The first month of the 12th annual Chorleywood Literary Festival opens on Tuesday, September 5.

There will be literary luminaries including Michael Morpurgo, Maggie O’Farrell, Jon Sopel and Claire Tomalin appearing throughout September, with the festival running until early November.

Below is the full lineup…

John Connolly

One for fans of Laurel & Hardy, a talk by John Connolly about his new novel he. Be taken back in time to the golden age of Hollywood in his extraordinary reimagining of the life of the comedian Stan Laurel. The evening, which is presented in conjunction with the Chorleywood Film Club, starts with the showing of a short Laurel & Hardy film.

Chorleywood Memorial Hall, Common Road, Chorleywood, WD3 5LN, Tuesday, September 5, 7.30pm.

Watford Observer: Island-hopping with Ottolenghi

Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh

People have long loved their fresh and explorative approach to food, and now Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh turn their expertise to cakes, cookies, confectionery and the like with their new cookbook Sweet. Mouths will be watering at their indulgent, abundant and extravagant recipes, which include simple sweets for parents to make with their children as well as inspiration for the most accomplished of bakers.

Barbirolli Hall, St Clement Danes School, Chorleywood, WD3 6EW, Thursday, September 7, 7.30pm.

Rachel Joyce Literary Lunch

Previous works include The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and now bestselling author Rachel Joyce gives a record store owner Frank and mysterious customer Isle. The Music Shop is about learning how to listen and how to feel, about second chances, and about choosing to be brave despite the odds.

Chenies Manor, Chenies, Rickmansworth, WD3 6ER, Friday, September 8, 12pm.

Watford Observer: Jon Sopel

Jon Sopel

Join the BBC’s North America Editor for an insightful examination of American life and politics, as he sets out to answer questions about a country that once stood for the grandest of dreams but which is now mired in a storm of political extremism, racial division and increasingly perverse beliefs. Jon Sopel’s new book If Only They Didn’t Speak English is based on his recent travels across the United States since the appointment of the bizarre yet seemingly unstoppable reality star president.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Saturday, September 9, 2pm.

Watford Observer: Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo

You’ll realise you’re not in Kansas anymore as storyteller Michael Morpurgo presents his enchanting twist on a much-loved children’s classic in the form of his latest book Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story of The Wizard of Oz. Told by Dorothy’s pet dog.

Barbirolli Hall, St Clement Danes School, Chorleywood, WD3 6EW, Sunday, September 10, 3pm.

David Lagercrantz

Lisbeth Salander is back… Just when you thought it was safe to go back into your local bookshop, David Lagercrantz returns with the latest instalment of the Millennium series, started so successfully and tragically by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It has been warned not to read The Girl who Takes and Eye for an Eye on your own…

Chorleywood Library, Lower Road, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, WD3 5LB, Wednesday, September 13, 7.30pm.

Mich Turner

Gordon Ramsay has referred to her as “the Bentley of cake makers” and it’s not hard to see why: Mich Turner’s latest cookbook, Have Your Cake and Eat It, allows you to have the yummy cakes, muffins, meringues and cupcakes you crave by making them healthier and more nutritious by the addition of fresh and dried fruits, nuts and seeds, and by including alternatives for gluten, fats, sugars and dairy.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Thursday, September 14, 7.30pm.

Maggie O’Farrell

Bestselling novelist Maggie O’Farrell turns to her own life story for her latest offering, her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am. In it, she details the extraordinary 17 brushes with death that have punctuated her life and made her the woman – and the writer – she is today. I Am, I Am, I Am will send you away determined to make every heartbeat count.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Saturday, September 16, 7.30pm.

Watford Observer: Stately stuff: the cast of Downton Abbey

Jessica Fellowes

The bestselling author of the Downton Abbey books invites you to step into the glamorous world of the Mitford sisters with the publication of The Mitford Murders, the first novel in her new series of Golden Age murder mysteries. In 1919, young Louisa Cannon escapes a life of poverty to join the Mitford household as a nursery maid but things soon take a deadly turn.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Monday, September 18, 7.30pm.

Claire Tomalin

She’s written biographies of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys, and now Claire Tomalin turns to look at her own life in her new book, A Life of My Own. Her memoir charts her often difficult wartime childhood, the death of her war correspondent husband and the building of her own career, first as a successful literary editor and then finally as a biographer.

Chorleywood Library, Lower Road, Chorleywood, Rickmansworth, WD3 5LB, Tuesday, September 19, 7.30pm.

John O’Farrell

 “As the Labour candidate I prepared for every possible question on the local radio election phone-in. What I had not prepared for was my mum ringing up to say that she agreed with John O’Farrell. On EVERYTHING.”

Things Can Only Get Worse is the personal story of one political activist helping Labour progress in the two decades from its 1997 landslide victory. Perfect for anyone who needs a good laugh after Boris, Brexit and Trump.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Thursday, September 21, 7.30pm.

Rowan Coleman and Lisa Jewell

Two authors for the price of one this evening – thriller writer Lisa Jewell will be talking about her new book Then She Was Gone, about a mother still haunted by the disappearance of her daughter ten years earlier, while Rowan Coleman’s Summer of Impossible Things is the story of a present-day woman who suddenly finds herself back in 1977 and about to witness a week in her mother’s life that would change it forever.

The Junction, Christ Church, Chorleywood, WD3 5SG, Monday, September 25, 7.30pm.

Details: chilternbookshops.co.uk