APOLOGIES – EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO THE NEW DATE OF TUESDAY 17th OCTOBER!
We are delighted to present an evening with Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk and one of the UK’s most influential meditation teachers, in which he’ll explore how we can use meditation and mindfulness to provide new perspectives on life’s challenges.
Gelong Thubten trained at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Scotland for over 30 years, and is now a highly sought-after teacher of meditation and mindfulness techniques. He works with Silicon Valley tech giants, Hollywood stars, the NHS and schoolchildren, and in universities, hospitals and prisons. He was asked by Marvel to train Benedict Cumberbatch and Tilda Swinton in meditation on the set of their film Doctor Strange. He has even delivered keynote speeches for the United Nations, and collaborated with Ruby Wax for her book and theatre show ‘How to be Human’.
Thubten’s new book – AHandbook for Hard Times: A Monk’ s Guide to Fearless Living – explains how we can use meditation to lead a fearless life; one that is rich in compassion, forgiveness, acceptance and courage. Thubten believes that hard times present an opportunity to discover our true strength. By ‘leaning in ’ to our suffering we can re-frame our thinking and arrive at a deeper level of wisdom. Thubten’s previous book, A Monk’s Guide to Happiness, was a Sunday TImes bestseller.
Our evening with Gelong will take place at the Steyning Methodist Church and will include a talk by Gelong and a guided meditation. Those who purchase the book + ticket option will receive their books upon entry. Additional copies of both Thubten’s books will be on sale on the night and Gelong will be happy to sign your books.
Doors open at 7pm and the talk will begin at 7.30pm.
Join us as we welcome local thriller-writing legend Elly Griffiths for a very special event on the publication day of her new mystery novel The Great Deceiver. The Great Deceiver is the seventh book in Elly’s Brighton Mysteries series, which are set in the 50’s and 60’s and inspired partly by her grandfather’s life on the stage. The Brighton Mysteries are an engaging blend of colourful period detail, sharp plotting and lively, likeable characters, and we can’t wait to discover the next enigma for Max Mephisto the magician to solve! About Elly Griffiths Acclaimed crime author Elly Griffiths worked in publishing before becoming a full-time writer. She is best known for her award-winning, chart-topping Dr Ruth Galloway series and The Brighton Mystery series, and has also written 3 standalone novels and a best-selling mystery series for children. Elly Griffiths lives near Brighton with her husband, an archaeologist. She is #18 on the list of most borrowed authors from UK libraries and is a hugely in demand for events, regularly holding audiences spellbound. About The Great Deceiver – published by Quercus Books 24/10/23 Magician Max Mephisto, now divorced and living in London, is on his way to visit daughter Ruby and her newborn baby when he is hailed by a voice from the past, fellow performer Ted English, aka the Great Deceiver. Ted’s assistant, Cherry, has been found dead in her Brighton boarding house and Ted is convinced that he’ll be accused of her murder. The inhabitants of the boarding house, most of whom are performing in an Old Time Music Hall show on Brighton pier, are a motley crew, and a sinister radio personality called Pal is also connected to the boarding house. Max agrees to talk to his friend, Superintendent Edgar Stephens, who is investigating the case. When a second magician’s assistant is killed, Edgar suspects a serial killer. He persuades Max to come out of semi-retirement and take part in a summer show….. But who can pose as his assistant? Edgar shocks the team by recommending someone close .. The venue for this event is the beautiful Church of St Andrew and St Cuthman in Steyning. Disabled access is available.
TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED ONLINE HERE or from the bookshop, in person or by phone on 01903 812062.
We look forward to welcoming historical novelist FRANCES QUINN to Steyning to discuss her latest novel That Bonesetter Woman, a heart-warming, uplifting story with an unforgettable heroine, set in Georgian London, inspired by the true stories of two infamous celebrities of the time. This event will be ‘bookgroup style ‘ – we invite audience members who’ve chosen the ‘book with ticket‘ option to pick up their copy of That Bonesetter Woman from the shop in advance of the evening, and come armed with questions / observations for the author. Our bookgroups will be in attendance and will have read the book so we cannot guarantee No Spoilers!
The£14 Book with Ticket option gives you a £1 saving compared to buying the book on the night.
Copies of both Frances Quinn’s books will be on sale at the event and Frances will be happy to sign & dedicateyour books.
About That Bonesetter Woman All the gossip and grime of Georgian London are vividly brought to life in this warm-hearted historical novel which tells the uplifting story of clumsy, plain Endurance (Durie) Proudfoot, who has inherited her father’s gift for ‘bone-setting’. But her father thinks it’s no job for a woman and Durie is sent to London to chaperone her beautiful, flighty sister Lucinda. While Lucinda dreams of fame and fortune on the stage, Durie sets up a bone-setting practice, quickly ascending to undreamt-of heights and becoming the toast of fashionable society! But what goes up must come down… Will Durie endure? An addictive, joyful read, filled with quirky characters and fascinating historical detail!
About Frances Quinn Frances Quinn grew up in London and read English at King’s College, Cambridge, realising too late that the course would require more than lying around reading novels for three years. After snatching a degree from the jaws of laziness, she became a journalist, writing for magazines including Prima, Good Housekeeping, She, Woman’s Weekly and Ideal Home, and later branched out into copywriting, producing words for everything from Waitrose pizza packaging to the EasyJet in-flight brochure! After completing the Curtis Brown Creative novel writing course, her first novel, The Smallest Man, was published to great acclaim in 2021. That Bonesetter Woman is her second novel. She lives in Brighton, with her husband and two Tonkinese cats.
TICKETS: Click the Ticket link or call us on 01903 812062
*STEYNING BOOKSHOP BOOK GROUP MEMBERS MUST PURCHASE THEIR TICKETS IN STORE OR BY PHONE*
Join us for a convivial, cosy evening at the Bookshop, celebrating the launch of local historian Chris Hare’s new book Hilaire Belloc – The Politics of Living, on Thursday 8th December at 7.30pm. Wine & nibbles will be served, and Chris will give a talk about his insights into the life and work of the controversial figure.
Hilaire Belloc was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century, who grew up in Slindon in West Sussex, and is buried in the Catholic church at West Grinstead. He is famous for his poetry and song celebrating the Sussex countryside, but was also an orator, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. Chris Hare – a lifelong Belloc reader – takes a fresh look at Belloc’s career and his attitudes towards religion, politics, war, nature, and mortality, as well as examining claims made alleging Belloc to be anti-Semitic.
Chris Hare runs his own heritage consultancy, History People, and has written extensively on the history of Sussex, its folk music, and Worthing, his home town, in particular. Chris has an MA in Life History from the University of Sussex.
Join us for an evening with GREG MOSSE as he discusses his debut novel The Coming Darkness – in conversation with his wife, best-selling novelist KATE MOSSE. The Coming Darkness is a gripping eco-thriller, set in an eerily prescient, not-too-distant future, which is already being hailed as a successor to Terry Hayes’ I Am Pilgrim. About the Evening We are thrilled that Kate Mosse, best-selling author of Labyrinth, Citadel, City of Tears and many more, will be interviewing Greg. There will also be an audience Q & A and both Greg and Kate will sign books at the end. Tickets are £16.00 (admits one, includes signed hardback copy of The Coming Darkness) or £7 (admits one, no book – but ticket can be redeemed against a purchase of The Coming Darkness on the night). Copies of Kate Mosse’s recent books will also be on sale. This will be a ‘book-group’ style event where members of the public are warmly invited to join our 3 book groups, who will have read the book, but we promise – no spoilers! About Greg Mosse Greg Mosse is a creative writing tutor, playwright, and the founder and leader of the Criterion New Writing script development programme at the Criterion Theatre, London. Since 2015, he has written and produced 25 plays and musicals, often in collaboration. He created the Southbank Centre Creative Writing School – an open access program of evening classes, delivering MA level workshops, and also wrote and validated the MA Creative Writing that he taught for four years for the University of Sussex at West Dean College. The Coming Darkness is his first published novel. About The Coming Darkness Paris, 2037. Global warming and pandemics have torn through the fabric of society. Alexandre Lamarque of the French external security service has lost faith in his job – hunting eco-terrorists, and is ready to give up. But he is drawn back in by an ominous sequence of events: a theft from a Norwegian genetics lab; a string of gory child murders; his mother’s illness; a chaotic coup in a breakaway North African republic… He rapidly finds himself in a heart-thumping race against chaos and destruction, the one man with the ability to see through to the deranged intelligence that is plunging the world headlong into ..the coming darkness.
