by Gudrun Bowers | 14, Feb 2022
Come and meet Julia Donaldson at the Steyning Bookshop on Saturday 5th March, from 2pm onwards, to celebrate the release of her 2 wonderful new books A Pocketful of Songs and Mole’s Spectacles. For COVID safety, this event will be organised in timed slots, each 40 minutes long, admitting 20 families per 40 minutes. Your ticket booking entitles entry to the signing for 1 family group of up to 5 people, and includes a copy of either Pocketful of Songs (£14.99 ticket) Mole’s Spectacles (£6.99 ticket) , or both books (£21.98 ticket)
Click here to book via Ticketsource
Additional Julia D books for signing can be purchased at the bookshop on the day – we will have a huge selection of ALL Julia’s books on display for customers to browse, buy and get signed, but if there is a particular book that you really want, you can add it to your ticket order by phoning the shop on 01903 812062 or shopping via our website here, selecting LOCAL PICKUP as your delivery option, and adding in the ORDER NOTES that you’ll be collecting it at the signing.
We are sorry, but we cannot allow customers to bring books from home for signing by Julia.
There will be activities for children while they wait to meet Julia!
Pocketful of Songs is the latest collection of Julia’s songs, including family favourites from Stick Man and Superworm to Tiddler and The Highway Rat, collected in a beautiful hardback gift edition, richly illustrated by Axel Scheffler and accompanied by a CD featuring Julia Donaldson herself performing the songs, which will have the whole family singing and clapping along. The book also includes music scores for piano and guitar.
Mole’s Spectacles is the 7th book in Julia and Axel’s beloved Acorn Wood series, perfect for pre-schoolers, produced in sturdy board book format with fun flaps to lift on every page…. Mole has lost his spectacles. He searches all around his house, in the garden and even in Weasel’s sweetshop, but he can’t find them anywhere! Where could they be? Lift the flaps to help him find them!
by Gudrun Bowers | 7, Mar 2018
On Thursday April 19th at 7.30pm, join us for an intimate evening at the bookshop with novelist Catherine Chanter, who will be discussing her second novel The Half Sister.
Catherine visited us in Steyning to talk about her first novel The Well, which received widespread critical acclaim and was much enjoyed by all at the bookshop, and by our book groups. The Well was Winner of the Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2013, was a Richard and Judy Book Club Pick for Autumn 2015, and was long listed for the CWA John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger 2015.
So we are very pleased to welcome Catherine back to hear about The Half Sister, a compelling story of loss, grief, revenge and redemption. The novel follows estranged half sisters Diana and Valerie, who are reunited for their mother’s funeral but quarrel in bitter recrimination over past rivalries, setting off a tragic chain of events. It is a dark and finely nuanced study of moral uncertainties, and we are all looking forward to discussing it with her! Both novels are published by Canongate.
Catherine is a novelist and poet. She won a scholarship to read English Literature at Oxford and went on to work as a lobbyist, both in the UK and the USA. Somewhat disillusioned with the political process, she returned to England where she re-trained as a teacher and has since led education provision for vulnerable and excluded young people in a wide range of settings. She currently works for a charity which seeks to re-engage children with mental health problems with education.
Catherine has written for Radio 4 and had short stories and poetry published in many anthologies and publications. Her novella and short story collection Rooms of the Mind was published by Cinnamon Press in 2011. She has a Masters, with Distinction , in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University.
The event price is £8, which will include wine, nibbles, and a voucher towards purchasing the novel (£14.99 hardback)
by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Jun 2017
We are delighted to warmly welcome Carol Drinkwater back to Steyning, for an intimate event in the artistic ambience of the Gluck Studio at 7.30pm on Thursday 6th July.
Carol is an actress and writer who starred in the classic BBC series ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, and who is also celebrated for her bestselling series of memoirs about her life on an olive farm in Provence. Carol will be introducing her gripping, powerful new novel ‘The Lost Girl’. Described as ‘a heart-rending story of love and loss’, the novel explores the darker side of Paris, as photographer Kurtiz gets caught up in a devastating terrorist attack whilst searching for her missing daughter. Amidst the chaos and bloodshed, a sympathetic stranger offers a helping hand, and the possibility of resolution.
Carol went down a storm when she appeared at one of our Sussex Produce Cafe author suppers last September to discuss her previous novel ‘The Forgotten Summer’, so do book early for this one to avoid disappointment!
Ticket price of £14 includes a copy of ‘The Lost Girl’, drinks and delicious hand-made canapes.
The Lost Girl
by Gudrun Bowers | 26, May 2017
We are very lucky and super-excited that Matt Haig will be stopping by Steyning to talk about his wonderful new novel How to Stop Time.
Matt Haig is an incredibly talented and prolific writer who has turned his hand to award-winning adult fiction, children’s and YA novels, and non-fiction. His non-fiction book Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and was in the UK top 10 for 46 weeks, and his heart-warming children’s novel ‘A Boy Called Christmas’ was a huge hit and is currently being adapted into a film by Studio Canal. His other adult novels include the hilarious, inventive The Humans, and the unusual vampire novel The Radleys, and his many works for children include Steyning Bookshop favourite To be a Cat.
How to Stop Time is Matt’s fifth work of adult fiction. It is the romantic, bitter-sweet, century-hopping tale of an unassuming history teacher, Tom Hazard, who, owing to an unusual genetic condition, is over 400 years old. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. He is trying to tame the past that is fast catching up with him, but the only thing he mustn’t do is fall in love……
The film rights to How to Stop Time have already been snapped up by Studio Canal, with Benedict Cumberbatch set to take the title role – so grab your chance to meet Matt before he is whisked off to the Cannes festival high life!
Matt will appear at the beautiful Gluck Studios, an intimate space seating just 50, so do book early for this absolute gem of an opportunity! Ticket price of £13 INCLUDES a fresh-off-the-press hardback copy of How to Stop Time, so it’s a complete bargain!
by Gudrun Bowers | 25, May 2017
Thursday 29th June at 7.30 pm.
We are thrilled to have bagged a visit from Louise Doughty as part of our celebrations for Independent Booksellers Week!
Louise is a novelist and playwright who is best known for her 2013 novel Apple Tree Yard which was a top ten bestseller and was shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award and the National Book Award Thriller of the Year. A four-part TV adaptation of Apple Tree Yard with Emily Watson in the lead role was recently broadcast on Sunday nights on BBC 1, and received rave reviews.
Louise’s eighth novel Black Water is just out in paperback from Faber, and is a tense, contemplative literary thriller which is attracting widespread critical acclaim and has already been nominated as one of the New York Times Book Review ‘Notable Books of 2016’. Spanning Europe during the Cold War, through California and the Civil Rights struggle, to Indonesia during the massacres of 1965 and the decades of military dictatorship that followed, Black Water is an epic novel that explores some of the darkest events of recent world history through the story of one troubled man.
“A compelling and vivid psychological drama, with plenty of bite.” The Guardian
Louise will be in conversation with her editor at Faber & Faber, Louisa Joyner.
Ticket price includes one of Louise’s novels in paperback, plus complimentary wine / soft drinks and nibbles.
The venue is the lovely Gluck Studio just off Church St in Steyning.
