Monday 14 July
7PM
After a successful career in academia, Cathie Wallace decided to write a memoir about living in the flats – The Orchard – in leafy and ever-changing Ealing in West London which had been her home for nearly 45 years. She took the decision to self-publish and her book, Orchard Stories, appeared in 2025.
In conversation with Andrew Ward, Cathie will explain why she self-published, describe what was entailed, how she choose her publishing partner – Troubador, the challenges she encountered and what she might have done differently. She will also talk about the range of options facing an author wishing to self-publish.
This session is designed to be interactive with plenty of opportunities for those attending to ask questions, comment and share their own experiences.
Catherine Wallace is an internationally renowned scholar and Professor Emerita of Language and Literacy Education at UCL/Institute of Education. She is the author of many books and articles in Applied Literacy and Literacy Education which include books for learners of English as a Foreign Language. Some of these are: ‘Learning to Read in a Multicultural Society’ (Prentice Hall 1988), ‘Reading’ (OUP, 1992), ‘Critical Reading in Language Education’ (Palgrave, 2003) and ‘Literacy and the Bilingual Learner’ (Palgrave, 2013). She is an important voice in the debate about ‘phonics’, arguing that part of the reason why so many children do not experience joy in reading today is the excessive focus on ‘synthetic phonics’ in early education. ‘Orchard Stories’ is her first creative non-fiction book.
Monday 14 July
7PM
After a successful career in academia, Cathie Wallace decided to write a memoir about living in the flats – The Orchard – in leafy and ever-changing Ealing in West London which had been her home for nearly 45 years. She took the decision to self-publish and her book, Orchard Stories, appeared in 2025.
In conversation with Andrew Ward, Cathie will explain why she self-published, describe what was entailed, how she choose her publishing partner – Troubador, the challenges she encountered and what she might have done differently. She will also talk about the range of options facing an author wishing to self-publish.
This session is designed to be interactive with plenty of opportunities for those attending to ask questions, comment and share their own experiences.
Catherine Wallace is an internationally renowned scholar and Professor Emerita of Language and Literacy Education at UCL/Institute of Education. She is the author of many books and articles in Applied Literacy and Literacy Education which include books for learners of English as a Foreign Language. Some of these are: ‘Learning to Read in a Multicultural Society’ (Prentice Hall 1988), ‘Reading’ (OUP, 1992), ‘Critical Reading in Language Education’ (Palgrave, 2003) and ‘Literacy and the Bilingual Learner’ (Palgrave, 2013). She is an important voice in the debate about ‘phonics’, arguing that part of the reason why so many children do not experience joy in reading today is the excessive focus on ‘synthetic phonics’ in early education. ‘Orchard Stories’ is her first creative non-fiction book.
