This weekend the first ever North London Book Fest (21 – 24 March 2024) welcomed book lovers to the Palace for a diverse programme of events featuring headliners Natalie Haynes, Leo Vardiashvili, Peter Hain, Lemony Snicket, Michael Rosen and Stuart Turton.
Our new festival connected readers with revered authors and up-and-coming writers and featured a feast of readings, panel discussions, Q&As, workshops and book-signings for readers of all genres and ages.
Here’s a few photos and reflections from an amazing four days.
More highlights from the festival at @yourallypally!
Brilliance & joy from @MichaelRosenYes, @lemonysnicket @MeggittPhillips, @MzEvieMo, Kevin Morosky, @kelechnekoff, @BOWBELLE & Mpho McKenzie.
Join us tomorrow for the last day! Tickets: https://t.co/e8JvGeSqVP pic.twitter.com/zxVAYZ946r
— North London Book Fest (@NLBookFest) March 23, 2024
In the Alexandra Palace Theatre in Muswell Hill, London yesterday, a theatre that was ‘secret’ for nearly a 100 years, being used as storage, and is now like some kind of restored relic from Pompeii. Wonderful to be in it, having fun with 500 or more people.@NLBookFest pic.twitter.com/0MPH7cZEDA
— Michael Rosen (@MichaelRosenYes) March 24, 2024
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Another awesome event at @NLBookFest @Yourallypally !
Jack Meggitt-Philips using his beastly humour as he interviews @DanielHandler, aka Lemony Snicket who has amazing dry humour and comic stare!
The lengthy queue for signing #PoisonForBreakfast says it all!! pic.twitter.com/i4KOupEew3— Tanya E (@TanyaEfthymiou) March 23, 2024
Enjoyed my afternoon at @NLBookFest learning about goddesses, Jaws and giant penguins from @officialnhaynes and then hearing about Roman women from an excellent panel. pic.twitter.com/SaOnK898ZX
— Charlotte Regan (@charlotteregan) March 24, 2024
Thank you @NLBookFest for a great evening at Ally Pally last night with the lovely @robinlustig and @CecilekvPin. Here’s some pics… pic.twitter.com/Zt2ZdlqRqO
— Leo Vardiashvili (@L_Vardiashvili) March 25, 2024
Joint-Festival Director and Head of Creative Learning at Alexandra Palace, Mark Civil: “We are delighted to have welcomed people to the Palace for a little bit of history: our the first ever literary festival. We have been growing our literary programming through a range of author readings, panel discussions and our children’s book award. The festival was a chance to pull that all together into one moment – it was a fantastic four days. Our ambition is for this to become an annual event, something that book lovers will look forward to and saviour, as well as developing a touring programme that can go out across libraries and bookshops across north London.”
Kate Ereira, Joint-Festival Director: “We have had the most extraordinary weekend with sell-out events and stunningly good speakers. From large events in the beautiful Theatre to intimate children’s creative workshops, the whole four days has been packed with really special experiences.”
Emma Dagnes, Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust CEO: “We want Alexandra Palace to provide great entertainment and culture for all, grow new partnerships and inspire our communities. The Book Fest was an embodiment of this. A chance to bring new audiences here and showcase to them all that we can offer. It was brilliant to open up the Palace for the festival, welcome such an array of talented writers and see so many people enjoying themselves.”
North London Book Fest is supported by Waterstones, who ran the festival bookshop, and by Tottenham Grammar School Foundation, Haringey Council and ckbk. The festival coincided with the finale of Biblio-buzz, the annual Alexandra Palace Children’s Book Award, which saw hundreds of local school pupils attend a ceremony in the Theatre on Friday 22 March.
The festival action kicked off on Thursday 21 March with a pub quiz night from the fiendish mind of quiz book author Frank Paul – ‘superstar of the world of quizzies’. This was followed on Friday 22 March by Biblio-Buzz and an evening of intrigue with a round-up of the latest thought-provoking crime and political thrillers, ahead of busy festival schedule across Saturday 23 March and Sunday 24 March.
Read more about the North London Book Fest and our Creative Learning programme.