September 2023

9 – 30 September 2023
21
7.30pm Wanstead Book Festival presents: Ian Dunt (£10)
Outspoken journalist and commentator Ian Dunt knows something has gone
terribly wrong with our society. It’s a feeling many of us have, but we struggle to
articulate exactly why. Ian has no such problems. In his Sunday Times bestselling
book How Westminster Works… and Why It Doesn’t, he lifts the lid on what
has happened to politics, exposing aspects of the system in a way that can be
understood and challenged.
Venue: Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club, Overton Drive
8pm
Football quiz: West Ham – Champions of Europe (£8 per person)
How well do you know the current Champions of Europe, West Ham United?
Venue: The Duke, 79 Nightingale Lane
Thursday 14 September
from 5pm Crypt Tours at St Mary’s Parish Church (£10)
Come and gaze into Wanstead’s past, and hear about the people who lived here in
Georgian times in the many mansions that existed then. Tours leave on the hour.
The church will also be open; visitors are advised to visit the church too before the
tour. Note: access is restricted, there is no disabled access to the crypt. Tours at
5pm, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. Check website for additional dates.
Venue: St. Mary’s Church, Overton Drive
7pm From Schumacher to Sunak (£10)
Two press photographers – Geoff Wilkinson and Stefan Rousseau – talk about
their careers spanning 50 years of history. From politicians to the rich and famous
and everything in between, get a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes to
achieve the photographs that appear in the papers.
Venue: Wanstead and Snaresbrook Cricket Club, Overton Drive
7.30pm Wanstead Book Festival presents: Will Gompertz (£10)
Will Gompertz is familiar to audiences throughout the country from his years as
the BBC’s Arts Editor. For years Will was a fixture on the Ten O’Clock News as he
would introduce Turner or Booker Prize winners, or explain why a statue or painting
had been sold for record prices. In his new book he explains how anyone can look
at and experience the world with an artist’s heightened powers of perception.
Venue: Wanstead Library, Churchill Room
Friday 15 September
7.30pm Wanstead Book Festival presents: Jonathan Coe (£10)
Jonathan Coe is one of Britain’s greatest living novelists whose books shine a light
on how we as a society see ourselves. From his hit 1994 book What a Carve Up,
through The Rotters Club, Number 11 and Middle England, he has found a moving,
funny and true way to tell the story of Britain. His new novel Bournville continues
the theme, following characters as they age from the Queen’s Coronation, through
the 1966 World Cup, royal weddings and deaths, to Brexit and COVID. Through it
all, Coe’s characters pose the question of whether the family – and the country
– became closer together or further apart? He has created a social history of
postwar Britain while it is still going on with a rare knack for spotting significant
details and weaving them into hilariously well-observed plots. Do not miss this.
Venue: Wanstead Library, Churchill Room
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