Team Bookie
Margate Bookie is brought to life by a small but dedicated team of people.
Andreas Loizou
Andreas started the Margate Bookie in a single room in 2015. He’s brought over 400 authors to his hometown since then. He studied English at Leeds and Cambridge, worked as a director of training at the Financial Times and writes books on writing and storytelling.
His favourite book is Great Expectations, his favourite authors include George Orwell, John le Carré and Emmanuel Carrère. He loves true crime.
CEO and founder
Suzy Lines
Suzy supports Andreas in bringing the Bookie to life, first joining in 2023. She works with venues and authors and vendors, overseeing all the different aspects that making the event happen on the day. Her goal is to make sure that everyone that works with us or comes to the Bookie, has the best possible experience. Suzy is an experienced events producer, marketing strategist and grant writer.
Books-wise, she loves music biographies and fiction from all over the world, in particular anything by Paul Auster, Banana Yoshimoto and Bohumil Hrabal.
Partnerships and Collaboration Manager
Zita Whalley
In her role as Community Partners Manager, Zita has been developing relationships within Thanet and oversees Bookie's volunteers who are a very lovely bunch. A journalist, writer and retired performance-maker, Zita started telling stories by sticking things on her head, like paper-mâché sheep's heads and artificial balls of topiary. She is one half of Thanet lifestyle and culture newsletter Strange Tourist and co-founder of Paddle Media, a CIC working to engage children with journalism and create pathways into the industry for young people.
Zita’s favourite reads include What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt, The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein and Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason.
Community Partnerships Manager
Andy Malt
Andy leads on Bookie’s communications, from the website to social media and all press materials. He’s basically in charge of words at a literary festival - no pressure! With a background in journalism, Andy was editor of music business title CMU for fifteen years. He’s also worked on many large and small scale events, including major conferences and gigs in tiny rooms. Alongside Community Partnerships Manager Zita, he is the co-founder of Thanet culture and lifestyle newsletter Strange Tourist and writing-focussed CIC Paddle Media.
Some Andy’s favourite books include The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis.
Marketing Manager