Find Esquires on Dychurch Lane, Northampton NN1 2DG, between St Giles Street and Abington Street.

Pop into Esquires Northampton anytime 11am – 6pm on Friday 14 August to meet local authors, chat over a coffee and possibly buy their books! This is part of 2 Weeks of Words, a relaxed mini literary festival run by The Creative Place and Northampton Film Festival. Find out about more events here https://northamptonfilmfestival.eventive.org/schedule

We've got loads of authors for the day covering sport, comics, fiction and non-fiction, poetry, railways, queer stories and more:

11am-6pm Donna Scott, Amir Ali, Will Adams and Andy Routledge with 60 Miles Presents: Community Comics

11am-1pm Lily Canter

11am – 5.30pm Lorna Tidbury

11am-2pm Giorgio Pandiani

2pm-6pm Paul Giffney

2pm-5pm Rosemary Sturge

Giorgio Pandiani is a Comics & Graphic Novels Author, Illustrator and Graphic Designer born in Lecco (Italy) and living in Northampton. After attending the Comics School in Milan, he started writing and drawing his own independent graphic novels. His comics have been published in Italy and the UK and have won many awards. His new short comic, “The two pyramids”, was released at the very end of July, but has already been hailed as “one of the self-published comics of the year”.

Writer, editor, and community arts organiser Donna Scott blends craft expertise with cultural engagement. Winner of the BSFA Best Collection Award for Best of British Science Fiction 2023, she leads The Slab Press, a local publisher of fantasy, horror and science fiction. The Slab hasn't been around for long, but stories from Vivid Worlds and Hiding Under the Leaves have already been shortlisted for BSFA and British Fantasy Society Best Short Fiction awards respectively this year.

Award-winning journalist, podcaster and ultra runner, Lily Canter has a passion for women's endurance sport. Her book Ultra Women: The Trailblazers Defying Sexism in Sport was winner at the Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards 2026 and shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2025. Lily is an avid campaigner for women in sport and a regular contributor to Women's Running, Runner's World and TechRadar magazines. She is a qualified running coach and has competed in over 25 ultra marathons around the world.

Jodie Neely, a sci-fi and fantasy indie author, who loves to see the funny side of everything. Insta: @jodiexneely Website: www.jodieneely.com

Amir Ali, a British memoir author whose writing explores resilience, healing, trauma and personal transformation. His debut memoir, The Boy Who Walked Through Fire: A Journey of Pain, Survival, and Becoming Whole, draws upon his own life experiences to deliver an honest account of overcoming childhood adversity while offering hope to others facing similar struggles. Professionally, Amir has spent many years leading complex technology and transformation programmes across both the NHS and the private sector. Alongside his professional career, he has developed a passion for writing stories that encourage resilience, compassion and personal growth.

Will Adams has a selection of fiction and non-fiction books, inspired by railways, sci fi and Northamptonshire! They include his debut novel 'Consequences': Edward Prescot has a boring job in a boring office, and every day is much like another. Except, as it turns out, Thursdays, which are becoming increasingly unlike every other day. Then he is introduced to the enigmatic Mr Pycroft, who explains that everything we do – past, present and future – has far-reaching consequences. Normally these are irreversible, but it appears that Ed has the rare ability to manipulate these consequences to fashion a different future – especially on Thursdays. At the London Traveller Centre he meets his similarly gifted companion Tony Curtis (not that one) and finds himself thrust into an unsettling world of speculative time travel. Will a better world emerge? Will Tony become less irritating? Will Ed finally win Maggie’s heart? In this fast-moving story, Will Adams and Martin Smith pay homage to their old university friend and co-writer the late Douglas Adams, of Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame. Consequences is by turns exciting, funny and a tad satirical.

Paul Giffney, aka The Purple Pen Poet, has been a lover of poetry ever since the day that he discovered Spike Milligan’s On the Ning Nang Nong (and he still enjoys reciting it today – ask him when he is free and he will!). He performs lots of poetry, both his and that of others, at many open mic nights across the country, often dragging other poets with him, having encouraged many when he was the 10th Bard of Northampton. He lives in Northampton with his husband, his cat and a pile of books that do not fit on any shelf (the books. The cat fits on every shelf). He is currently studying for a Master’s in Psychology, finding ways to use his creativity to help others and actively seeks opportunities to do this. He encourages you to follow his progress online at his website: www.paulgiffney.uk

Rosemary Sturge is a Northampton author of historical novels and short stories. She has written six books so far, including 'Northampton 1290' and her latest, set in the North of England 'Clouds Over Bowland'.

Lorna Tidbury is the author of Finding Home, shortlisted for Debut Novel of the Year 2026 by the Romantic Novelists Association. Her second novel, Sisters of the Tide will be published on 25th August 2026. Both novels are set in Cornwall and tell tales of love, loss, betrayal and revenge – a perfect mix of romance, mystery and suspense set against the dramatic Cornish coastline. Lorna lives in Northamptonshire with her husband and family and when not writing, she enjoys visiting Cornwall, wrestling with her garden and trying to keep up with her expanding still-to-be-read pile of books.

60 Miles presents: Community Comics centres the often-overlooked local communities who exist outside the mainstream narrative of Northants’ rich social heritage. Six local community groups were paired with six Comic Book Artists & Writers to capture the range of experiences that make up the place we all call home through an exciting range of perspectives, forms and styles. All of the material has been collated into a single, stunning 116-page collection, uniting Northants’ experiences together for people now and in the future. Find out more at: www.60milesbyroadorrail.co.uk/comic-book-anthology/