by Gudrun Bowers | 12, Sep 2019
Thursday 3rd October at 7.30pm.
Come celebrate National Poetry Day with us and the good folks of ‘Spoken Steyning’ at the lovely Gluck Studio.
An evening of poetry, wine and music, with local poets including Simon Zec sharing their work, also featuring a poetry ‘free for all’ where anyone can share a favourite poem, whether it be self-penned or written by a pro! Special (non-local?) guest poet to be announced nearer the time! Pleasing folky live music will add to the ambience, and wine will flow.
![A Cookery Author Supper with Camilla Stephens]()
by Gudrun Bowers | 8, Aug 2019
We are really pleased to welcome the marvellous Camilla Stephens to the Steyning & District Food & Drink Festival. Camilla is the founder of the acclaimed locally based success story Higgidy Pies. She trained as a cook at Leith’s School of Food and Wine and worked for a time as head of food development for Starbucks UK before leaving to follow her dreams and start her own business – Higgidy.
In her first cookery book, Higgidy:The Cookbook, Camilla introduced excitingly delicious recipes for much more than just pies, and now she has produced Higgidy – The Veggie Cookbook: 120 glorious recipes for Vegetarians and Vegans, a mouth-watering and inspiring collection of recipes very definitely not just for vegetarians, but for anyone who enjoys fresh flavours!
This will be a great evening, with scrumptious food cooked by the Sussex Produce Chef followed by an fascinating interview with Camilla, who’ll share anecdotes, tips and stories from her inspirational career.
£30 ticket includes delicious freshly-cooked 3 course meal, author interview, and a book voucher towards purchase of Higgidy – The Veggie Cookbook.
Here is the menu for the evening:
STARTER
Selection plates of: Higgidy Feta & Red Pepper Veggie Rolls, Higgidy Cheddar & Onion Chutney Veggie Rolls, Higgidy Sun lBush Tomato & Cheddar Swirls, Higgidy Mature Cheddar & Pesto Swirls, All served with Beetroot Muhammar, REd Pepper Romesco, and Broad Bean and Mint dip.
MAINS (please make your choice after booking and email / phone / pop in to let us know your choices)
Local Broad Bean & Chives Gnocchi served with shaved parmesan and local pea cress.
OR
Local Smoked Cheddar Tart with Walnut Crumb served with local beetroot quinoa and a salad of local apples, celery and dill.
OR
Buffalo Mozzarella Salad, mixed Nutbourne Tomato and Green Olive Focaccia Salad.
DESSERTS (please make your choice after booking and email / phone / pop in to let us know your choices)
Local Greengage Fool served with fresh berries & homemade shortbread
OR
Local Plum Cobbler served with creme anglaise
OR
Fig & Almond Frangipane Tart served with fresh berries & whipped mascarpone.
Doors open at 7pm, meal begins at 7.30pm. Tickets must be booked in advance and menu choices must be submitted in advance.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, Sep 2018
Our October event will delight armchair travellers and intrepid explorers alike! As part of our celebrations for ‘Books Are My Bag’ week, we are delighted to welcome writer Travis Elborough to Steyning, for a fascinating illustrated talk on the joy of maps, and the extraordinary and bizarre destinations to which they can lead us.
Travis will share some of the obscure and unlikely discoveries included in his two beautiful books Atlas of the Unexpected (White Lion Books, 2018) and Atlas of Improbable Places (Aurum books, 2016), spinning tales of human ingenuity and nature’s own masterpieces, and will muse on the power of unknown places, maps, and atlases to enchant and inspire us.
Travis Elborough is a writer and cultural commentator, who has written books on subjects as diverse as the London Routemaster bus, the British Seaside, the history of the L.P record, and the sale of London Bridge to America! Most recently, in addition to the stunningly-produced and utterly fascinating Atlases, he has compiled and edited Letters to Change the World : From Pankhurst to Orwell; a collection of politically-inspiring letters from history, and Our History of the 20th Century : As Told in Diaries, Journals and Letters; a candid and insightful collection of diary entries charting the twentieth century from the perspective of those who lived through it – not only the headline-grabbing events but also domestic and personal moments.
Travis is a regular contributor to the Observer and the Guardian but has also written for the Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, the Oldie, BBC History magazine and Kinfolk among others and frequently appears on BBC Radio 4 and Five Live.
He lectures on many subjects and is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster, teaching M.A. creative writing students. He has appeared at various literary and music festivals, including Latitude and Green Man.
We look forward to giving Travis a warm Steyning welcome – he grew up near Steyning and has fond memories of teenage drinking in the Chequers Inn!
Critical praise for Travis Elborough:
‘One of Britain’s finest pop culture historians‘ The Guardian
‘Elborough is an English nostalgist in the mode of John Betjeman …as a cultural commentator he is a terrific companion‘ Sunday Times
by Gudrun Bowers | 5, Apr 2018
7.30 pm on Tuesday 1st May at the Gluck Studio in Steyning.
Join us for a very special evening as American writer Justin Hopper is joined by folk musician Sharron Kraus and special guests Geraldine Mitchell and Peter Pick, to perform a collaborative composition inspired by Chanctonbury Ring and the Downs around Steyning.
The performance combines readings from Hopper’s book ‘The Old Weird Albion’, a haunting work of psycho-geography tracing myths, memories and forgotten histories from Winchester to Beachy Head, with new folk compositions written and performed by Kraus on recorders, voice, synths and percussion.
Besides performing collaboratively, there will be short performances from Hopper and Kraus individually, as well as pieces from Sussex musician Peter Pick, and the first-ever UK reading by Irish poet Geraldine Mitchell.
Tickets, priced £8, are available at the shop or can be reserved by phoning us on 01903 812062. Tickets include wine/soft drinks, nibbles, and a £3 off voucher towards a copy of ‘The Old Weird Albion’.
Justin Hopper is an American writer of landscape, memory and myth, whose childhood visits to his grandmother’s home in Steyning inspired his life-long love of the South Downs. His journalism, poetry, audio projects and curated exhibitions have appeared in both his native USA and adopted UK home. He now lives in Constable Country with his partner and their son. His book ‘The Old Weird Albion’ is a lyrical and beautifully-written psycho-geographical memoir, charting Justin’s journeys amongst the South Downs, meeting New Age eccentrics, scholars, artists and folk historians in his search for forgotten myths and overlooked histories along the South Downs Way.
Sharron Kraus is a singer of folk songs, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose solo work and collaborations offer a dark and subversive take on traditional folk music. As well as drawing on the folk traditions of England and Appalachia, her music is influenced by gothic literature, surrealism, myth and magick. She has released 6 albums and has been featured in The Wire, fRoots, and Uncut. She has also appeared on Radio 3’s ‘The Verb’, and recorded sessions for BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Shropshire, and Freakzone on Radio 6.
by Gudrun Bowers | 30, Nov 2017
We are thrilled to announce that best-selling Scottish crime-writer Peter May will be the guest at our next Author Supper at The Sussex Produce Cafe, at 7pm on Tuesday 23rd January, 2018.
Peter will be in conversation with fellow thriller writer William Shaw.
Peter May is the best-selling author of more than 24 novels, including the internationally acclaimed Lewis Trilogy of thrillers set in the Outer Hebrides, which have sold more than a million copies in the UK alone.
Peter will be celebrating the release of his explosive new thriller I’ll Keep You Safe, which follows husband and wife Niamh and Ruairidh Macfarlane, whose successful textile company Ranish Tweed has taken them from their Hebridean home to the world of high fashion. While in Paris on a business trip, cracks begin to appear in their relationship, and when Ruairidh and his lover are killed by a car bomb, Niamh finds herself the prime suspect. Her life unravelling, Niamh travels back to her home on the Isle of Lewis, followed by a French detective, Sylvie Braque, and as the investigation proceeds, distant memories resurface and past feuds are reignited, and the 2 women are drawn into the dark web of a killer who won’t back down.
I’ll Keep you Safe is published by Quercus on 11th January. A hardback copy is included in the ticket price!
Peter will share stories from his fascinating research into forensics, the Dark Web, the world of Harris tweeds, and the many stunning locations in the novel. He will be interviewed by fellow novelist William Shaw, author of hit thriller The Birdwatcher, also published by Quercus,
TICKETS priced £30 will include a delicious 2 course meal, a signed hardback copy of I’ll Keep You Safe, and of course, a fascinating evening of insights from 2 great crime writers!
About Peter May
Peter May was an award-winning journalist at the age of just twenty-one. He left newspapers for television and screenwriting, creating three prime-time British drama series and accruing more than 1,000 television credits.
Peter May’s novels, Entry Island (2014), Runaway (2015), Coffin Road (2016) & were all top 3 Sunday Times bestsellers. He is published in 30 countries and has sold several million copies worldwide.
The Lewis Trilogy has sold over 5 million copies in the UK alone. Peter has won numerous awards. In 2013 he won the ‘Best Crime Novel Award’ for ‘The Blackhouse’ at Bouchercon in the US. In September 2014, ‘Entry Island’ won the Deanston Crime Book of the Year and in October 2014 it won the Specsavers ITV3 Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read Award.
He lives in France with his wife, the writer Janice Hally, so grab your chance to meet him on a rare trip to the UK!
See http://www.petermay.info for more details. Or follow him at @authorpetermay
“Peter May is a writer I’d follow to the ends of the earth.” New York Times
“Peter May follows his superb Lewis Trilogy with an equally absorbing work”. The Times
“Exceptional…May is a writer to be cherished.” Daily Mail
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