Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier.

False Connections, Steve’s fifth book, was published in June and is the first to be written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy although, don’t worry, there’s still quite a lot of humour in it. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book (as mentioned above) is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

Rori Montford is an award winning designer and illustrator of tabletop roleplaying games. She is known for thoughtful and beautiful games for solo players, with optional group play, requiring no preparation or game leader. Her most recent game is Asher’s Ridge, where you create episodes of a paranormal drama television show in the style of Twin Peaks or The X-Files in a remote area of the Lake District.

Everything she makes is 100% human made, from start to finish.

I discovered my writing voice in English at the turn of the millennium after a thirty-year-long nervous breakdown.

I’ve had a colourful, vibrant life not only as a single mother of four and intermittent wife/lover, but also on the stage as an opera and tango singer and actress.

As a Colombian woman of colour my work explores race as a social phenomenon, in particular the experience of internalised racism and the subtle undertows of its development within each of us, through our upbringing in a post-colonial global culture; as well as the different aspects of misogyny that pervade all levels of society, even amongst the most conscientious and well meaning individuals.

At the 2026 OIBF I will be launching and signing copies of the latest edition of the full Physics of Passion trilogy, which explores these essential themes, reflected through a prism comprising the facets of science, spirituality and relationships.
Joining me will be:

Anila Syed brings a distinctive voice that moves effortlessly between literary fiction and children’s books. Her genre-defying collection Prompted showcases her imaginative storytelling, alongside a growing body of work for younger readers.

Italian author Renata Lanzoni, whose novel Shattered Moon draws on real-life experience to tell a gripping story of abuse, resilience and survival on a tropical island. She is also the author of the travel guides Oxford in One Afternoon and The Light-Packer’s Guide: Globetrotting on Bare Essentials.

“Joy Hendry is a traveller and social anthropologist who has published many books, but she brings to the Fair two recent novels only available in hard copy at events such as these. Learn of a 1960s adventure in Mexico which leads to a lifelong career and love story, and in the newer novel, the story of a young woman Born at Sea, but growing up between Mexico and her mother’s homeland of Scotland. The two form part of a series called Sharing Worlds, availanle on Amazon, but in attractive hard copy design here!”

My name is Matt Frame, founder of the Rural Rampage genre of fiction and Youtube channel, where my first book under this all new genre, The Fete of Douglas Blouse, is available in video chapter form. I am pleased to say that I will have physical paperback copies of this book for sale at the Oxford Indie Book Fair and am very much looking forward to welcoming you all to join the rampage!

I’m the author of the Blood and Shadows trilogy and an upcoming RomCom. I may or may not bring prerelease copies of the RomCom that is scheduled to release in December. I also run an indie author only bookstore called ISBNuk, Indie Supporters Book Nook, which contains everything you need as an indie author.