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.
by Gudrun Bowers | 19, Jun 2018
Thursday 28th June at 7.30pm – Rescheduled from the Steyning Festival event on June 8th. Original tickets still valid.
An amazing opportunity to meet Salley Vickers, author of the highly acclaimed Miss Garnett’s Angel, and The Cleaner of Chartres, in conversation about her wonderful new novel, The Librarian.
Salley Vickers’ writing is filled with subtle wit and lucid observations of human nature and has been compared to Penelope Fitzgerald and Barbara Pym. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a cleaner, a dancer, a teacher of children with special needs, a university lecturer specialising in Shakespeare, and a psychoanalyst.
Salley will be interviewed by Sara Bowers, the owner of The Steyning Bookshop.
The ticket price of £12 includes wine/soft drink, nibbles, and £5 voucher towards purchase of a book.
‘Salley Vickers sees with a clear eye and writes with a light hand. She’s a presence worth cherishing’ Philip Pullman.
‘Vickers is a novelist in the great English tradition of moral seriousness. Her characters suffer, they struggle to be true to both themselves and the promptings of the human heart. If you enjoy reading the work of Marilynne Robinson, Penelope Fitzgerald and James Salter you should be reading Vickers.’ MICHAEL DIRDA Washington Post
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 | 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
11th December, 2024, Steyning Bookshop