Clare Pooley joins us at the Marquee in Calverley Grounds to discuss her books The Sober Diaries and How to Age Disgracefully.

With her effervescent spirit and effortless wit, Clare will be answering questions led by Louise Jameson on both The Sober Diaries and How to Age Disgracefully, waxing lyrical on the way she uses her personal experiences to flavour her fiction, as well as what it's been like to see her heartfelt memoir help so many people starting out on a path she herself has walked and conquered

Book Clare Pooley - The Sober Diaries/How to Age Disgracefully
Sat 11 May, 11.00am

The Sober Diaries: Like many women, Clare found the juggle of a stressful career and family life a struggle so she left her successful role as a Managing Partner in one of the world's biggest advertising agencies to look after her family. She knew the change wouldn't be easy but she never expected to find herself an overweight, depressed, middle-aged mother of three who was drinking more than a bottle of wine a day, and spending her evenings Googling 'Am I an alcoholic?'

This book is the bravely honest story of a year in Clare's life. A year that started with her quitting booze and then being given the devastating diagnosis of breast cancer. By the end of the year she is booze-free and cancer-free, she no longer has a wine belly, is two stone lighter and with a life that is so much richer, healthier and more rewarding than ever before.

How to Age Disgracefully:

'Uplifting, heartwarming and joyful. Restored my faith in humankind'
- Ruth Jones

Clare Pooley is a blogger, public speaker and New York Times bestselling author from London. After graduating from Newnham College, Cambridge, she spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising before becoming a full-time mum after the birth of her third child. Upon realising that her 'wine o-clock' habit had spiralled out of control, she started her enormously popular blog, Mummy Was a Secret Drinker, a project that eventually led to the release of her critically acclaimed memoir, The Sober Diaries, in 2017. Her debut fiction novel, 2020's The Authenticity Project, was selected as a BBC Radio 2 Bookclub pick, quickly became a New York Times Bestseller, and won the RNA Debut Novel Award.

The Tunbridge Wells Literary Festival is generously supported by Arts Council England (ACE), Royal Tunbridge Wells Together, Maxipay Accounting Services, and Berry and Lamberts Solicitors.