Thursday 10 September, 1-4 p.m.: Book Festival: Stitching for Wellbeing with Batsford

Deena Beverley is a textile artist, author of several craft books and a regular contributor to Embroidery magazine. Her award-winning work has been widely exhibited internationally and she has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s 'Woman’s Hour'. She is co-author of Soulful Stitch (Batsford 2024) and is based in Wiltshire. 

Playful Stitch: Joyful journeys in textile art (Batsford, November 2026) is a sumptuous and vividly colourful journey through Deena Beverley’s imaginative take on textile art, in which she shares her passion for playfulness in all things stitched and mixed media

Jessie Cutts is the textile artist behind the successful business, Cutts & Sons, where she works with designing and handmaking bespoke quilts with a focus on sustainable production. Her work has featured on the cover of Women’s Work: From feminine arts to feminist art, in Tat London, and Hester’s handmade home. She is based in Ramsgate, Kent where she also teaches workshop at the Maker’s House.  

Her first book Free-Form Quilts & Patchwork was published by Batsford in May 2026 – a practical and inspirational guide to creating beautiful bespoke quilts without the constraints of strict rules or patterns. 

Dr Claire Wellesley-Smith is an artist, writer and researcher based in West Yorkshire, UK, working internationally. Her socially engaged projects are often long-term engagements alongside communities in former areas of industrial textile production in the UK and Europe, employing textiles as a medium to carry stories, heritage narratives and the geographies of making. Her textile books published by Batsford, Slow Stitch (2015) and Resilient Stitch (2021), remain influential in the field. Recent projects include The Synthetic Revolution, a major curatorial project for the British Textile Biennial and Connective Material at Museum Dr Guislain, Belgium. 

Her book Reflective Stitch: Time and place in textile art is published by Batsford, September 2026. An intriguing and inspiring textile art book, it explores how to incorporate notions of time and place to give deeper meaning to your textile work. 

Catherine-Marie Longtin is a French-Canadian textile artist and quilter. She spent 11 years working in academia, gaining a PhD in Cognitive Sciences, before signing up for evening quilting classes at Morley College in London to develop her passion for textiles. Catherine's work reflects a deep love of textiles, colour and abstract, minimalist art. She teaches workshops at Ray Stitch in London and the Maker’s House in Ramsgate and has exhibited her work at the Batsford Gallery. Forthcoming exhibitions include a gallery at The Festival of Quilts in 2026. She lives and works in South London. 

In her book Log Cabin Quilt Blocks: 100 colour and pattern variations, she explores contemporary designs using the traditional log cabin block, published by Batsford in August 2026. 

Your ticket includes a light refreshment and £10 off a book purchase on the day.