Ajay Chowdhury and Marieke Bigg to headline events at The Alternative Book Fair

Authors Ajay Chowdhury, Marieke Bigg and Chloe Ashby will be headlining events at The Alternative Book Fair—a week of publishing and author events coinciding with the end of the London Book Fair.

The events will take place from Wednesday 13th to Saturday 16th March, in the recently refurbished Islington Central Library. The initiative has been developed by Islington Libraries and Hackney-based publisher Indie Novella, with additional funding from Arts Council England and support from the Watson, Little Literary Agency.

All events are free and designed to "connect big name, established and up and coming authors with readers and aspiring writers of all different backgrounds, leaving no one excluded". According to the organisers, authors and panelists waived their fees in order to "make the event possible".

There will be a series of headline events, with crime writer Chowdhury and authors Ashby, Kate Maxwell and Rose Diell, as well as Bigg and Phoebe McIntosh. Panels will feature speakers like Mira Marcinów and Musih Tedji Xaviere, as well as YA author Emma Brand and graphic novelist Sarah Airriess.

On Saturday, The Alternative Book Fair will also host The Indie Press Fair, in collaboration with the newly formed Indie Press Network. This will feature exhibitions and bookstalls by UK indies such as Dead Ink Books, Jacaranda Books, Weather Glass Books and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, as well as Heloise Press, Renard Press and Indie Novella.