by Gudrun Bowers | 17, Jun 2016
As part of our celebrations for Independent Bookshop Week 2016, multi-talented illustrator and author Leigh Hodgkinson is paying us a return visit. Some of you may recall Leigh’s bag-monster making session which was so much fun last summer!
She will be creating a wondrous, artistic window display in our children’s window during the morning, then, at 3pm she will lead a simple print-making workshop for children aged 4-8 (ish!) and share some of her funny, colourful picture books.
Tickets are a mere £2, including refreshments, and can be used to get money off one of Leigh’s lovely picture books.
by Gudrun Bowers | 13, Jun 2016
SATURDAY 18th JUNE 2.30-4pm.
Prior to his talk at The Steyning Centre on the evening of Sat 18th June, we are offering this exciting opportunity for a few lucky fans to join Scotland’s finest crime writer, Ian Rankin, on a tour of The Riverside Brewery, Upper Beeding’s finest micro-brewery, which was established in 2015. Ian, like his most well-known character Inspector Rebus, is fond of a brew, so come along and see what he makes of our fine Sussex ales! Ticket price includes bottle of beer.
Riverside Breweries finest ales
by Gudrun Bowers | 31, May 2016
To kick off our celebrations for Independent Bookseller’s Week in very fine style, we are thrilled to announce that Ian Rankin will be paying Steyning a visit on Saturday 18th June. This is an absolutely unmissable chance to hear the Scottish Master of Noir talk about his life and work, upon the paperback publication of ‘Even Dogs in the Wild’ his latest John Rebus thriller. He will be appearing at the Steyning Centre at 7.30 pm on Saturday 18th June. Tickets for this event are £12, to include a paperback book.
Also, during the afternoon, he will be touring Upper Beeding’s own Riverside Brewery, and a VERY limited number of tickets will be on sale to join him on this tour.
Please contact the bookshop on 01903 812062 for tickets or for further information on either of these two events.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, May 2016
Meadows: At Great Dixter and Beyond by Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garrett
Pimpernel Press £30
This is a sumptuous new edition of Christopher Lloyd’s classic book on meadows. Starting with the origins of meadows in history, art and literature, Lloyd goes on to describe in detail the different types of meadow and prairie, how to create and maintain them, and his own efforts at Great Dixter, the garden that was his life’s work. Fergus Garrett, current head gardener at Great Dixter, who worked closely with Lloyd, and continues his work after his death has contributed a lengthy new introduction, which looks at the ongoing developments in their grassland management, and the resurgent interest in ecology and wildlife habitats.
Come and hear Fergus talk about the book and his gardening life at Great Dixter on May 27th in the Big Top at 11am as part of the Steyning Festival. The book will be available at the special Festival price of £20.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, May 2016
“To see a meadow in bloom is a great delight – it’s alive and teeming with life, mysterious, dynamic . . .” To celebrate the publication of a new edition of Meadows At Great Dixter and Beyond by Christopher Lloyd, one of the greatest gardeners of the twentieth century, Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter, near Northiam, and author of a new introduction to the book, will give an illustrated talk both about the gardens and the meadows there.
A Steyning Festival event.
Copies of this beautiful and informative book will be available for purchase (at a special festival price) and signing at the event.
Friday 27th May 11 am Festival Big Top, opposite the church.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, May 2016
The Kindness by Polly Samson Pub Bloomsbury 8.99
At the outset of this assured second novel by Polly Samson we encounter Julian, prematurely aged at only 29, in a state of deep anguish at the loss of his lover, Julia, and their daughter, Mira. He drifts through his Sussex childhood home, consumed by their absence. Empty photograph frames, beds which no longer hold his sleeping family, this is a house echoing with regrets – but the details of his loss are a mystery. Polly Samson has received much praise for her short story collections and this compelling novel, lyrical but deftly rooted in reality, is a set of interlocking stories which lead the reader to piece together the mystery at the heart of the book while at the same time provide great insight into the inner lives of the protagonists.
The Kindness wears its structural complexity lightly, the voice and the pace so assured that it seems remarkable that this is only Samson’s second novel. It’s a rare achievement to create a book that is at once a wise and tender meditation on the nature of love and disappointment, and a page turner that will keep you awake into the small hours” – Observer
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, May 2016
Helen Simonson sets her new novel, “The Summer Before the War,” in the summer of 1914 when Europe is contemplating the unthinkable – a German invasion of Belgium. In the English seaside town of Rye the residents are agog at the arrival of the new Latin teacher, Beatrice Nash —a bright, attractive and fiercely independent orphaned daughter of academic parents who is not prepared to endure uncritically the social restrictions that prevail in the town that later inspired E F Benson’s Lucia novels. Fans of Simonson’s “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand,” will once again enjoy the perceptive social comedy in this lively and engaging book which gains added depth as we are drawn inexorably towards the effects on the town’s inhabitants of the onslaught that will ravage a generation.
Helen Simonson will be in discussion with authors Polly Sampson and Suzanne Joinson at a Festival event on May 23rd at 7.30pm in the Gluck Studio, Chantry House. Access from Elm Grove Lane.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, May 2016
On Monday 23rd May at 7.30 pm, Steyning’s newest arts venue, the atmospheric Gluck Studio, will host a very special literary event, as part of the Steyning Festival.
Enjoy a glass of wine as you hear a trio of fine novelists all published by Bloomsbury Publishing; Suzanne Joinson, Polly Samson and Helen Simonson.
Suzanne Joinson’s first novel A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar was Guardian/Observer Book of the Year 2012. Her latest, The Photographer’s Wife is a beautiful and gripping story set in 1930’s Jerusalem and Sussex.
Author Suzanne Joinson
Polly Samson is an acclaimed writer and Costa Award judge whose brilliant novel The Kindness, was chosen as a 2015 Book of the Year by the Times and Observer.
Bloomsbury author Polly Samson
Helen Simonson is the author of international bestselling Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand which was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Her stunning new novel The Summer Before the War is set in Rye in the summer of 1914.
Bloomsbury author Helen Simonson
All the author’s books will be on sale at the event, and they will be happy to personally sign and dedicate copies at the conclusion of the evening.
by Gudrun Bowers | 9, May 2016
An amazing chance to join best-selling children’s author Cressida Cowell to hear about her wonderful Hiccup the Horrendous series and the twelfth and final novel (sob) How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury, just out in paperback. Cressida spent her childhood summers on an uninhabited Hebridean island with no electricity. In the evenings her father would tell tales of the Vikings who invaded the islands a millennium ago. This inspired her to use these stories, and her beloved island, as the basis for her wildly popular and very funny Viking series, starting with How to Train your Dragon, which has enchanted a generation of 6-11 year olds with its wit, inventiveness and hilarious illustrations, and inspired two (soon to be three!) DreamWorks films. Just like her books, Cressida is great fun!
Ticket includes £2 voucher towards a book.
Tickets available from the bookshop, and from http://www.steyningfestival.co.uk/whats-on/meet-cressida-cowell-94
by Gudrun Bowers | 9, May 2016
A very special opportunity to meet Sir Vince Cable who joins Guardian columnist and economist David Boyle to discuss a new revised and updated paperback edition of After the Storm. This provides fascinating insights into the global economy – and Britain’s place in it – from his unique vantage point as a former senior member of the coalition and offers a carefully considered perspective on how the British economy should be managed in the future. “Lucid, intelligent – and damning” — The Guardian. “Vince Cable is the parliamentarian who has been consistently the most prescient and thoughtful in his analysis of the credit crunch.” John Kay, Financial Times.
7.30 – 10 pm Tuesday 24th May, Festival Big Top.
Copies of ‘After the Storm’ will be on sale for Vince to sign after his talk.
Tickets from http://www.steyningfestival.co.uk/
or direct from The Steyning Bookshop.
