Artist and Doctor Who actor Kezia Joseph

ISLINGTON residents Sir Grayson Perry and Rob Delaney were among the guest speakers at the inaugural Barnsbury Book Festival.

Hundreds of Barnsbury residents and literary enthusiasts from across the city booked their place to hear guest speakers, attend literary discussions and watch live performances.

On Friday, BAFTA winner Mr Delaney joined Kate Slotover for a conversation reflecting on his life as a comedian, actor and artist.

Sir Grayson is one of Britain’s most celebrated contemporary artists, and on the Sunday gave a speech titled “Illustrating art, society, culture and politics”, where he spoke about the importance of creative craft, amongst other things.

He also treated the audience to an exclusive preview of a new song called I Did It For Art, from his forthcoming show, Grayson Perry: The Musical.

Sir Grayson Perry at the Barnsbury Book Festival

Also part of the festival’s wide-ranging guest speakers, artist and Doctor Who actor Kezia Joseph gave a speech to the attendees dressed in a top hat.

The weekend of activity raised funds for the restoration of the historic St Andrew’s Church spire, which was saved as a result of £1million funding last month.

The spire dates back to 1854 when the church was first built, but had been crumbling and was in desperate need of repair. Historic England allocated a chunk of funding in March to secure the restoration works went ahead.

Donations from festivals like the Barnsbury Book Festival and local community added to the grant to reach the total needed to begin the works.

In a speech at the festival, Chris Smith, the Lord of Finsbury and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said: “We have many literary associations in this part of London. Charles and Mary Lamb lived in Colebrooke Row.

The festival featured trumpet fanfares to open events

“Tom Paine sat down to write the Rights of Man in the Old Red Lion at the Angel. Dickens used to give readings in the what is now the school in Amwell Street. So the book festival as a means of ensuring we celebrate that literary history and as a means of raising funds for the restoration of St Andrew’s church is just a brilliant idea.”

He added: “I am proud to be the patron of the campaign to rescue and restore St Andrew’s Church.

“I lived in Thornhill Square some few years ago and St Andrew’s Church is the centrepiece of Thornhill Square.

“It is not just a place of worship but it’s a community centre as well and it is frankly falling to pieces and it needs a lot of love and care and restoration. There are some very dedicated people who have come together in order to ensure that that can happen.”

Anna Logman, who organised the festival, said: “This is a fascinating neighbourhood, bristling with book lovers and writers, and what better way to bring people together than a book festival. I’ve always loved the book-ignited excitement and atmosphere of the Hay Festival, and having a slice of that in Barnsbury will be a dream come true.”