The Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books lists almost 500 writers who have written a book and lived in Chiswick W4, or written books about the area. (Click Observer link above, written when 250 names had been identified).
It includes the creators of some of the country’s greatest works, from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair to Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Pinter’s The Caretaker. These are highlighted on the Chiswick Writers Trail 2023: 36 notable novelists, poets and playwrights. See their locations on the Writers Trail map, which you can download here or pick up from St Michael & All Angels Church.
The Timeline listings:
– Chiswick Writers: Year by year
– Chiswick Writers: Non-fiction, by subject
– Chiswick Writers: Fiction, poetry, stage & screen
Further reading: People
– Chiswick Writers Trail 2023: 36 acclaimed novelists, poets and playwrights:
Including Harold Pinter, WB Yeats, John Osborne, Iris Murdoch, EM Forster, William Thackeray, John Betjeman, Alexander Pope, JG Ballard, Nancy Mitford, Anthony Burgess, Dylan THOMAS, John Donne and Robert Bolt.
– Chiswick Writers Tales:
Anecdotes, articles and pictures about some of the writers who have lived in, or written about, Chiswick. eg. the art historian Marina Vaizey tells how the blue plaque for EM Forster was arranged. Subjects include individuals, ‘Chiswick’s gardeners’ and ‘Chiswick’s theatres, playwrights and performers’.
– Chiswick Writers’ Lives (A-L) + (M-Z)
Mini-biographies of 120 writers by members of the Chiswick Writers Research Group (CWRG) of the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society.
– Chiswick Writers: Latest names:
The ‘pending’ page, before authors are added to the main lists every six months or so. In April 2020, the names on this page were added to the ‘Non-fiction’ and ‘Novels, poems and plays’ listings. The Year by Year page still has to be updated.
Further reading: Places
– Chiswick Timeline: Beyond W4:
Writers in neighbouring areas and borderline roads worthy of mention, such as Hammersmith Terrace and Stamford Brook Road.
– Timeline of Ealing Writers & Books:
This was launched in May 2020, listing writers who have lived in the Borough of Ealing.
– Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: How it grew
– Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: Notes and sources
Media coverage of the Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books:
Fifteen new authors added to Chiswick Writers Trail – ChiswickW4.com, June 2023
Six centuries of Chiswick poets – The Chiswick Calendar, August 2022
Chiswick Book Festival inspires Ealing to launch its own Timeline of Writers and Books Chiswick Herald, May 2020
Ealing’s rich literature history revealed for book festival Ealing Times, May 2020
Ant and Dec bring the Chiswick Timeline of Writers total to 400 ChiswickW4.com, January 2020, plus The Chiswick Calendar and the Chiswick Herald
Around 350 names ‘likely to be final total’ for Chiswick Timeline of Writers and Books The Chiswick Herald, October 2019
Timeline of Chiswick Writers and Books Now Totals nearly 350 ChiswickW4.com, October 2019
Put the word out: Chiswick may be Britain’s most literary location The Observer, April 2019
How many writers has Chiswick produced? TheChiswickCalendar.co.uk, April 2019
75 more writers join the Chiswick Timeline of Writers and Books The Chiswick Herald, April 2019
Chiswick Timeline of Writers and Books now totals 250 ChiswickW4.com, April 2019
Chiswick’s Timeline of Writers and Books The Chiswick Lifestyle Magazine, April 2019
Chiswick Timeline of Writers now lists 175 writers ChiswickW4.com, October 2018
Launch of the Writers Trail ChiswickW4.com, September 2018
Festival celebrates a Trail of Chiswick Authors Chiswickbuzz.com video, September 2018
Chiswick Book Festival searching for Chiswick’s top writers and books The Chiswick Herald, August 2018