BerkoFest

28/11/2025

24/11/2025

The preparation for Berkhamsted's Annual Community Christmas Concert & Celebration is well underway, with all the readers and musical performers confirmed. The former including Robin Ince and Nigel Barden, and the latter icluding The Ridgeway Chorale inviting the audience to be be involved with not just 'I saw Three Ships' as per last year but also the traditional favourite '12 Days of Christmas'.

This year's beneficary charity is the local The Swan Youth Project which provides a safe, inclusive space for young people aged 11 to 16+ years.

Tickets are £10 plus booking fee which also includes a complimentary mulled wine and mince pie

To purchase tickets and further information

https://tickets.mp/christmas

31/10/2025

Elated that Jenny Evans and Julia Raeside will be appearing on a joint panel talking about their remarkable and exceptional episodes they both experienced as women. What might seem to be initially quite bleak becomes uplifting stories of resilience and hope.

Cast in a cult film at the age of eighteen, Jenny Evans was on the cusp of something extraordinary, a route out of her hometown, a future of promise. But the new world she was exploring crumbled around her when she was assaulted at a party by a high-profile figure.
Jenny reported this crime to the police when she became aware of other allegations of violence against The Famous Man. Shortly after doing so, details of what she had experienced were printed in a tabloid newspaper.
Jenny trained as a journalist herself to try to find out how this happened. In the aftermath of devastation, she picked up the pieces and fought back against the systems that caused her harm. Her investigation helped expose the jaw-dropping press abuse and police corruption we now call the 'phone-hacking scandal'.
Now training as a lawyer, Jenny is still working to fight for justice in a system that so horrifically fails its victims.

'Don't Let it Break You, Honey' is a reckoning: a personal, fiercely compelling account of power - who holds it, who wields it, who is silenced in the process. It asks urgent questions about fame, justice, and the institutions we have no choice but to trust, while offering something even more profound: hope.
Because this is, above all, a story about resilience. About finding your voice when the world wants to silence you. And refusing to let them win.
'Don't Let It Break You, Honey' is not simply a memoir. It is an indictment of failure at the highest levels of police, press and politics' - Tom Watson

Julia's 'Don’t Make Me Laugh' balances anger and humour with the deftest of touches. It is a story about power and control and manipulation, about gendered roles in both the workplace and our personal lives, and about how women are set up in competition with each other. And ultimately – satisfyingly – it’s a story about fighting back.
'A great book, an important book that will start a discussion that needs to be had…my heart was in my mouth' Marian Keyes
'So tense and gripping it flourishes into a proper thriller. It's wonderful. It's furious. It's true. And all gorgeously written with bright clever flashes and insights, it should be seen and heard.' Russell T Davies

There will only be all-day pass tickets sold for this event. the all-day ticket price for advanced booking will be £25, and on the day the ticket price will be £30 [subject to capacity availability].

Follow us on social media for more updates!
https://tickets.mp/berkofest-book-festival


For further information www.berkofest.com

26/10/2025

Our final line up and running order for BerkoFest Book Festival next Sunday 2nd November! Last of the tickets at https://tickets.matterpay.com/s/berkofest/ZXZlbnQ6Nzk0Mg==/berkofest-book-festival

24/10/2025

So delighted that these two amazing strong independent women, Rebecca Ajulu-Bushell and Lucia Osborne-Crowley will, jointly be appearing, as a panel – to share their life changing stories and toxic experiences involving sexual and emotional abuse, racism and sexism. However, despite these negative ordeals there is humour to be found and much that is life enhancing.

Lucia latest book ‘The Lasting Harm’ is damming expose of the Jeffery Epstein story and as Lucia describes ‘I am not here to tell you a story about Jeffrey Epstein, or even Ghislaine Maxwell. I am here to tell you the stories of ten women, many of whom have never spoken at length before, about the real impact of sexual trauma on their lives'

In November 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of sex-trafficking of minors. Journalist Lucia Osborne-Crowley was one of the only reporters allowed into the courtroom every day.
In her meticulous account of this incendiary trial, Osborne-Crowley paints a blistering critique of a criminal justice system ill-equipped to deliver justice for abuse survivors, no matter the outcome.
Written as a gripping true crime drama, The Lasting Harm critically questions our age-old appetite for crime and punishment, reframes trauma and offers a new blueprint for meaningful reparative justice.

Rebecca’s latest book ‘These Heavy Black Bones’ is a title with such clever play on words working on many differing levels.
This is not a story about making history. This is the story of walking away from it all.
Rebecca was once a double British Champion and the first Black woman ever to swim for Great Britain. As her body and mind are sharpened through gruelling training, press scrutiny and the harshness of adolescence, Rebecca charts her career's ascent and her singular love of the water, before explaining why she walked away from it all.
A compulsive and unforgettable study of intensity, These Heavy Black Bones meditates on Blackness, identity and the ecstasy of peak physical performance, and lays bare the pressures within the swimming world.
As one reviewer wrote ‘It reads with the tension of a thriller, illuminating the world of elite sport, both the struggle and sacrifice. A feast in every way: for the intellect and the senses, so very visceral’ and another stated ‘In a searing new memoir, reveals the true cost of excellence’

There will only be all-day pass tickets sold for this event. the all-day ticket price for advanced booking will be £25, and on the day the ticket price will be £30 [subject to capacity availability].

Follow us on social media for more updates!

https://tickets.mp/berkofest-book-festival


For further information www.berkofest.com

19/10/2025

David Hepworth wrote for NME and Sounds before joining the newly launched Smash Hits in 1979 becoming its editor in 1981. He was instrumental in the foundation and launching of several popular magazines in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s Including ‘Just Seventeen’ ,’ Looks’ ,’Q’ , ‘More’, ‘Empire’, ‘Mojo’, ‘Heat’ and ‘Word’.

He writes a weekly column in the Radio Times entitled ‘Listen Podcasts’ which incorporates the pick of the best audio on demand and his column ‘Streams of Consciousness’

In the 1980s Hepworth worked for BBC Television, co-presenting the music series The Old Grey Whistle Test and coverage of the Live Aid concert from Wembley Stadium.[2][3] He was the presenter Bob Geldof swore at during the Live Aid broadcast.

His latest book ‘Hope I get old before I Die’ received this review from The Guardian.

From McCartney to Dylan and the Stones, this portrait of rock longevity mixes fascinating detail with rash claims – but is never less than entertaining…..
….and is never boring, largely because Hepworth is a genuinely great writer, with a winning turn of phrase – “Bob Dylan is like China. We can see what he’s doing but never work out why he’s doing it” – and a dry wit: spotting the octogenarian Paul McCartney looking stylish at a premiere provokes “the feeling that he had been closely inspected by one of the women in his life before being allowed out of the door”. He can also write movingly, as when discussing Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band so rent by decades of litigation that its founding brothers, John and Tom Fogerty, wouldn’t reconcile even when the latter was dying of an Aids-related illness.
Equally moving is the final chapter, in which Hepworth muses on his own 60-year relationship with the Beatles’ music. It has an elegiac quality: it won’t be long, he notes, until no one discussing the Beatles can remember their rise first-hand. Then again, Macca shows no signs of quitting in the immediate future. Nor does David Hepworth, who clearly has an audience too: largely, one suspects, comprised of his fellow baby boomers. Even if you’re not in that demographic, it’s hard not to be entertained – and occasionally infuriated – by what he does.

There will only be all-day pass tickets sold for this event. the all-day ticket price for advanced booking will be £25, and on the day the ticket price will be £30 [subject to capacity availability].

Follow us on social media for more updates!

https://tickets.mp/berkofest-book-festival


For further information www.berkofest.com

12/10/2025

Exciting news: an additional author has been added to this year's line-up - James Payne whose YouTube Channel "Great Art Explained" has gained a huge and appreciative worldwide audience. James has now published a book with the same title.

Great Art Explained unveils the fascinating stories behind some of the world's most iconic works of art.

This beautifully put-together book is simply the best introduction to the lifelong pleasure and rewards of looking at pictures since Gombrich. 'An instant classic' Stephen Fry

A fresh approach to a classic subject, James Payne's no-nonsense analysis sheds new light on thirty different masterpieces from around the globe and reveals what makes them truly timeless works of art. Each chapter delves into not only the art itself but also the artist's life, as well as the work's place in their wider oeuvre; in other words, what makes it 'great'. From Hilma af Klint's occult altarpieces to Claude Monet's Water Lilies, Botticelli's The Birth of Venus to Georgia O'Keeffe's Jimson W**d, each artwork is explored with clarity and passion.

Whether a seasoned art enthusiast or a curious newcomer, this book and his talk at BerkoFest, promises to deepen your appreciation and enrich your understanding of some of the world's greatest treasures.

There will only be all-day pass tickets sold for this event. the all-day ticket price for advanced booking will be £25, and on the day the ticket price will be £30 [subject to capacity availability].

Follow us on social media for more updates!
https://tickets.mp/berkofest-book-festival



For further information www.berkofest.com

Looking forward to seeing you on November 2nd.

07/10/2025

Scatter Brain: How I finally got off the ADHD rollercoaster and became the owner of a very tidy sock drawer
Some brains, through no fault of their own, pack a bag, turn the lights off and run away to the seaside the moment they are meant to be doing homework, paying bills or not putting the cat in the fridge. These are ADHD brains. I have one and believe they are as common as being left-handed, flat footed or genuinely enjoying anchovies on a pizza.

Undiagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder made my life a frustrating, maddening rollercoaster. I had very little focus except when I was hyper-focusing (and then it would always be on the wrong things), I made the same mistakes over and over again, regularly burning myself out until I was sobbing. When I finally was diagnosed in my 40s it felt like the lights had been turned on after a lifetime in the dark.

Join much-loved comedian Shappi Khorsandi as she looks back on her life through the lens of ADHD and finally makes sense of the chaos. From discovering the joys of shoplifting through to finally understanding her attraction to toxic men, Scatter Brain will have you laughing (and crying) as you find out what it's really like to live a life out of control. Whether you suspect you might have ADHD or you're here to enjoy the ride, let Shappi take you on her hilarious journey of self-discovery where you just might learn something useful about yourself too!

There will only be all-day pass tickets sold for this event. the all-day ticket price for advanced booking will be £25, and on the day the ticket price will be £30 [subject to capacity availability].

Follow us on social media for more updates!

https://tickets.mp/berkofest-book-festival


For further information www.berkofest.com