

Meet the extraordinary woman behind Stoke Newington's Literary Festival
Liz Vater has spent the past decade bringing storytellers to Stoke Newington, celebrating feminism and political dissent. Now, the Local Buyers Club is telling her story. Liz is the brains and energy behind Stoke Newington Literary Festival, which was hailed by one critic as having: “thrown its pretensions in the skip” and by another as: “the coolest literary festival of the summer.” But for Liz, whose lightbulb moment came after a dreary day at a literary festival in Henley


25 years since Hackney rector helped make history
A quarter of a century has passed since the first women were ordained to the priesthood by the Church of England. Revd Dilly Baker, now the Rector at St Mary’s Church in Stoke Newington, played a key role in the campaign – appearing regularly in the media. Her memories of that landmark day are as clear as ever and she took time to tell her story to the Local Buyers Club. Dilly’s first foray into working life was as a psychiatric social worker. She studied at a theological col


Magic shop conjured up in Stoke Newington
(Marvin Berglas, left, founder of Marvin's Magic and Richard Clark) The world’s first magic café is expanding into retail. The Twisted Fork in Stoke Newington is launching a magic shop on 4th May, offering tricks, magic sets, gadgets, optical illusions and more. The café will continue to run as usual. Founder Richard Clark, who also runs an agency finding magicians for events, said the plan had always been to evolve the business. He added: “I want the Twisted Fork to become a