The Book Festival Team
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Tola Dabiri
Director
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Dr Tola Dabiri has been involved with Hastings Book Festival since 2022, as a steering group member and as a Director since 2025. Tola has worked across the cultural sector since 1995, beginning her career in public libraries and archives. She has also worked at the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, The National Archives, the UK Centre for Carnival Arts and the National Academy for Social Prescribing. Tola is the Chair of London Arts and Health’s ARCH group (Advocates for Representation in Creative Health). Tola is also a consultant in the cultural sector.
Tola was awarded a PhD from Leeds Beckett University, for her research looking at orality and the intangible cultural heritage of British Caribbean Carnival, and has published a number of academic papers. She is also an aspiring (but unpublished!) fiction writer and poet, and loves the creative communities and environment in Hastings.
TIM Barlow
Director
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Tim Barlow is a performance poet and writer. His collection of poetry The Manufactured Thrill was published by Manchester's Flapjack Press in 2026. He regularly performs at spoken word events in Hastings and further afield, and hosts a popular monthly poetry open mic evening – A Load of Poets – in Hastings. In 2024 Tim won the Festival's annual open mic poetry competition, and has supported the BAFTA-winning poet and writer Henry Normal (a patron of the Festival) on a poetry tour of all seventeen public libraries in East Sussex. Tim was one of the organisers of the Book Festival Fringe in 2024 and 2025. He is also Chair of Hastings Writers Group and won their Writer of the Year trophy in 2025. He has a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Hull University and works for a living as a law librarian. Born and bred in Derbyshire, he now lives on the West Hill in Hastings.
Pearl Olsen
Director
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Pearl is an author, poet and playwright who writes at her desk overlooking ancient woodland, admiring handsome jays. Hastings and St Leonards on Sea are her current playground where she communes with other creatives. She is happy to chat about a wide range of topics from world geopolitics to the best plant to put in that shady corner in your garden. Known to sing in community opera ensemble, she can also be spotted treading the boards locally. However, creative writing is her first passion.