
Ben Aitken
Ben was due to come to ChipLitFest in 2020 to talk about working in a Polish chip shop, instead lockdown meant that he became housemates with 84 year old Winnie and he tells the tale in The Marmalade Diaries.
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Monica Ali
We are incredibly excited to welcome Monica Ali to ChipLitFest to celebrate her wonderful novel, the first in a decade, Love Marriage. Monica will be in conversation with Tessa Hadley, author of Free Love.
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Jim Al-Khalili
We're delighted to welcome theoretical physicist Prof Jim Al-Khalil back to ChipLitFest, this time with his rallying cry to discover the joy of thinking scientifically.
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Lucy Atkins
Alongside novel writing and journalism, Lucy Atkins teaches on Oxford University’s Creative Writing Master’s degree. She and Mick Herron join us for an all-day Creative Writing Masterclass.
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Louis de Bernières
The multi-million best-selling master of historical fiction, Louis de Bernières, joins ChipLitFest for an evening of words and music.
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Mark Billingham
Mark is a Festival founder patron and well-established Festival favourite as the ChipLit Quiz master. As well as hosting the Quiz without which the Festival wouldn't be the Festival, Mark will be chatting to Charlie Higson about his latest thriller.
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D.V. Bishop
Screenwriter and TV dramatist, DV Bishop, has written two crime thrillers set in Renaissance Florence. He joins us to run a writers' workshop about creating compelling characters that will grab a reader's imagination.
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Hannah Bourne-Taylor
Fledgling is Hannah's first book, an account of her experience of rescuing and raising two wild birds in rural Ghana.

Dr Amanda Brown
Dr Amanda Brown is a prison doctor, her accounts of her work have become best-selling books. In The Prison Doctor: The Final Sentence, she reveals stories of her time spent with foreign national prisoners.
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Charlie Corbett
Meet the skylark, the wren, the chiff chaff and the robin in Charlie Corbett’s lyrical and life affirming book, 12 Birds to Save Your Life. Writer and journalist Charlie shows us there is joy to be found if we know where to look, and how to listen.
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Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Author, academic and running enthusiast Vybarr Cregan-Reid returns to ChipLitFest as an interviewer. He'll be talking to Simon Parker about Riding Out.
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Lianne Dillsworth
Lianne is one of our New Voices of 2022, she'll be introducing her novel Theatre of Marvels, an immersive historical debut that tells the story of a mixed-race woman in the West End of Victorian London.
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Klaus Dodds
The ever-popular Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions are back at the Festival - Prof Klaus Dodds will be presenting a 30-minute lecture about the Arctic.
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Lyse Doucet
Lyse Doucet, BBC correspondent, hopes to join us to celebrate the publication of My Pen is the Wing of a Bird for which she wrote the introduction. International events might demand that she is elsewhere.
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John Dougherty
ChipLitFest favourite and founder patron John Dougherty is back with Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face. Expect silliness, mayhem and music, of course!
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Professor Lucy Easthope
Professor Lucy Easthope is the country’s leading authority on recovering from disaster. For over two decades she has challenged others to think differently about what comes next, after tragic events. Now she has written her extraordinary memoir, When the Dust Settles.
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Allen Fatimaharan
World Book Day illustrator Allen Fatimaharan brings his wonderful drawings to the Children's Festival, joining Hannah Lee and The Rapping Princess as well as doing a live drawing event in the window of Jaffé & Neale bookshop.
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Suzi Feay
Literary journalist, reviewer and broadcaster, Suzi Feay joins us for the first time as a festival interviewer. She will be hosting our evening with the legendary Louis de Bernières.
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Gerry Foley
Interviewer Gerry Foley comes to ChipLitFest for the first time. He'll be chatting to our former debuts Abir Mukherjee and Laura Shepherd-Robinson in Next Chapter and to Justin Webb about The Gift of a Radio.
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Melissa Fu
Debut novelist Melissa Fu, Peach Blossom Spring, comes to ChipLitFest to co-run a workshop for writers about how to use place and belonging to enhance your writing.
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Claire Fuller
Winner of the 2021 Costa Novel Award for Unsettled Ground, her beautiful story of a sibling relationship under extraordinary stress, Claire Fuller joins us to celebrate the paperback publication.
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Andrew Gant
Composer and teacher Andrew Gant takes us on a grand musical history tour through all types of music in his fascinating book, Five Straight Lines.
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Alison Gomm
Editor and regular ChipLitFest interviewer as well as longtime committee member, Alison's interests range from literature to journalism to the classics. At this year's festival, Alison is talking to novelist Claire Fuller, prison doctor Amanda Brown and nature writer Hannah Bourne Taylor.
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Professor Dave Goulson returns to ChipLitFest to highlight the dramatic decline of insect species and how we can and must still take action.

Joe Haddow
Joe is one of our regular ChipLitFest interviewers. And, as always, he will be talking to our debut novelists in the New Voices event. Joe will also be interviewing Douglas Stuart about the widely anticipated Young Mungo.
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Tessa Hadley
Best-selling novelist Tessa Hadley (and former judge of the ChipLitFest short story competition!) celebrates Free Love, her compulsive new novel about one woman's sexual and intellectual awakening in 1960s London. Tessa will be in conversation with Monica Ali, author of Love Marriage.
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Lucy Hannah
Lucy Hannah designs and delivers global literary initiatives. She is the director of UNTOLD, the programme behind the anthology of short stories by Afghan women, My Pen is the Wing of a Bird.
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Louise Hare
Louise was due to introduce her debut novel, This Lovely City, at ChipLitFest 2020, so we're delighted that she will now join us to run a writers' workshop about historical fiction and to tell us about her latest book, Miss Aldridge Regrets.
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Mick Herron
Mick is the Gold Dagger-winning author of the Jackson Lamb series. Often described as John le Carré's successor, Mick along with Lucy Atkins will bring his award-winning prose and plotting to our Creative Writing Masterclass.
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Charlie Higson
Charlie Higson is an acclaimed comedy writer, producer, actor, and genuine James Bond aficionado. We're incredibly excited that he will be talking to Mark Billingham about Whatever Gets You Through the Night, his first adult thriller in over 25 years.
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Shimrit Janes
Shimrit is Director of Knowledge at the Digital Workspace Group, a long-time festival sponsor, as well as co-author of Nature of Work, exploring patterns from the natural world to show us a dynamic, vital, new way of working.
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Andrew Kahn
The ever-popular Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions are back at the Festival - Prof Andrew Kahn will be presenting a 30-minute lecture about the short story.
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Yasmin Kane
Literary agent Yasmin Kane is judging the 2022 ChipLitFest short story competition.
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Zarghuna Kargar
Journalist Zari Kargar acted as the cultural adviser, writer and editor on My Pen is the Wing of a Bird, the short story anthology by Afghan women. Zari also translated a number of the stories.
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Kieran Larwood
A former teacher, Kieran, now writes for children. His books include the much-loved, award-winning Five Realms series set in the world of Podkin One-Ear. We're delighted to welcome Kieran to the Children's Festival with his brand new series, Carnival of the Lost.
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Hannah Lee
Hannah's latest picture book The Rapping Princess tells the story of Shiloh the young princess and how she learns to find her own unique voice. She's joined by illustrator Allen Fatimaharan.
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Andrew Male
Arts journalist Andrew Male returns to ChipLitFest to interview Monica Ali and Tessa Hadley. He previously ran our book group event about Barbara Pym.
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Jack Meaning and Rupal Patel
Bank of England staff members Jack Meaning and Rupal Patel hope to promote economic literacy with their accessible, authoritative and witty new book, Can't We Just Print More Money?
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Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Children's author Jack Meggitt-Phillips comes to ChipLitFest for the first time with his hilarious creations, Bethany, Ebenezer Tweezer, and, of course, the Beast! Sharp, funny and original - don't miss this monstrous event!
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Paul Miller
Paul is CEO and Founder of Digital Workspace Group, a long-time festival sponsor, as well as co-author of Nature of Work, exploring patterns from the natural world to show us a dynamic, vital, new way of working.
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Ruth Millington
Art historian, critic and writer Ruth Milington brings her debut book, Muse, to ChipLitFest in which she uncovers the hidden figures behind art history’s masterpieces.
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Abir Mukherjee
Abir, bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in 1920s India, first came to ChipLitFest as a debut writer in 2017. He returns to talk about what happened next in his career, Next Chapter.
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Mary-Ann Ochota
Mary-Ann is again joining ChipLitFest as an interviewer. She's an anthropologist, archaeologist and adventurer.
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Molly Oldfield
Molly Oldfield spent twelve years as a QI Elf researcher. Now she uses all that knowledge to answer children's questions from around the world in her podcast 'Everything Under the Sun' which is also the name of her latest book.
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Ned Palmer
We had hoped to bring Ned and his cheese passion to ChipLitFest in 2020, so we're really looking forward to welcoming him this time with his latest guide to the best cheese, A Cheesemonger's Compendium of British and Irish Cheese.
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Simon Parker
Oxfordshire-based travel writer Simon Parker brings his account of lockdown survival when he cycled an amazing 3,000 miles across Britain.
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Korky Paul
ChipLitFest patron and multi-million selling Winnie and Wilbur illustrator, Korky Paul loves to draw and inspire children to do the same.
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Georgia Pritchett
Georgia Pritchett has written on many of the most successful comedy television shows, including Succession, of the last 15 years. Her memoir, My Mess is a Bit of a Life, is an honest and hilarious account of living with anxiety.
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Sophie Ratcliffe
Oxford academic and author of the 2019 memoir, The Lost Properties of Love, that explored love, grief and motherhood, Sophie Ratcliffe joins us to interview Clover Stroud about the devastating loss of her sister.
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Milly Reilly
Milly Reilly works with Jo at the Jo Unwin Literary Agency. She is developing a list of both fiction and non-fiction authors and joins us at the Festival to give some insider tips and develop authors' pitching skills.
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Jasmine Richards
Children's author Jasmine has worked with ChipLitFest in the past to bring amazing, inspiring lessons to our local schools. And now she is bringing her story writing workshop to the children's festival - pens and paper at the ready!
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Dominic Sandbrook
Dominic Sandbrook writes history books for adults but following a trip to a museum with his son, he has started writing history books for children about some of the major events in human history - from ancient Greece to the Second World War. Amazing and true stories.
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Caroline Sanderson
As Associate Editor of The Bookseller magazine, Caroline is at the heart of the publishing industry. We are delighted that she is joining us to interview David Whitehouse, Andrew Gant and Professor Lucy Easthope and to host the event for My Pen is the Wing of a Bird.
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Tina Sederholm
Performance poet and advocate for the spoken word, Tina Sederholm is back at the festival with her second poetry collection - a performance for people trying to figure it out!
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Anita Sethi
Writer and journalist Anita Sethi turned her experience of being subjected to a racist hate crime into an extraordinary book, I Belong Here, a journey of reclamation through the natural landscapes of the North, brilliantly exploring identity, nature, place and belonging.
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Tanya Shadrick
Tanya Shadrick, author of the captivating memoir The Cure for Sleep, comes to ChipLitFest to co-run a workshop for writers about how to use place and belonging to enhance your writing.
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Laura Shepherd-Robinson
Acclaimed novelist Laura Shepherd-Robinson first came to ChipLit Fest as a debut writer in 2019 with her prize-winning historical novel Blood & Sugar. She's back now to talk about what has happened since then in our Next Chapter event.
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Kathy Slack
Cotswold chef and food writer, Kathy Slack, has discussed food blogging and run a brunch event at previous ChipLitFests. She now returns with a delicious spring time lunch from her best-selling cookbook, From the Veg Patch.
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Maggie Snowling
The ever-popular Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions are back at the Festival - Prof Margaret Snowling CBE will be presenting a 30-minute lecture about dyslexia.
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Susan Stokes-Chapman
Susan is one of our New Voices of 2022, she'll be introducing her novel Pandora, inspired by Sir William Hamilton’s lost Grecian shipment on board the HMS Colossus, which sank just off the Scilly Isles in 1798.
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Nina Stibbe
'Nina Stibbe is one of the great comic writers of our time' Irish Times. Her latest novel, One Day I Shall Astonish the World, charts the story of a friendship begun in a haberdashery. Charming, moving and laugh out loud funny.
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Clover Stroud
We are delighted to welcome Clover Stroud to ChipLitFest after lockdown prevented her 2020 appearance. Now she shares lessons from a life interrupted by the death of her beloved sister.
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Douglas Stuart
Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart's debut novel, won the 2020 Booker Prize and legions of fans across the world. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Douglas to ChipLitFest to celebrate his second book, the extraordinary and powerful Young Mungo.
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Lily Trotter
Designer and illustrator Lily Trotter is coming to ChipLitFest for the first time to inspire children to doodle and draw.
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Jo Unwin
Jo is a literary agent with a background in acting and scriptwriting. As well as representing several ChipLitFest 2022 authors, Jo will be giving insider tips on getting a literary agent's attention. She will also be chairing A Write Laugh with Georgia Pritchett and Nina Stibbe.
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Lucy Walters
Storyteller Lucy returns to ChipLitFest with a brand new story for pre-schoolers, Rosy and Fizz. Children are listeners before they are readers and Lucy is a wonderfully engaging storyteller who we love to include at the festival.
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Alastair Watson
Host for the Wimpy Kids events, Alastair Watson brings Jeff Kinney's mega-selling Wimpy Kid books alive for children and families at festivals all over the country.
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Justin Webb
We're thrilled that BBC Radio 4's Justin Webb is bringing the candid and darkly funny tale of his childhood, The Gift of a Radio, to ChipLitFest. Many of us wake up to Justin, find out how the background to his becoming one the country's most trusted journalists.

David Whitehouse
Inspired by Colin Mehir's diary following the murder of his son, novelist and screenwriter David Whitehouse has written About A Son, a work of creative non-fiction blending true crime, memoir and reportage.
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Kimberley Wilson
Chartered psychologist as well as, among other things, a former finalist in The Great British Bake Off, Kimberley brings her Whole Body Mental Health approach to mental health care, giving us the tools to build a healthy brain.
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EVENTS IN 2021
Thanks so much to our audience and authors for getting involved in our short series of live literary events. Knowing that people felt confident enough to be back out in person to enjoy some top quality bookish chat encouraged us to commit to a full festival in 2022. Many thanks to these brilliant writers and their wonderful books: Claire Mackintosh, Julie Bindel, Ian Dunt, Mark Billingham, Richard Osman and Hugo Rittson Thomas. And to the interviewers, Chipping Norton Theatre for hosting the events and to Jaffé & Neale for organising the book sales.
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Isobel Dixon
Poet and literary agent, Isobel Dixon, is judging the 2021 ChipLitFest short story competition.
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Clare Mackintosh
ChipLitFest founder and patron, Clare Mackintosh, comes back to Chipping Norton to introduce her latest sensational novel, Hostage.
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Kat Orman
Oxford BBC journalist has interviewed various ChipLitFest authors for press and radio, this time she is joining us to interview Clare Mackintosh on stage.
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Richard Osman
The much-loved and ridiculously knowledgeable TV personality, Richard Osman, joins us in conversation with Mark Billingham to discuss his absurdly successful crime series, The Thursday Murder Club, the second of which, The Man Who Died Twice, is published on 16 September.
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Hugo Rittson-Thomas
Photographer Hugo Rittson-Thomas joins us to talk about his book, Wildflowers for The Queen, a captivating photographic celebration of the vast array of Coronation Meadows that have been created to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Coronation.
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