by Gudrun Bowers | 16, Jan 2019
Join us on Tuesday 5th February for our first event of 2019, when we welcome Sussex based writer Matt Whyman, who’ll be sharing insights from his wonderful book ‘The Unexpected Genius of Pigs’.
Blending research from an expert in pig psychology, and first-hand observations from vets and farmers with his own recollections from his days as an amateur pig-keeper, Matt’s book is an absolutely charming and illuminating study of our unfairly-maligned porcine friends. We look forward to hearing more ‘behind the scenes’ stories from Matt in person!
Perfect for fans of ‘The Secret Lives of Cows’.
A copy of “The Unexpected Genius of Pigs” is included in the ticket price of £10 for the event.
Venue: TBC – Either The Gluck Studio or The Steyning Bookshop.
Matt Whyman has written widely for all ages across a range of subjects in fiction and non-fiction. Notable books amongst the 18 books published to his name are ‘Walking with Sausage Dogs’, his best-selling comic memoir, and ‘The Savages’, a very unusual YA novel featuring a family of cannibals! Matt also lectures in creative writing, was 19 Magazine‘s first ever male ‘Agony Uncle’, and is an established ghostwriter and collaborative author.
by Gudrun Bowers | 16, Jan 2019
We are very excited to welcome the acclaimed novelist and short story master Tessa Hadley to Steyning for the first time.
Tessa will be discussing her latest novel, ‘Late in the Day‘, the story of two close-knit couples, and how their lives are irrevocably altered by an untimely death. The novel explores the complex webs at the centre of our most intimate relationships, to expose how, beneath the seemingly dependable arrangements we make for our lives, lie infinite alternate configurations.
Tessa’s six previous novels include ‘Clever Girl’, ‘The Past’ and ‘Married Love’. Her novels have twice reached the longlists of the Orange Prize and the Wales Book of the Year, and in 2016, she won one of the Windham-Campbell Literature Prizes for fiction.
Tessa also teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University.
Tickets are £10, to include a voucher towards a copy of ‘Late in the Day’ which is released in hardback on 14th February. Wine, soft drinks and nibbles will be served.
Tickets are available by calling the bookshop on 01903 812062.
Critical praise for Late in the Day
“Tessa Hadley crystallizes the atmosphere of ordinary life in prose somehow miraculous and natural…. Extraordinary” (Washington Post)
“Tessa Hadley has become one of this country’s great contemporary novelists. She is equipped with an armoury of techniques and skills that may yet secure her a position as the greatest of them.” (Anthony Quinn in the Guardian)
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
Our lovely Steyning Bookshop employees Sarah Burns and Alice Garner don’t just know about books….they are now giving a lucky few of you a chance to take part in a tea-towel making workshop!
Fresh from their very popular sessions at Ditchling Museum and Much Ado Books in Alfriston, textile designer and block-printer Sarah Burns and her artistic assistant Alice will help participants experiment with screen-printing, lino-cut, stencil and other techniques to produce their own unique tea towel by the end of the day!
No experience is necessary, although those with some print-making experience are also welcome to come and experiment with new techniques. All materials will be provided, as well as plenty of tea and yummy home-made cake to keep the creative juices flowing!
The workshop will take place on from 2 -5 pm on Sunday 9th December, in the bookshop back kitchen.
ONLY 8 SPACES AVAILABLE! Cost £40 per person.
Book now via The Steyning Bookshop on 01903 812062.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
On Wednesday 5th December from 6pm – 9pm, Steyning High Street will once again be transformed into a magical winter wonderland, with a candlelit lantern procession, live bands, carol singers, a nativity scene, donkeys, and a plethora of fantastic stalls with crafts, hand-made goodies, and delicious hot food & drink, plus of course, all your favourite high street shops will open their doors and welcome you!
In time-honoured tradition, at the bookshop we will be a-bustle with revellers seeking Rob’s mulled wine (made to a top-secret recipe handed down through generations) and Sara’s home-made mince pies. Our author guest of honour this year will be acclaimed children’s author and illustrator, Emily Gravett, who’ll be at the shop from 6 pm until about 8.30 pm to sign and dedicate copies of her books. Emily has won numerous awards for her clever, inventive picture books, and her latest picture book in hardback is the delightful ‘Cyril and Pat’, a heart-warming story about a friendship between a squirrel and a rat! We will have a large selection of Emily’s books ready for signing, from her pre-schooler classics such ‘Apple Pear Orange Bear’ (which no toddler should be without), her quirky picture books perfect for ages 4-7 such as ‘Tidy’, with its amusing environmental message, and the darkly funny ‘Wolves’ and ‘Meerkat Mail’, to her books for older children, ‘The Imaginary’ and ‘The Afterwards’, written by A F Harrold, which Emily has brought to life with her astonishingly beautiful, haunting, pencil illustrations.
Do come along and meet Emily, or, if you are not able to come on the night, give us a ring to reserve a signed, dedicated book!
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
News from our October Newsletter
A grand time was had by all who came on Saturday afternoon to the signing by Julia Donaldson which
celebrated the publication of Julia’s two latest books – the delightful The Girl, The Bear and the Magic
Shoes, beautifully illustrated by Lydia Monks, and Animalphabet, an alphabet book with a difference which
has exquisite pictures by new artist Sharon King-Chai.
The families who came also had a great opportunity to browse amongst all Julia’s other books including the recently re-issued illustrated edition of Julia’s play set during the Second World War, Bombs and Blackberries, and the paperback edition of The GiantJumperee, Julia’s jolly story illustrated by the wonderful Helen Oxenbury.
Alphabet biscuits, glittery magic shoe decoration, a sunny garden animal picture hunt plus the chance to meet and chat with the most famous children’s author in the land on a glorious autumn day – what a very special event it was! We are
most grateful to Julia for signing solidly for 3 hours, to her publishers who came to help, to the bookshop
team and also most grateful this time to two lovely members of our book group, Barbara Anderson and
Julia Sherlock who dealt magnificently with endless glitter, glue and non-stop activity.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
Willa Knox is a woman trying to hold things together. Her house, which has been left to her is crumbling about her family’s ears; she and her husband, having worked as university professors, are now unemployed, her son’s girlfriend commits suicide leaving a small, inconsolable baby. Raging against a world that can let these things happen, Willa nonetheless comes to find consolation in her blossoming relationship with her daughter, Tig and her baby grandson, and her obsession with the first occupants of her unstable house.
Interleaved with Willa’s story is the tale of Thatcher Greenwood, who lived in her house in 1871. A science teacher who wishes to educate his small town about the work of Darwin, he runs foul of the town’s Christian founder, who is more than happy with the status quo. He finds inspiration in his friendship with his neighbour, the enigmatic Mary Treat, a scientist and breaker of the mould of Victorian womanhood.
An interesting novel about reason and faith, the failures of capitalism, family and loss, from one of our favourite authors.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
Giuseppi Levi is always shouting at his children and forcing them to march up mountains, his wife Lidia is always trying to slope off for a sit down. Their various children comply with their wishes, or not, all of them contributing to the routines and rituals, crazes, pet phrases, and stories, doubtful, comical, indispensable that make up a large Jewish-Italian family.
Written while Natalia Ginsburg was away from her family, and homesick for them, this lovely autobiographical novel, mainly composed of dialogue, builds layer by layer through repetition and pattern, a portrait of that family, their repeated phrases, the ties of affection and exasperation that bind them together. It is set against the rise of fascism in Italy through the 1920s and 30s, and the Levis, both Jewish and anti-fascist will have to ensure that their own family lexicon survives.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
Chris Riddell, political cartoonist for the Observer, and prolific illustrator and writer of marvellous children’s books, has made a selection of his favourite classic and modern poems about ‘life, death and everything in between’. Exquisitely illustrated, this an absolutely beautiful book and the forty-six poems in this anthology have clearly been selected with great love.
Yeats and Christina Rossetti accompany poems from Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy, Neil Gaiman and Roger McGough to create a very special collection.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
Lucia Berlin’s collection of short stories, A Manual for Cleaning Women was published posthumously to great acclaim, and Evening in Paradise is a follow-up selection from Berlin’s remaining stories.
The stories are loosely autobiographical, arranged chronologically to follow the arc of Berlin’s life, and take us from a pair of seven year olds running a scam in El Paso, through the beauty and disillusionment of a young girl’s first romantic liaison, to young wives coping with kids, their husband’s addiction, abandonment, to a furious old woman on the roof of her own house while her family try to celebrate Christmas. Savage, funny, shocking and beautiful, they present some unforgettable images – the iridescent, sulphurous smoke of the smelter in a mining town, the yellow aromo blossom sticking to a couple’s skin – in concise writing that brings the reader up short with its power. The dark thread of alcoholism runs through many of the stories as well as the brighter threads of love, romantic and maternal, and of beauty found in the most unlikely places. Outstanding.
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Nov 2018
When Rosie and Robert Stewart’s mother died, they had to sort through the contents of her packed house. The last box in the attic, hastily emptied into plastic bags before the house clearance men came, proved to be a treasure trove, and a forgotten history. Hamish Mann had been their great uncle, unknown to them except as a single faded photo from their childhoods. The box was stuffed the brim with papers which contained Hamish’s brief life as an aspiring writer and soldier, before he died in the Battle of Arras in 1917.
The Stewarts enlisted the help of Steyning author Jacquie Buttriss to bring Hamish’s story to the wider public, and she has painstakingly pieced together his life, and with his own vivid accounts and poignant poems, has created a fascinating insight into life in the trenches and Hamish’s journey from teenage patriotic fervour, to the sadder, more fearful, wiser young man he became in two short years. A timely reminder of the horrors of war.
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