Ann Basu has always lived in London. Her mother’s family were tailors in Fitzrovia, living on the site of today’s BT Tower. Ann began researching and writing after a 35-year career in librarianship. She gained a PhD in literature from Birkbeck College in 2010. Her book on novelist Philip Roth, States of Trial, was published by Bloomsbury in 2014. She studied London literature for her MA at Birkbeck, writing her dissertation on Iain Sinclair. Ann writes regularly for Fitzrovia News, a local print and online publication. She is researching local music hall for the 2018 Fitzfest. She belongs to the Camden History Society. She organises informal monthly talks on historical and political subjects.