2025 Speakers

A number of our authors will be giving a talk with the opportunity to ask questions too.

These will be held in the Oak Room at the Graham Adams Centre.

There will also be an evening talk during the week before at The Community Hub at Galanos House.

See below for details.

Speakers for main Festival October12th at Graham Adams Centre:

Dr Ahmed Handy - Quacks

When British Arab and ‘Southerner’, Dr Ahmed Handy, suddenly found himself working as a junior doctor in the Midlands, a part of the country with which he was wholly unfamiliar… and which was equally unfamiliar with people like him, he was faced with something of a culture shock.
But that was only the beginning of his bizarre junior doctor experience.
Through this humorous and heartfelt memoir, Dr Handy imparts his extensive collection of bonkers stories about the various quirky doctors and nurses he worked alongside, ranging from the mildly eccentric to the overtly sociopathic.
From a Gynaecologist so petty he copyrighted his own consent forms, to an anally retentive Orthopaedic surgeon with practices so bewildering that the accompanying doctor simply wrote a question mark in the patient’s notes, Quacks is a memoir full of characters and experiences so outrageous they will make you gasp in shock and laugh out loud in equal measure.

Ray Martin - Life Without a Tie

I will talk about a six-month sabbatical in 2005, that didn’t quite go according to plan. I unexpectedly ended up living out of a backpack for 14 years, and it totally changed my thinking about life. I’ll touch on some of the insight and wisdom that I gained during the journey, including:

The biggest regret that everyone has when they die, and what impact that has on how we navigate life
How you find your own true path in a world that is noisy, chaotic and in which there is huge pressure to conform
The Universal intelligence that is guiding you all of the time, whether you are aware of it or not
The six rules I discovered that when enacted, result in joy, happiness and inner peace

Joanne Barker - Not My Book Launch - how to self-publish in a year.

Self-published author, Joanne Barker, will be launching a collaborative and affordable 12 month writing scheme at this year’s Southam Book Festival. The first project to come out of her self-publishing start-up, Penny Black PRess, Keyboard to Kindle, aims to create a community where aspiring authors are supported to deliver a good book, faster. Whilst the arguments against Amazon are well-known, Joanne will assert it’s still the best route to publication for many. She will touch on other options available for those who wish to take them and how to access free or low cost creative writing support. On the day, you can sign up to the first ever Keyboard to Kindle cohort, at a special early-adopter price.

Celia Tandy

Celia Tandy is a local author who writes contemporary romance books.

Set in the Cotswolds and Cornwall, her novels are full of love, friendship, hope and second chances.

Celia began writing her first book when she retired from teaching in 2021. Two books later, and with a third on the way, she’s proved that it’s possible to enjoy a whole new writing career later in life.

From transforming the blank page to a fully published book, she’ll be sharing her writing journey – the hard work and the fun – and perhaps she’ll also inspire you to write your own book too, because it’s never too late!

She’ll also be talking about how the campaign to save the 250-year-old Cubbington pear tree was the inspiration behind her second book, The Pear Tree. While the story and characters are different, she has kept faith with the spirit of the original community campaign.

Sarah Whitton

Sarah will talk about her childhood and writing aspirations, how she was diverted from her writing, then onto why she picked up the book and started again and within the talk, she discuss a twist of fate with an old college tutor and a disastrous boyfriend.

The talk will be given in the style of an interview.

Southam Community Hub (at Galanos House)

John Horton - Behind the Wire

John's parents, Alan and Peggy Horton were married in 1940. Within a few weeks Alan was on a ship bound by a circuitous route for Egypt, a journey of two months from Glasgow. From Egypt, Alan and his men were shipped to Crete where they suffered a catastrophic defeat; many on both sides were killed. Alan, with countless others, was taken as prisoner of war by cattle truck to Germany, and imprisoned until hostilities ceased. John has collated their letters from when in captivity into a book.

They recount the story of life in wartime Britain, highlighting the pain and separation of war but enlivened by love and hope for a lonely young bride. They also outline the frustrations and boredom for fighting men, forced to sit idly as the war raged with only occasional snippets of news.

This correspondence has been described by The Imperial War Museum as one of the most complete sets of letters they have ever been written between husband and wife.

The complete letters are now with the Imperial War Museum and several were recently included in their ‘Letters to loved ones’ produced for VE Day 80 earlier this year.

Please email us if you wish to attend so we can ensure we have enough seats and refreshments southambookfest@gmail.com