a community. We offer various services for indie authors, including publishing support, writing workshops, retreats, and coaching. Come and meet our talented authors who will be signing copies of their work including Kate Packman, longlisted for the 2024 Bridport Prize. Whether you’re a writer or a book lover, we’d love to meet you!
Christian has written for many TV shows like Jasper Carrott, Rory Bremner and Clive Anderson. For Radio 4 he has written for such shows as Weekending, The News Huddlines, and Two Cheers. He was a columnist on various magazines including, Punch, Excel, Edge, FORE!, and Today’s Golfer. He has worked in the tennis world for over 20 years including as the Editor of The Queen’s Club Magazine.
The book is also in discussions to be turned into a TV series with the chapter on ”How Tennis Invented The Secret Service” being filmed as a tester for the show. The book itself has also been inducted into the AELTC’s library and museum for finally solving the puzzle of why tennis is scored at 15 points at a time, something that has baffled scholars and historians for almost six centuries – until now.
Vie Portland writes inclusive children’s picture books, positive growth books for adults, and compiles collections with other authors.
MY MEOW PUBLISHING is an Independent Publisher of Fine Artists’ high-quality illustrated and sewn Casebound Gift Books for everyone from five to eighty-five. Our first release is The Kitten Who Lost His Meow – a playful fable illustrated by Oxfordshire artist Patricia Broughton and written with Oxford musician, Francis Rockliff. The original drawings and story celebrate family, friendship and cats with landscapes inspired by the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire. The book is dedicated to the Samaritans for the emotional support it gives to many and the Blue Cross for its animal welfare work. The book can be obtained from the Broad Canvas Art & Craft Shop in Broad Street, Oxford and the Madhatter Bookstore in High Street, Burford. The book is also available online from our website.
‘I can see your book has been made with great love and care and the book’s website has a lovely touch of humour and is fun! I know wit x cat content, in general, is popular and charming and can convert to books nicely.’
Laura Higginson – Publishing Director Ebury Penguin / Gift Books for all occasions including Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (10M Copies) and the Horse and Johanna Basford’s The Secret Garden (Adult Colouring Book x 20M Copies).
Written Off Publishing is a small press dedicated to the amplification of authentic voices and those ostracised from traditional publishing routes. We publish poetry and short stories and operate as a collaborative community. We are proudly inclusive, and we make boss books.
Since 1981, Karl Lorenz Willett has continued journaling his life’s pivotal stories, which he likens to a collection of memoirs. He has published two revised and professionally edited books.
He began writing his autobiography for himself and his family to leave a legacy after obsessing over his inability to create original fictional characters for a novel. He decided that the story he could tell best would be his own authentic, genuine, accurately portrayed, nonfictional experiences.
He says, “It may help other people, but I could foresee it will be a teaching tool for me to learn life lessons and how to live well with a chronic illness. It was challenging because of the hard way in which I understood well, by trials and errors, and it has been a lovely feeling to be able to hold my words on paper in a book.” The basic concept is that his mental illness is only one aspect of his life, not the defining characteristic.
The most acclaimed outstanding book was The Memoir of a Schizophrenic, first published in 2016 and revised in 2021. It was listed in the Readers Favourite Book and Award Contest and was an award finalist in 2016. He was nominated for the BBC Radio 4 All in The Mind Awards 2016. The second book was also first self-edited. It was first published in 2020 as Good Life to Perfection Perception, an Autobiography. In 2021, it has been retitled A Good Life: The Perception of Perfection, an Autobiography, and the Revised Edition will be launched in March 2025.
Alina Salabin is a finance, compliance, and risk management expert with over nine years of experience. As the founder of Money Prep Academy®, she bridges the gap between complex financial concepts and practical, easy-to-understand lessons through her books. Alina has published three books, one for children aged 8 to 12 and two for adults and families on money management and savings, designed to help readers build essential financial skills.
Originally from Romania, Alina holds Bachelor’s Degrees in Accounting, Law, and History and shifted to finance upon moving to the UK in 2015. She has since obtained multiple governance, risk management, and compliance certifications, including an ICA Professional Postgraduate Diploma in Governance, Risk, and Compliance from The University of Manchester. She’s pursuing the CGMA (Chartered Global Management Accountant) designation, reflecting her commitment to financial strategy and innovation.
Outside her professional pursuits, Alina enjoys family time, exploring new places, and creating jewellery with her daughters.
For more information, visit our website.
‘Life is serious, but is not to be lived too seriously’. Serious or humorous, my poems are always good-natured.
I write when I have something to say, and I feel I have found the right way to say it. It’s about having fun with words and meaning, using words skillfully to say things differently, and saying the familiar in unfamiliar ways.
In 2017 I self-published a collection of poetry and wit as Particles of Light. The book has been well received and has sold well in my local bookshops.
Intersecting Lines, my second collection, was traditionally published by indie publisher Beercott Books in 2021. It continues to reflect my interest in people, love, the natural world, and the human condition and is written very much with the reader in mind.
There are poems to move you, to surprise you, and to make you laugh. The humorous poems and one-liners are there for entertainment, to be enjoyed, though they often contain a ‘sting in the tail’. I hope readers will enjoy reading my poems and will feel I am putting their own experiences and emotions into words.
It’s such a great feeling when you get good feedback and review comments, or when somebody chooses to take home a copy of your words. That’s communication!
Ed Pope is an independent researcher and historian aged 76 who decided to publish three Oxford local history books that were launched in May 2024. Two were researched, written and designed by Ed Pope, and one was written by Rob Sykes and designed by Stig about events in which they both took part with Ed Pope in 1998. The titles are: Bill Hines (1839-1903) Oxford’s Socialist Chimneysweep and Six Hundred Years of Blackhall; and The LMS Occupation, Oxford’s 1998 Road Protest.
Ed Pope has also been a university dropout, a performance artist, a permaculture gardener, a naked protestor, a singer-songwriter and an unskilled labourer. His website edpopehistory.co.uk contains thousands of short biographies of forgotten individuals, mostly from 1750 to 1850 around London as well as some background articles including the full texts of his published books – all accessible free online.
ARCh Assisted Reading for Children is an award winning charity that trains volunteers to go into primary schools across Oxfordshire to support children with reading.
We provide our Reading Helpers with training, resources and deal with all the logistics of finding a school to support.
We are looking for book lovers to join us in our mission to change child’s lives through reading, inspiring a lifelong love of reading that will open up a whole world of opportunity.
Rebecca Mileham began her career developing exhibitions at the Science Museum, London, before becoming a freelance writer and museum text consultant. Her first popular science book was published in 2008, shortly after she moved to Oxfordshire, and she now contributes to award-winning exhibitions and museums all over the world.
Her most recent book is ‘Cracking the Elements‘ (2018). which takes a comprehensive look at the development of the periodic table – and reveals untold stories, unsung pioneers and intriguing science along the way.
She is also the author of a forthcoming book on Quantum Physics, and working on a new visual encyclopedia of the chemical elements.
Zozo Thomas is an author and illustrator who lives in the southwest of England, where she shares her large garden with her cats, chickens and a variety of wildlife.
Fun for all the family, her Tales from Mulberry Garden series of books is suitable for children and adults alike. Read the stories and colour the words and images as you go. The range of images to colour has been designed to appeal to all abilities. Colouring tips help to boost confidence and improve skill levels. There are also puzzles and activities designed to keep everyone entertained. Teaching suggestions have been given to help adult readers guide their younger friends through the messages in the story.
“No princesses were harmed in the production of this book except on page 13.”
John is launching his debut book, “Bees Make Honey and Butterflies Make Jam” a collection of humorous short stories for adults.
John’s proudest achievement was winning a prize in the prestigious Sunday Times Chess Competition. The problem posed was: “White appears to be in a commanding position but black has a surprising killer move. Can you see it?”
John gave the correct answer which was, “No” and after some correspondence, he was given the prize.
The book consistently gets 5-star reviews on Amazon.
For over 130 years, Holywell Press has been printing books (and all sorts of other things) in Oxford. We work with commercial organisations and private customers, producing books of every size, shape, and description for publishers and self-publishing authors.
Always with an eye on quality and craftsmanship, we can help at every stage of your book printing journey with:
– book design and page layout
– proof-reading and editorial checks
– cover artwork and illustrations
– ISBN assignment and registration
– short-run digital and longer-run litho printing
– saddle stitching, perfect- and case-binding.
We look forward to meeting you and discussing your next book printing project.
William Wadsworth is a memory psychologist (Cambridge University, First Class) who helps students study smarter, not harder, so they can ace their exams with less work and less stress.
Following top 0.01% exam results himself at school, William is now obsessed with helping others get the grades of their dreams as a study strategy coach for private clients, and as an in-demand workshop leader for schools and universities.
His expertise has been widely featured, from a regular column in The Times to numerous high-profile education industry conferences (BERA, ResearchEd, ISA). William also hosts the award-nominated Exam Study Expert podcast and blog (https://examstudyexpert.com), which help over a million readers and listeners get the grades of their dreams every single year.
Zoe McGarrick has written short stories and poetry. She published a novel, The Painter’s Wife, in 2022 and a poetry collection, Winter. in 2024. She is a horror and gothic fiction fanatic, with inspiration from Shirley Jackson and Angela Carter, highlighting women’s history and struggles through her work. She currently resides in Oxford, United Kingdom, and is always working on the next project, with a horror zine set around Oxford, and another novel on the way, coming soon.
What does a Saxon princess have in common with Alice and the Dodo? To find out, come and meet three award-winning children’s authors: Mirjam Chappell, Raffaella Ro, and Jackie Holderness. All three are members of the Oxford Children’s Book Group, the local branch of the National FCBG.
Selfishgenie Publishing is a boutique publishing house dedicated to providing a service for unknown, or relatively unknown, authors and allowing them to become better known. At the same time, we want readers to discover new works by new authors while enjoying their reading experience.
Our philosophy is that readers can’t know if an author is worth reading until they have read one of their books, therefore those books need to be available for them to read.
As a small publishing house, we can’t take on every author who wants to be published, but we can take a few risks. We can give a few unknown authors the break they deserve, while at the same time offering readers the chance to discover the next big name in publishing before their books become expensive to buy.
This year, our author Robert Cubitt will be exhibiting at November’s Oxford Indie Book Fair. he is a multi-genre author of both fiction and non-fiction, so we are sure he will have something to suit your reading tastes.
Josie is a fantasy and historical fiction author who lives in Oxford. She mostly writes about vampire romances, dystopian zombies, and lost civilisations. Her Oxford-based vampire murder mystery novel May Day won the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2021.
Serendipitous is the debut crime novel from Jay Essen. Set during the end of the Covid “Lockdowns”. A unique time to commit a crime and potentially escape the law.
The murder of Mercy’s father began a series of deaths that, on the surface, appeared unrelated. For the victims a gruesome end, but for someone a serendipitous occurrence of
untold benefit…
This thriller takes you on a journey of ambition, deception, love, affairs and ultimately murders. This book is ideal for anyone who loves this genre or needs to escape their daily life and enter a world of intrigue, suspicion and suspense!
Tom McDonnell is an Oxford based author, tour guide and events organiser with an interest in local folklore, he is the author of Sweete Wittie Soules, a book which investigates Shakespeares Connections to Oxford.
Tom McDonnells publishing company, Autolycus Books, was founded in 2016.
Nicholas House was born in Southern England and took up writing at a very early age, inspired by a unusual mix of Jules Verne and Greek mythology. Growing up in North Wales, he eventually studied Geoscience at University, embracing his love for the outdoors. This afforded him the chance to travel, all the time fuelling his passion for writing.
Editor, publisher, and translator Tony Frazer founded Shearsman magazine in 1981, shortly followed by Shearsman Books. Based in south Oxfordshire, the imprint publishes poetry, plus poetry-related essays and literary criticism, and has a large and thriving translation list.
John Hedge worked for 40 years as a Probation Officer in Oxford and London including a stint in Wormwood Scrubs where he did pioneering work on foreign prisoners before whistle-blowing activities exposing mayhem within the jail led to an early exit. As he says, ‘Most people get thrown into prison – I got thrown out!’
John is strongly committed to international development. Inspired by a friend who worked in Mali he founded the Mali Development Group, in 2000. The organisation has worked closely with Malian organisations to support many projects, raising over £1.5 million and he has visited the country many times.
John started writing late. His first book of Memoir, Ston and the Bright Bar, tells the story of growing up in the contrasting worlds of a country pub and the Spartan world of the Royal Masonic School. His second Memoir, The Long Road to the Straight and Narrow, is about a life on the front line in probation. Since then he has written two books of poetry – The Paddington Band and most recently Life, Death and Football– poems of Nature, North Devon, Age and Arguments.
John lives in North Devon, with his wife Gill, a potter.
Chris Andrews Publications has produced guide books, coffee tables and souvenir books in Oxford for over 40 years. The company also publishes calendars, cards, posters and fridge magnets. All are photographed, designed and produced by ourselves. We also publish books and cards in the Cotswolds, Chilterns, Channel islands and Belfast.
Bob Fairbrother is a mentor and coach, trail runner, hiker, skier, French language mangler, book reader, junior football league volunteer, guitar aspirant, dabbler in the kitchen, player of the occasional game of table football and, of course, writing. I like to write about political themes, climate, and crime thrillers with a speculative twist.
In The Great Mosquito Hunt and Other Adventures, Elizabeth Manson-Bahr traces the journey of the discovery of the causes of malaria by her great-grandfather, ‘Mosquito Manson.’ She finds a story of doctors, merchants and diplomats who travelled the world. Elizabeth was born in Kenya and attended schools in many different countries before ending up in the USA where she read French and Spanish at Tulane University. Summer School in Mexico City inspired her first book, a novel, Children of the Sun, the story of the conquest of Mexico.
Elizabeth worked as an illustrator for her card company Bizzie Lizzie Cards.
Rohan Davies lives in Norfolk, overlooking the sea.
His debut fantasy novel, The Demon and the Witch, is a story of myth, magic and transformation. Anike, a young herbalist, is cast into a new life while seeking a cure for her father’s illness. As she learns more about witchcraft, she must face former friends, monsters and betrayal before she can finally confront the consequences of her own power.
The Demon and the Witch is the first book of The Saga of the Witch. The second book, The Giant and the Witch, is due out towards the end of the year.
Rohan has read and enjoyed fantasy books his entire life, and has spent most of it designing and playing role-playing games. After a long professional career, he now writes and designs board games full-time.
I am a scientist and believe that we learn more when we are having fun. I write stories based on real information. My fun, interactive, rhyming picture books for a younger audience (ages 3-7) invite the reader to join in with the pattern clues and help solve the mystery.
My DNA Diary books for KS2/KS3 and older are designed to explain complex biology in a story with short pieces of text and lots of illustrations. The examples are those used at the early secondary level and offer a good headstart to the subject.
Looking forward to meeting you!
Pauline has had a passion for reading and writing since childhood. At junior school, she wrote several ‘novels’, for which she won prizes.
Her main interest is in writing contemporary women’s fiction. The book profiled here is Song In The Key Of Madeleine, which was short-listed for the Yeovil Prize in 2013, it tells the story of a love affair between Madeleine, a forty-something British woman, and Shibu, a much younger Asian man. But it is more than just a romance. It is a study on how culture and early childhood experiences affect the psyche and manifest as behaviour and the interplay in relationships that result.
John Webster was born in 1953 in the little-known town of Barnard Castle. Involved in alternative publishing since leaving school, he then created a collection of songs with lyrics by Shelley, Keats and Byron, and collaborated with Benjamin Zephaniah to produce documentary soundtracks on the poets. He has recently published a poetic memoir of a 70s overland journey to India, ‘The Rime of the Asian Highway’, and his new book, ‘The Closest Thing in History’ uncovers some unexpected and illuminating similarities between the Younger Romantics and The Beatles. He is married with one son and lives in Oxford.
Wayne Kelly is a screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist from Leicester. His debut crime novel, Safe Hands, is set in Leicestershire and Skegness and is out now. The sequel, The Call Back will be released in January 2025.
In addition to novels and short stories, he’s written and directed several short films including INKLING, which was an official selection at the International HorrorHound Film Festival in Ohio. He is producer of the award-winning feature-length documentary, NO FARE: The Sian Green Story.
Since 2014 he’s hosted The Joined Up Writing Podcast, where he interviews successful authors about their books, writing and journeys to publication.
With his limited spare time, he’s a singer-songwriter with The Wry Dogs and devoted cat father to Milo. He loves to cycle around the beautiful Leicestershire countryside, where he lives with his wife and daughter.
Established in 2017 and based at Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre, ignitionpress is an award-winning poetry pamphlet press with an international outlook which publishes original, arresting poetry from emerging poets.
Pamphlets published by the press have been recognised with six Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice selections. Hinge by Alycia Pirmohamed was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award in 2020, whilst Fahad Al-Amoudi’s When the Flies Come and Clementine E Burnley’s Radical Pairings were both shortlisted for the same award in 2023.
The press won the Michael Marks Publishers’ Award in 2021.
Meet Yiting Lee, a picture book creator who believes the best stories are like unexpected dance parties – full of surprise, colour, and boundless imagination! Originally from Taiwan and now calling England home, she’s a children’s book author and illustrator who turns every blank page into a playground of possibilities. Visit her stand to discover her delightful picture books and browse original artwork, including pieces from her latest works Le Jardin de Jean (2024), What’s the Rush? (2022), the beloved Mr White series and more.
I’ve loved to write and make up stories since I was a child. Characters and plots come to me regularly. Some stories don’t make it past the imagining phase but every now and again an idea won’t leave me alone, and the first draft of a new novel begins.
I decided to take some creative writing courses as an adult which eventually led to a Creative Writing MA at Brunel University. Ever since then, I have been honing my writing skills ghost ghostwriting, copywriting and creating blog content for companies.
I was thrilled to have my debut novel, Holding Paradise, published by Indigo Dreams in 2014. The book and its characters sparked a series of short stories and a novella which, not published in their own right, led to the creation of the Island Secrets Series. I reinvented Holding Paradise and it became book 1 of the series, published in 2024. The year before that I published a stand-alone book called Lovers.
I’m currently working on a new book series and hope to publish the first of them in 2025.
I moved from London to the English countryside with my musician husband where I teach vocals and lead a local choir.
I also write under the pseudonym Rosa Temple, writing contemporary fiction and published by HQ Digital and Simon & Schuster UK.
Neil J Hart has won Awards for his haunting fantasy novels packed with adventure and heart.
The Last Scarecrow, Watty 2021 Winner for Horror, follows Erin (the last human girl) and Number Twelve (her last and most terrifying scarecrow) as they take a perilous journey across The Endless Blue in search of her missing brother. Dress for adventure. Pack for heartache. Suitable for readers 10+
Sadie Madison and the Boy in the Crimson Scarf, Watty 2022 Winner for Fantasy. In a time of great change and unease, where faith is forbidden and policed from the shadows, Sadie Madison is a girl who cannot forget. Anything. Stirred by a fanciful bedtime story about arcane spirits who collect all forgotten thoughts, she performs a haunting piano melody, unheard for an age. The mysterious music possesses her best friend, exposes dark family secrets, and sparks the flame of belief once more. But dark whispers gather as Sadie’s power grows, sharpening the attention of those who would give their lives to glimpse the past and kill to save the future.
Neil fosters for Cats Protection and loves a cheese and cucumber sandwich.
Susan is the author of science puzzle books at secondary school level and children’s fiction fantasy written for the 8 -12’s.
At Imprint Digital, we make book printing easy and accessible for authors, publishers, and businesses alike. Whether you need 10 or 10,000 copies, our short-run book printing service provides high-quality printed books and journals at affordable prices. All of our printing and binding is completed in-house, ensuring we maintain consistent quality and fast turnaround times for both paperback and hardback books.
We offer a wide selection of paper types, finishes, covers, and binding options, all tailored to meet your specific needs. Our services also include single-copy hardback proofs, allowing you to review and perfect your book before committing to a larger order, ensuring the final product exceeds your expectations.
Our commitment to outstanding customer service is at the heart of everything we do. From the initial design stage to final delivery, our dedicated team is here to guide you through every step of the printing process, making your experience smooth and enjoyable. Don’t just take our word for it; we have over 115 five-star reviews on Google.
We are particularly proud of our thread-sewn binding (Smyth-Sewn) for hardback books, available from just 10 copies. Sewn binding guarantees durability and allows the pages to lay flat for an enhanced reading experience.
Originally from London, David Burridge has been writing poetry all his adult life. His poems have appeared in magazines as diverse as Acumen, Dream Catcher, Orbis and The Wednesday, as well as the Annual Review of the Oxford Philosophical Society.
He has so far published five poetry collections: Pausing for Breath Along My Way (2017), Making Sense (2018), Child’s Play (2021), and Streetwise (2021). His fifth collection Ramblings of a Gentle Pragmatist is hot off the press and will be available at OXIB for the first time!
Inspired by a career in business and the law, extensive travels and walks, and his interest in philosophy, David has honed his keen observational skills. He uses poetry to make sense of the world around him, and he describes himself as a “philo-poet”. A fluent German speaker and a lifelong jazz fan, David lives in Oxfordshire with his wife.
Angela writes books for readers who love people and life in all its messy glory – the romantics who dream of love and happy endings.
In her books, you will find resilient, relatable heroines with warm hearts who try to do the next right thing despite difficult circumstances. Her first novel, Touch, became an Amazon best-seller. There are now four novels in the Ellie Rose Series and a short story anthology titled Seasonal Produce. Her short stories have been published in ‘Yours’ magazine and are regularly featured on the radio. A Song for Kitty is her first historical romance novel.
Angela is also a creative mindset and wellness coach. She is married with two grown lads and three grandsons. Angela is owned by two Gordon Setter dogs.
Linda Pullman is a writer and poet. She has published 3 poetry books in the last four years and hopes to publish many more. She is an ex-teacher, born in Dorset and now living in Buckinghamshire. Her latest book relates specifically to cancer and is based on her own experience of cancer in 2020.
Her books include: Roses in December, When Your Sky Falls In, Cancer is a Life-Changing Journey
Fra was born in the 1950s in London and grew up in the UK, Spain, and the USA. Love and life took her to live and work in Malawi, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her debut novel, White Hyena, based in 1980s Ethiopia, is a richly interwoven, fictionalised account of true stories. One of Ashebir, a young shepherd boy, growing up in the northern highlands, his mother Zewdie, and of Izzie, a young English woman, who immerses us in Addis Ababa.
White Hyena reflects Ethiopia’s incredible people, its art, its eskista and tezeta music, its landscapes, injera and coffee ceremonies. White Hyena is dedicated to Zewdie. Royalties go to a small NGO in Ethiopia working with poor rural women. White Hyena is a vivid individual account of what happens behind the broad conflict, hunger and displacement headlines. At the same time, it describes the joyous moments we all treasure in life, and the incredible bonds between family members, friends, and neighbours, which ultimately underpin our will to survive.
Peter’s first novel Mazzeri, a contemporary love story set in Corsica, was published in 2013 and short-listed for the American Library in Paris Book Award. Boarding House Reach, his second, a character-driven novel set in Norfolk, followed a year later.
He has since published Ontreto, set in Lipari near Sicily, The Wind Between Two Worlds, set in London, and more recently Constant Tides, the story of three generations of women in Messina, Sicily. The latter is also available on Audible and soon to be available in Italian, under the titles Lilla, Mira, and Caterina, collectively Tre Donne di Messina. His latest novella What You Don’t Know About Me was written and brought to market in 28 days during the 2020 Covid-19 UK lockdowns. He has also published The Truth in Fiction, a selection of short stories.
Christina Hardyment is the author of many non-fiction books but has now turned to writing medieval murder mysteries centring on Geoffrey Chaucer’s granddaughter Alyce and her palace Ewelme, near Wallingford. They are selling well, but she is looking for a publisher to print them.
Sue Clark is a novelist and former BBC radio and TV comedy scriptwriter.
Her latest comic fiction, A Novel Solution, was published this summer. Funny and touching, A Novel Solution is the engaging and uplifting story of a woman’s struggle to sort her life out. Novelist Lissa Evans calls it ‘A clever genre-crossing novel of comedy and suspense’.
Her earlier novel, Note to Boy – She wants her celebrity life back. He just wants a life – won a Pencraft award for humour.
Sue, as part of the Breakthrough Book Collective, has also contributed short stories to the anthologies Taking Liberties, Order and Chaos, and Elemental.
She lives in Abingdon with a forbearing husband, and her grown-up family nearby.
Julia Cameron, author of the fabulously original ‘OXFORD By A Very Oxford Cat‘ is founder of Dictum Press. For 30 years she was a regular obituarist for The Times and The Independent. In retirement, Julia is researching and writing, and is a part-time tour guide with Oxford City Sightseeing.
By day, Sandra Peachey is a Human Resources Consultant and Coach… by night a scribbler of blogs and books.
In ‘Peachey Letters – Love Letters to Life,´ she revives the lost art of letter writing, sending missives to the significant people and phenomena in her world; creating a feel good look at how to understand and celebrate this crazy thing called life: laughing, crying and learning on the way.
Peachey Letters is poetic, warm, witty, sweetly sad and uplifting. It can be read in one luscious afternoon, or dipped into, like a beautiful box of delicious chocolates.
S. E. Thornbush has been writing since she was 12, but has been telling stories since she can remember. Throughout her life, she has developed several fantastical characters and tales that have yet to be transcribed into works of fiction. She has published children’s and YA works of fiction as well as non-fiction works in scientific journals.
The Oxford Photographers Group is an informal association of professional and semi-professional photographers, mainly but not exclusively documentary, in the greater Oxford area. The group has numerous published works, but members also self-publish books and zines.
Molly Arbuthnott is a teacher, author, editor, and academic from Scotland. She is passionate about the promotion of children’s literature and has published thirteen award-winning picture books.
Molly, a former teacher, transitioned her career to children’s literature in 2019 completing a Master’s in Children’s Literature at Glasgow University. Molly crafts narratives based on people that have been important in her life and that are simultaneously honest and gentle, teaching children about empathy, teamwork and moral courage. Each book collaborates with a charity which is associated with the theme of the book in some way.
Her writing has received acclaim during book tours worldwide and won national awards; they have been shortlisted for the People’s Book Prize and won the Wishing Shelf Book Awards and the Firebird Book Awards. She’s shared academic papers with the IRSCL Congress. She has been published in the Once Upon Another Time anthology by the Book Whisperers and she has received the Emily Dickinson Award. She has a contract with Celene Press in Greece and Select Books in the USA.
Beyond writing, Molly has also demonstrated her proficiency in production, having written a program and trailer for BBC Alba’s adaption of her book Oscar the Ferry Cat. She also successfully created a VR program for Glasgow University’s Hackathon and hosts the popular podcast, My Favourite Books. She has amassed a loyal fan base of over 20,000 followers.
Her foray into the auditory realm is also noteworthy, with her stories now available on Audible. Her current endeavour is to animate Oscar the Ferry Cat, with the goal of enchanting children through her compelling storytelling.
Dice Comics is a collective that offers you a brand name to self-publisher your work under. We can also offer a free ISBN (if available) should you choose to self-publish your completed work under the Dice Comics imprint. We hope to be soon open to submissions and publishing entertainment titles aimed at all ages.
Mario Coelho is an Oxford-based children’s books illustrator with work published by several publishers like Oxford University Press and Pegasus Publishers. Mario Coelho has also done various books with the well-known children’s poet and writer John Foster.
I am an author, father, husband and brother to all who carry the fire. I hail from London in the UK and have so far written three full-length novels called Lilif, THE SWEAT, SHADOWS UNDER A DIPPING SUN and three other books consisting of one short story and two compendiums, all available from Amazon. My love for writing stems from seeing my mother read countless books in childhood. I can recall her screaming with both laughter and fright over the written works of Stephen King, Dean R Koontz, James Herbert and many more. Her books oddly led me to film as opposed to reading and developed in me a persistent imagination and love for creating characters and stories.
By age twelve, I had watched the films Rosemary’s Baby, Misery, Salem’s Lot, and Pet Sematary only to be told – ‘If you think the films are good, the books are ten times better’. I discovered how true those words were as I matured, and I’ve never looked back. I want to make people laugh, cry, care and cherish my writing. There is a book in us; we all have a story to tell.
Tana Macpherson-Smith is known as the Monkey Mind Speaker and is a teacher, child and adolescent therapist and mindset transformation coach. She is committed to addressing the global mental health crisis by putting the focus on prevention, and transforming the life experiences of children from conception upwards.
There’s a Monkey on Your Shoulder is Tana’s debut novel and was only released on Amazon on 22nd November 2024 and this is her first ever book fair! Her novel for Young Adults raises awareness of the real mental health issues that many young people face today. It is a pulse-pounding adventure that tackles the battles we face within. Perfect for anyone who has ever wrestled their demons, this book will take readers on a wild ride into the heart of what it means to truly overcome the voices, fears, and beliefs that hold us back, so we can create a new path for your future.
Santa Montefiore, Sunday Time Best Selling Author says of There’s A Monkey on Your Shoulder: “A brilliantly clever, original and skilfully written book for young adults navigating their way through an increasingly challenging world. I absolutely loved it!
Tana’s raw honesty and unique perspective on mental health and resilience captivate audiences as she shares her journey from childhood trauma to mental health advocate. Her story resonates deeply with children, parents and educators, inspiring them to embrace vulnerability and live authentically. Her work has been acknowledged with several recognitions including the LoveBiz Inspirational Businesswoman of the Year Award 2024 and as a Finalist in the international Speakers Award 2024. She was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Story Summit, Her Spirit Womens Writers Retreat in Santa Fe, USA in 2022.
Tana’s book launch will take place in London on Thursday 12th December. Booking available on Eventbrite!
Grey Suit Editions UK
Publishes poetry, novels and literary essays. Grey Suit began as a video magazine in the 1990’s that featured avant-garde performance art, poetry and experimental film and music. Today we host an archive of the video footage.
Marketing Director, Marian Eastwood will be on hand to help you browse and purchase good quality books and pamphlets on offer:
Anyhony Howell – The Collected Longer Poems
Donald Gardner – New and Selected Poems
David Plante – Essential Stories
Other quality books for your enjoyment. Visit our website and blog: https://greysuiteditions.co.uk
Liisa Sabah is a newly published author, she has always had a passion for reading, and growing up she fell in love with fantasy adventure books like the Narnia series, The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings.
Liisa has a passion for travel, too much coffee and a love for animals, especially those roaring big cats…lions!
The Cocoon Within is Liisa’s debut fantasy adventure novel, an epic tale of spectacular creatures and other worlds with vibrant landscapes, all rolled into a gripping story that takes seventeen-year-old Ariana and her friends on the adventure of their lives!
The Wantage Bookshop is an independent bookshop off the market square on Mill Street in Wantage. It offers a wide range of books including latest releases, bestsellers, and bookseller favourites, as well as independent bookshop exclusive editions. It also offers a welcoming children’s section where young readers can sit and browse. We love recommending books, and have a bespoke book subscription service.
We also sell beautiful cards, wraps, jigsaws and gifts.
Sign up to our mailing list to receive a weekly Friday Five newsletter highlighting the five books we are most excited about, as well as info on our upcoming author events.
We are open seven days a week.
Dennis Hamley has been writing for an unconscionably long time. His first book was published in 1962. He has written nearly eighty books, mainly for teachers and young adults, including The War and Freddy, shortlisted for the Smarties (now Nestlé) Prize, Hare’s Choice and the sequence of medieval murder mysteries, The Long Journey of Joslin de Lay.
He now publishes independently under his own imprint, Joslin Books’ though his latest novel, The Second Person from Porlock, a fantasy/riff on the chaotic life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was published by Fairlight Books in 2021. His latest book under the Joslin Books imprint is Out of the Mouths of Babes, first published in 1997 by Scholastic Press. This is a ‘Crossover’ novel, suitable for both adults and teenagers.
Dennis became dissatisfied with the original ending: it left his characters frozen in time in 1997 with nothing solved But the final situation would have had big consequences and these had to be followed through. Thus he wrote a new section, ‘Finality’, in an attempt to give a proper sense of an ending. He can only hope he has got it right.
Dennis was born in 1935. He read English at Cambridge and has a PhD from Leicester.
Amy Letts is a local Oxford Artist, know for running StART Art Classes. She is Headington co-ordinator for Oxfordshire Artweeks.
Amy will be exhibiting with her comic: “Epic Fail”, a story of fantasy misadventure. She will also have art prints and home-made art books such as “INKcredible!” and “INKcomplete!”
Representing
-CAPTION Small Press & Indie Comics Festival.
-Germaine Moonie, romance author, with Phantom of the Opera inspired novels
Great storytelling doesn’t just entertain, it energises.
We are a small, independent and award-winning traditional publisher. We’re London-based and the majority of our books are about Britain. But our memoirs and travelogues take you around the world. So do many of our thrillers.
We publish page-turners about politics. We grapple and engage, move and disturb, inform and entertain.
Dr Victoria Prince is an author, writer, psychotherapist and Mental Health Advocate. She graduated from the University of Oxford and later earned advanced degrees in counselling psychology, psychiatry and Mental Health. Her debut novel, The Other Side Of Snow, which began during an MFA in Creative Writing at Kingston University, was long listed for The Bridport Prize and Page Turner Awards in 2023. She is currently working on her second adult fiction novel, Still-Beautiful Moments, and her first nonfiction book, Mental Health Stories: The Experiences of 20 People Aged 75 and Older. Besides reading and writing, Victoria’s interests include travel, global cuisines, long walks and theatre. She lives in Oxford, United Kingdom.
Synopsis: (Set in the late 1970s, Wales): Cathy Safari is not your average teenager – between being a hermit and navigating the complexities of teen life, it’s harder for her to outrun the intrusive voices plaguing her head.
When she is uprooted from Oxford to Wales a year after her grandma’s death, Cathy struggles to adapt. Now, in a new country, school, and social dynamics, she finds it difficult to make friends in a city where kids aren’t friendly and feel isolated at home.
When Cathy’s dad, Tacari, elopes with a woman he meets at the bookies, her mum, Elsie, meets Peter. He soon becomes integral to their lives. But Peter has a dark and wicked side, and Cathy’s life is about to take a terrifying turn.
Will being forced to reveal her secret break Cathy or be the making of her?
Dr Clare began writing for publication in 2022. Since then she has released two children’s books which are available on Amazon both for Kindle ebooks and in paperback and hardback editions which are easy to order too. One of her children’s books, The Seed, has also been translated into an Italian edition. These would all make perfect Christmas book gifts for young ones you know this year.
Just search for ‘Dr Clare’ on Amazon.
The author has also written adult fiction under the name Clare Anne McGrory. There are many more works in the pipeline, and a visit to the author’s website will take you to a free short story for adults that I hope you will enjoy.
Clare is from Scotland originally, and has a background in data science having studied statistics at the University of Glasgow.
Elena has written on the topics of History of Ideas, and History of Art. One of her books is Michelangelo, the Byzantines, and Plato (2021), and her latest is Byzantine and Medieval Cappadocia (2024).
Peter writes about understanding the relationship between mind and body. His books are Panpsychism (2011), and Mind, Quantum, and Free Will (2022). The second has the advantage that the idealist metaphysical position it advocates is closely tied to contemporary physics.
Both of us have given talks at academic conferences.
Matthew is from Bristol UK. He has always been fascinated by how other animals perceive the world. He wrote the popular science book, The Case for a Living Universe, to take account of recent evidence around animal and plant cognition, which suggests that mind could be a basic consituent throughout nature.
Tina Wu is the author of an Eastern Epic Fantasy series The Quest for Qieta. She was born in Taiwan and moved to the United Kingdom in 2001. As a girl with a big imagination, The tale of The Quest for Qieta series has lived in her mind since the age of sixteen. At last, over a decade later, she has put pen to paper to bring the universe of Neputa to life. The Quest for Qieta draws influences from Anime, Wuxia, and ancient Japan, and is set in a diverse fantasy universe.
Synopsis: Dead bodies have been appearing along the riverbanks of Shinrin, Neputa’s largest Kingdom. There is no explanation as to who has done this, or where these bodies have come from. However, one thing is consistent each time: Gouged out eyes and missing internal organs. Immerse yourself into this world as you join Prince Takashi on his journey into unfolding the mysteries of these horrifying killings. Experience multiple character routes as each story branches out into further mysteries of its own.
Diana Bell is a multi-media artist including sculpture, installation and painting. She is known for her public participation work and has exhibited in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Romania, Russia and Australia as well as the UK. Diana has received awards for her public sculpture & for her work in hospitals. She enjoys collaborating with poets and dancers. Her books combine both paintings and writing.
Somewhere East of Earthsea and West of Jane Austen’s England is the world of The Shattered Moon, a coming-of-age story set in a post-apocalyptic world that may feel strangely familiar.
The Shattered Moon series now stands at four books, with the fifth due in February, but author Jon Sparks has been writing fiction for as long as he can remember. However, for many years Jon made his living as an outdoor writer and photographer, specialising in landscape, travel, and outdoor pursuits, particularly walking, climbing and cycling. In this guise, Jon has won a few awards and produced more than sixty books, one or two of which may be available at the Book Fair alongside the Shattered Moon series.
He lives in Garstang, Lancashire, with his partner Bernie and several bikes.
Christopher Bowden is the author of seven published novels, each with a colour theme, praised variously by Andrew Marr, Julian Fellowes, Sir Derek Jacobi, and Shena Mackay. His most recent book (Mr Magenta) was published in October 2022. It is a literary mystery moving between a house in south London, a bookshop in Brooklyn, a theatre in Marseille, and a cottage on the east coast of England. He is currently writing an eighth novel called The Colour of Memory.
Two of the books have Oxford elements. The Blue Book features the city during the Second World War; in The Amber Maze events take place in an Oxford college and in an Oxfordshire country house in the early twentieth century.
Christopher read History at Oxford. He was interviewed on BBC Radio Oxford in 2022 about the synaesthesia (seeing words as colours) that influences his writing.
Chris Towndrow has been a writer since 1991.
He began writing science fiction, inspired by Asimov, Iain M Banks, and numerous film and TV canons. After a few years creating screenplays across several genres, in 2004 he branched out into playwriting and has had several productions professionally performed. This background is instrumental in his ability to produce realistic, compelling dialogue in his books.
His first published novel was 2012’s far-future, post-war space opera “Sacred Ground”. He then changed focus into near-future sci-fi adventures, and the Enna Dacourt pentalogy was completed in 2023. In a similar vein, “Nuclear Family” was a venture into post-apocalyptic fiction.
He has always drawn inspiration from the big screen, and 2019’s quirky romantic black comedy “Tow Away Zone” owes much to the films of the Coen Brothers. This spawned two sequels in what became the “Sunrise trilogy”.
His first historical fiction novel, “Signs Of Life”, was published by Valericain Press in 2023. With a number of excellent reviews, this thoughtful Western romance has been his most popular title.
In 2023, Chris returned to his passion for writing accessible humour and will devote his efforts to romantic comedies.The first of these, “Floored”, was published in April 2024 under the pen name Chrissie Harrison. The second book, a sports romcom “Match Daze” followed in October 2024.
Chris lives on the outskirts of London with his family and works as a video editor and producer. He is a member of the UK Society of Authors, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the Romantic Novelists Association.
Arachne Press is an award-winning independent publisher of mainly short fiction and poetry, specialising in work by writers who are LGBTQ+, disabled, global majority, older women or living in geographically isolated places.
Renard Press is a small award-winning independent publisher. Covering both classic and contemporary titles, Renard publishes fiction and non-fiction, theatre and poetry; the emphasis is on good writing, properly edited, and on publishing books and voices that have traditionally been neglected. Their books can be found in convenient modern formats – in a world increasingly lived online – as well as in beautifully designed and well-produced editions. Renard is proud to be the founder member of the Indie Press Network, and is one of the UK’s only carbon-positive publishers, taking more carbon out of the air than they emit, and planting trees around the world.
Milo McGivern is a children’s author, age group 8-12. For the past four years, he has been delighted to share five books, detailing the adventures of Aubrey, Clifford and Walli on the mysterious Island of Animaux. All the books have received fantastic reviews and have sold really well. The eagerly awaited next book in the series will be published in the spring. See him read his books on TikTok, as MiloMcGivernTales.
Lara Fairy Love – Saarrukaa Goddess of Birth and Fire.
Travels Our Planet , sharing the beauty of The Multiverse.
Assisting All to see the scripts and stories hiding the truth of themselves.
Lara shares tools through her Books, stories, songs, poems, CleaRApy and Events , so that All can transform their Emotional, Mental, Physical and Spiritual pains into Well being Peace and Love .
Widening the Whelming!
Website larafairylove.co.uk
Xxxloveloveloveyouxxx ALL ALOT ALLWAYS xxxlovelaraxxx
Sarah Whitton’s debut novel was released in August 2024 and is set in Oxford in 2006.
Sarah lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, two energetic boys, and cat Willow—who helps to balance out all the testosterone! Sarah works as a Domestic Abuse Coordinator and is writing her second novel. She thrives on writing about real-life situations, friendship, love, and how it can all go spectacularly wrong.
When Sarah isn’t writing, she loves Boxercising to drum and bass, watching her boys play sports and stomping around her local fields listening to podcasts, or leaving very long voice notes for her friends to speed up.
Suzanne Lissaman is an award-winning author of fast-paced romantic comedies with strong female leads. Her first book, Be More Octopus, won the Romantic Novelists’ Association Debut Romantic Novel Award 2024.
GRISELDA HEPPEL was born in Vienna, grew up in Germany, read English at Cambridge and lives in Oxford. She started writing children’s books when her own children were young, for her favourite age range, 8 – 13 years (being a permanent 12-year-old herself).
Her first book, Ante’s Inferno (Matador, 2012), won the People’s Book Prize and a Gold Wishing Shelf Award, as well as coming runner-up in Writing Magazine‘s self-publishing competition. This was followed by The Tragickall History of Henry Fowst (Matador, 2015). Her third book, The Fall of a Sparrow (Matador, 2021), was shortlisted for the Page Turner Awards and the Rubery Book Award and won a Bronze Wishing Shelf Award.
“Griselda Heppel is a born storyteller. Your children will love her books and, to be honest, so will you.” – The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.
Memoona Ahmed is a British-Pakistani poet and mental health researcher based in Oxford. Her creative work focuses on her multifaceted experience with adversity and mental illness.
Memoona has been writing since childhood, but in 2019 started sharing her work in public. She won University College Oxford’s ‘Univ’s Next Novelist’ competition as an undergraduate student in 2019, and her poetry has been featured in the Word Association’s 2020 anthology ‘Words to Live By’ (Bite Poetry Press). She has headlined at Oxford Poetry Library and spoken word night ‘Speak Your Mind’, alongside performing at Cheltenham Literature Festival and more. Her debut poetry collection, once-joined pieces, was released in 2023 with Bite Poetry Press.
She is incredibly passionate about mental health awareness and hopes to become a clinical psychologist. Most recently, she facilitated a panel event for young people to share the importance of writing for wellbeing. She hopes to change lives through her emotive work.
Ian Hunter is a children’s author who lives on the south coast of England, UK, with his partner and their two cheeky cats (aka writing mascots).
He loves anything creative and can usually be found writing, planning an adventure holiday, or escaping to a fantasy world.
‘Fyn Carter and the Agents of Eromlos’ is Ian’s debut novel. He has many more stories to tell and is excited to share them with children and young-hearted adults like him everywhere.
Are you ready to unlock your full potential and live a purpose, joy, and fulfilment-filled life? Look no further than “SPARKLE” by Nkechi L. Ifediora, a transformative guide to smarter living that will empower you to embrace change, prioritise self-care, and thrive in every aspect of your life.
Nkechi L. Ifediora is an accomplished Executive, coach and author. With a background in public health, Nkechi brings a unique perspective to personal development and smart living. Through her work, she empowers individuals and communities to embrace change, prioritise self-care, and live purposefully.
Sarah Lustig writes mystery books for children. Her first book, Mystery in the Palace of Westminster, was highly commended in the Selfies Children’s Book Award, 2023 and it was a Wishing Shelf Book Award finalist. The second book in the series, Body in the Thames, published in October 2024. The series follows Theo Duncan, the son of the Prime Minister, and his friend Samira Jhor as they solve mysteries that baffle the Westminster political scene.
Sarah grew up in London and went to school in Westminster, with politicians’ children. Her experiences at school and interest in politics inspired the idea for the Westminster Mysteries series. Sarah has been a book editor for nearly 15 years and now lives in Buckinghamshire, where she spends her time reading, writing and pottering on her balcony garden.
Helen has carried out research with survivors of conflict and post-conflict sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and torture including refugees, in the African continent and United Kingdom since 1998. Helen has worked in Uganda, the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Liberia, and South Africa. She has numerous journal publications. Helen carried out research with South Sudanese refugee survivors of SGBV and torture living in refugee settlements in Uganda and assisted in overseeing the CLAMP refugee project in Uganda which employs and trains refugees as peer counsellors.
Helen provides consultancies, training and interventions to improve support for survivors of conflict sexual and gender-based violence and torture in conjunction with African organisations including Women’s International Peace Centre, Kampala, Uganda. Helen was recently interviewed for the Womxn show on Cape Town TV regarding her work with survivors.
Helen has published two previous books: Justice and Health Provision for Survivors of Sexual Violence (with Prof. Bruce Baker) and A Gendered Analysis of the Experiences of Ugandan Women War Survivors. Helen’s latest book is her fascinating autobiography, describing a feminist, activist and researcher who acted against atrocities and abuses of conflict survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and torture to improve survivors’ rights to health, care, and justice. Fascinating, emotional, and uplifting; Nalule’s Travels and Adventures: The Power of Writing for Survivors in Africa, is a captivating narrative of hardship, resilience, and fun told with passion and clarity by a woman who never gave up!
Also Exhibiting
The following exhibitors are also at the book fair. We’re waiting for them to fill in their profiles so you can get to know them better.
Name | Table |
Oxfordshire Library Service | S52 |
Mihaela Piculist | S46 |
Aida Edemariam | N46 |
Josh Barry | S67 |
Mark Waterman | S15 |
Roxy Eloise | N20 |
The Oxford Indie Book Fair and its organisers cannot be responsible for any external content or links provided by our exhibitors.