A Feast for Readers and Writers

Not only does the Finchley Literary Festival support Barnet Libraries but it's very important to us that we also support local writers. To close this year's festival we have a very interesting event for readers and writers. Some writers from the North London Writers group - Lily Dunn, Tasha Kavanagh, Evie Miller, Zoe Gilbert - , as well as Irenosen Okojie and local poet, Dennis Evans, will be joining us to celebrate the wealth of talent in North London. The event takes place Sunday 24th May 3-5pm, afternoon tea time, and where better than Cafe Buzz in North Finchley, for a feast of not only fabulous readers but also delicious cakes and drinks. See more details here.

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction nominee, Jemma Wayne, will also be joining us. Jemma graduated from Cambridge University. Working first as a reporter at The Jewish Chronicle and later as a columnist for The Jewish News, she is now a regularly featured blogger at The Huffington Post and continues to contribute to various publications including The Evening Standard, The Independent on Sunday, Standard Issue and The Jewish Quarterly, amongst others.

Jemma’s first full-length work, Bare Necessities – a tongue-in-cheek guide to being a grownup – was published by Piatkus Books in 2004. Her play, Negative Space, ran at The New End Theatre, Hampstead, in September 2009 to critical acclaim. And her short stories have appeared in a variety of publications including Ether Books, 33 West by Limehouse Books, and Kerouac’s Dog Magazine.

Jemma’s first novel, After Before, was published by Legend Press in 2014. It was long-listed for the Guardian’s 2014 Not the Booker Prize and for the 2015 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. 

Find out more about Jemma here: www.jemmawayne.com