In Conversation: Julia & Jimi
South East London Book Festival 2025
This is my second time interviewing authors and creatives for the South East London Book Festival.
It’s all run by Mark and Katy of Peculiar Productions and supported by an army of locals.
Mark had two requests this year:
Could I interview photgrapher Julia Hawkins and food critic Jimi Famurewa? Yes.
Would I consider being on the festival’s committee and help shape it? Yes.
I always like to challenge people. That’s when you get the most surprising and honest answers. A few nudges to someone’s thinking can open up a conversation. An interview without a little pushback rarely reveals anything new.
Julia
Julia Hawkins is a photographer whose work explores human connection and the quieter corners of emotional life.
It was Julia’s first book, first book festival, and the first time she had ever been interviewed.
Our warm up call revealed so many insights about Julia, that enriched our final conversation about Julia’s debut book On Loneliness. It’s published by The School of Life and developed in collaboration with them.
The book combines photography and reflection. It explored what loneliness feels like and how it quietly shows up in people’s lives. We laughed. We nearly cried. We unpicked.
We pulled apart what loneliness does to people, what it means to document something so private and expose it to the world. It was amazing to watch Julia open up, so honestly, during the interview and share the special moments she had quietly captured in her mind during her project. Julia sent me a lovely WhatsApp the next day.
”Thank you so much for yesterday Ena, you did such a brilliant job with such thoughtful questions and made it a lovely, relaxed (and interesting!) chat. I will remember that evening for a very long time.”
Jimi
I adore Peckham. I had time to take a few pictures on the way to SET Social.
Today’s task was to interview BBC MasterChef food critic and author Jimi Famurewa about his new book Picky.
When I started reading Picky, I assumed it would be all about food, but it wasn’t. I spent a long time reading Chapter 1, underlining and being reminded of my own childhood experiences.
It made me reflect on how much food has shaped my own Ghanaian-Scottish identity. I feel the exact same comfort of home when tucking into peanut butter stew or munching on a roll and fritter with extra vinegar.
Our conversation explored the cultural layers and quiet politics that determine what ends up on our plates.
