In Tree Hunting , Paul Wood seeks out the best individual trees – the most charismatic, quirky or downright spectacular – that grow in Britain and Ireland’s towns, cities and villages (and, in one case, from the crack in a church steeple). From a stumpy sycamore in Shetland, contorted by wind and hard weather, to the shining jewel in Brighton’s unlikely treasure trove of elms, Paul travels on a quest from north to south rooting out the legends and tall tales behind these marvellous specimens. As he delves into this rich ecosystem, he reveals how trees are inextricably bound to the story of our towns and cities: they have always meant a great deal to those that live near them, and they continue to shape the fabric of urban life in deep, and often surprising ways.

Including sumptuous maps, grid references and charming travel notes so you can plan adventures of your own, Tree Hunting will help you unlock the secrets of Britain and Ireland’s urban forests.

Paul’s event will be taking place during the Urban Tree Festival.

A Dulwich Festival event.

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**CANCELLED** DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Pull up a chair to Martha Collison’s table, where the recipes are big on flavour with minimal fuss, making sharing food with friends easier than ever.

Whether you’re looking for a weekend brunch spread, a little treat to share over coffee with a friend, a three-course extravaganza or a weeknight winner for two, Martha has got you covered. The recipes are all easy to follow, and produce delicious results without hours of effort in the kitchen.

Martha Collison is a bestselling food writer and recipe creator. She has written three cookbooks, established a regular column for Waitrose Weekend, built a dedicated online following and become resident Show Chef on the Graham Norton Radio Show with Virgin Radio. She was also a finalist in the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024, and has appeared on Saturday Kitchen. In 2014, aged 17, she took part in the fifth series of The Great British Bake Off and remains the youngest ever contestant.

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From the Women’s Prize longlisted, British Book award-winning, bestselling author of Small Pleasures, a new novel about love, family and the joy of freedom.

Croydon, 1964. Helen Hansford is in her thirties and an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital where she has been having a long love affair with Gil: a charismatic, married doctor.

One spring afternoon they receive a call about a disturbance from a derelict house not far from Helen’s home. A thirty-seven-year-old man called William Tapping, with a beard down to his waist, has been discovered along with his elderly aunt. It is clear he has been shut up in the house for decades, but when it emerges that William is a talented artist, Helen is determined to discover his story.

Shy Creatures is a life-affirming novel about all the different ways we can be confined, how ordinary lives are built of delicate layers of experience, the joy of freedom and the transformative power of kindness.

A Dulwich Festival event.

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Lugma in Arabic means a bite. For Noor, as a chef and co-author of two Ottolenghi Test Kitchen cookbooks, her career has been centred around taking bites of food and analysing them to create the perfect dish. Raised in Bahrain and now based in London, Noor takes you on a culinary journey to celebrate her own food culture. Her recipes are inspired by the foods of her upbringing: the elaborate rice dishes and black limes of the Gulf, an abundance of herbs and sour flavours from Iran, liberal spice and chilli heat from India and the vibrant foods of the Levant – to create a unique collection of traditional and re-imagined dishes from the Middle East.

From Spring Time Fattoush and Stuffed Baby Aubergines to Slow-cooked Fenugreek Lamb with Pickled Chillies and Pistachio Cake with Labneh, these beautiful and inspirational recipes are full of love and warmth to be recreated in your own kitchen.

“ There’s an incredible generosity to Noor’s cooking, capturing the spirit of so many cooks across the Middle East: bold gestures, big flavours, whole universes of food around a single table. Noor is also a unique talent; her cooking reflects the essence of home comfort, plus an unmatched innovative palate. ” – Yotam Ottolenghi

A Dulwich Festival event.

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Ever wondered what donuts get up to when they’re not being eaten?

No, because that would be silly! But it turns out, donuts have BIG PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION!!!

Meet Sprinkles, the leader of the Squad; Jammyboi, who spreads stickiness EVERYWHERE; Dadnut and Lil’ Timmy, who explain obscure facts, and Spronky, who is bizarrely unconventional! But don’t mention the arch-nemeses of the donuts . . . the bagels , secretly plotting Donut Squad’s doom!

Guffaws guaranteed!

Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, and creator of the award-winning Mega Robo Bros series and How to Make Awesome Comics. He is also the author/illustrator of the popular middle-grade novels Freddy vs School, Freddy and the New Kid and Freddy the Superstar. Neill also runs regular comic workshops for children at The Story Museum in Oxford.

A Dulwich Festival event.

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When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you’re in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality of what it means to be on maternity service .

In this warmly reassuring, refreshingly honest book, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time while on her latest tour of duty . She isn’t offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about our purpose and ourselves.

A Dulwich Festival event.

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Join Village Books and Alleyn’s Schools Enterprises for an evening with Ben Macintyre where he’ll be discussing his book Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama.

In April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod.

Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, Ben Macintyre takes readers from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the gripping minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue.

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends . He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington.

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British architecture has always been a battle of styles. For a thousand years it has been romanesque versus gothic, gothic versus renaissance, palladian versus baroque, classical versus gothic revival. The greatest battle came in the 1960s, when modernists took control of British planning and plotted the demolition of large swathes of the centres of Britain’s cities.

Most of London’s West End was to be destroyed. Piccadilly Circus, Whitehall, Nash’s St James’s, Covent Garden and Soho were to disappear. Urban Britain was to be transformed into a uniform townscape of concrete and glass. Yet by 1974 almost all these plans had been abandoned. It was one of the most dramatic U-turns in British social history. How did it happen?

Simon Jenkins tells the turbulent history of Britain’s built environment. He shows how the battles of the past live on today, in arguments over tall buildings, over what should be preserved and what form new buildings should take and where they should stand.

‘Provocative, elegant, intriguing – Jenkins is a bold, imaginative writer, brilliant at challenging old assumptions and encouraging you to look at British architecture in a new light’ Rory Stewart, author of Politics On The Edge

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Pollyanna Wilkinson is one of the UK’s most exciting and sought-after garden designers. She has won the coveted People’s Choice Award at both the Chelsea and Hampton Court flower shows, and her designs have transformed gardens across the UK and internationally.

Now Polly wants to share her expertise with readers with her new book. How to Design a Garden is a glorious mix of inspiration, expertise and advice presented with perfect clarity and Polly’s infectious enthusiasm. Polly explains all the steps you need to work through to design create your dream garden – from making early moodboards to creating timeless plant combinations. The book also contains month-by-month growing guides to help you to nurture your garden for years to come.

Whether you’re a new gardener or have years of experience, Polly can help you realise your dream garden – and find joy in every step along the way too.

Pollyanna Wilkinson studied garden design at the English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden, graduating with distinction. She went on to study Horticulture at Merrist Wood and then set up her landscape design business. She is passionate about design, sustainability and horticulture. Polly’s studio holds three RHS medals from Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Flower Show. She has also won the coveted People’s Choice Awards at Chelsea in 2022 for her Garden for Mothers and at RHS Hampton Court in 2019 for her Naturecraft Garden.

Pollyanna will be interviewed by Alice Vincent, author of Rootbound: Rewilding a Life and Why Women Grow. Her latest book Hark: How Women Listen will be published in May 2025.

In partnership with James Allen’s Girls’ School.

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We’re delighted that bookshop favourite, M. G. Leonard will be visiting the bookshop to sign copies of Hunt for the Golden Scarab , the first book in the Time Keys series.

In Hunt for the Golden Scara b we are introduced to twelve year old Sim Lockier and his mum, who never live anywhere long. When dangerous strangers appear one night, Sim discovers why. His mum has been keeping secrets: she has the power to open doors in time through music and can travel into the past as a ‘key’ to doors in time, but every journey could be her last.

Running for their lives, Sim and his friends are determined to outwit the sinister Council of Keys and be the first to find Nefertiti’s lost tomb, a powerful door to Ancient Egypt. They must piece together long-hidden clues if they are to solve the mystery of her golden heart scarab. Can they find it before the Council finds them?

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