Eddie Jones: My Life and Rugby
Friday 22nd November, 11.30am
We are delighted to announce a second event with Eddie Jones following the triumphant success of the England team at the Rugby World Cup. Brilliant, honest, combative – Eddie Jones is a gigantic yet enigmatic figure in world rugby and a true legend of the game. In My Life in Rugby he tells his story for the […] See more »
ABJECT QUIZZERY QUIZ NIGHT & LAUNCH PARTY
Friday 22nd November, 8pm
Join us for a quiz night with a difference to celebrate publication of ABJECT QUIZZERY: The Utterly Depressing Quiz Book, illustrated by local ‘boy’ James Nunn. Perfectly timed to nip any hint of festive cheer in the bud, there’ll be 100s of questions, each one with a dispiriting, deflating or just dashed annoying answer. It’s a panoply of pessimism, […] See more »
Joanna Cannon: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout
Monday 25th November, 8pm
A few years ago, I found myself in A & E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn’t eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not […] See more »
Jack Shenker on Now We Have Your Attention: The New Politics of the People
Tuesday 26th November, 8pm
“One of the most important and compelling books I’ve ever read, by one of Britain’s most gifted writers. If you want to understand why we are in this crisis, listen to the voices all too often airbrushed from the political conversation.” (Owen Jones) Jack Shenker’s Now We Have Your Attention is an investigation into Britain’s […] See more »
An Evening with Richard Dawkins
Wednesday 27th November, 8pm
Should we believe in God? In this new book, written for a new generation, the brilliant science writer and author of The God Delusion, explains why we shouldn’t. Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good? In twelve […] See more »
Sir Clive Woodward on How to Win: Rugby and Leadership from Twickenham to Tokyo
Thursday 28th November, 8pm
How to Win is Sir Clive Woodward’s collected philosophy and principles of leadership learned during a lifetime in elite environments. In his entertaining and informative new book, Sir Clive Woodward analyses the events of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, offering his unique perspective on the performance of players and coaches, from Owen Farrell and Kieran […] See more »
An Evening with Salley Vickers
Thursday 28th November, 8pm
Salley Vickers first novel Miss Garnet’s Angel was an international word of mouth bestseller, and she has since established herself as one of our leading novelists, in the tradition of Penelope Fitzgerald and Marilynne Robinson. In her latest book, we follow four very different grandmothers: Blanche, who can’t seem to stop stealing things from the local pharmacy; […] See more »
Christopher Eccleston
Thursday 5th December, 8pm
Be it as Nicky Hutchinson in Our Friends in the North, Maurice in The A Word or as the ninth Doctor, one man in life and death has accompanied the actor every step of the way – his father Ronnie. ‘My father was an “ordinary man”, which of course means he was extraordinary. I aim […] See more »
Ned Palmer on A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles
Friday 6th December, 8pm
Every cheese tells a story. Whether it’s a fresh young goat’s cheese or a big, beefy eighteen-month-old Cheddar, each variety holds the history of the people who first made it, from the builders of Stonehenge to medieval monks, from the Stilton-makers of the eighteenth-century to the factory cheesemakers of the Second World War. Cheesemonger Ned […] See more »
December Fiction Reading Group
Monday 9th December, 7.30pm
It is Columbia University, 1968. Ann Drayton and Georgette George meet as roommates on the first night. Ann is rich and radical; Georgette is leery and introverted, a child of the very poverty and strife her new friend finds so noble. The two are drawn together by their differences; two years later, after a violent […] See more »
Eat Green with Melissa Hemsley
Thursday 23rd January 2020, 8pm
‘Melissa Hemsley is the patron saint of busy millennial food-lovers.’ VOGUE We’re delighted to welcome back the hugely charismatic and spirited food writer, Melissa Hemsley. Her new book, Eat Green is for everyone who wants to enjoy good, delicious food,that is simple to make and affordable to cook, but that also helps cut back on […] See more »
Samantha Harvey on The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping
Monday 27th January 2020, 8pm
Sleep. Sleep. Like money, you only think about it when you have too little. Then you think about it all the time, and the less you have the more you think about it. It becomes the prism through which you see the world and nothing can exist except in relation to it. Samantha Harvey’s insomnia […] See more »
Derek Owusu: That Reminds Me
Tuesday 28th January 2020, 8pm
‘Derek Owusu’s writing is honest, moving, delicate, but tough. Once you lock on to his words, it is hard to break eye contact. A beautiful meditation on childhood, coming of age, the now, and the media. This work is heartfelt.’ Benjamin Zephaniah Anansi, your four gifts raised to nyame granted you no power over the […] See more »
Timur Vermes
Thursday 30th January 2020, 8pm
Timur Vermes’ astounding debut novel Look Who’s Back was one of the bestsellers of 2014. Now, Timur is back with his follow-up The Hungry and the Fat, a sharp, provocative satire on Europe’s reaction to the refugee crisis. He skewers faux-liberal media types and our celebrity-obsessed culture to create a brilliant and unique portrayal of our world. When German model […] See more »
Gill Hornby on Miss Austen
Thursday 6th February 2020, 8pm
Gill Hornby’s wonderfully original, and emotionally complex novel Miss Austen answers a question that has troubled readers and academics for centuries: why did Cassandra Austen burn a treasure trove of letters written by her sister Jane. It’s 1840, twenty-three years after the death of her famous sister Jane, and Cassandra Austen – alone and unwed […] See more »
Mat Osman of Suede
Tuesday 25th February 2020, 8pm
Mat Osman is the bassist and founding member of the iconic British Rock band Suede. The Ruins is Osman’s debut novel and is a dark and dreamlike story of identity, ambition and music. It charts the tale of twin brothers – Adam and Brandon – who, having not spoken for decades, find themselves dragged back in to each others lives after Brandon is killed. Shy, […] See more »
Margaret Heffernan on Uncharted: How to Map the Future
Thursday 12th March 2020, 8pm
Margaret Heffernan is one of the word’s most sought-after management speakers (her TED talks have been viewed by over 7 million people). In Uncharted: How to Map the Future, she shares her insights into what qualities help make individuals and companies successful; what values are needed to thrive in today’s evermore uncertain present. Margaret lays the groundwork […] See more »
Will Harris Poetry Book Launch for Rendang
Wednesday 18th March 2020, 8pm
Will Harris is a rising star of contemporary British poetry. His poem Say was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2018, and his debut pamphlet of poems, All this is implied was joint winner of the London Review Bookshop Pamphlet of the Year. In Rendang, his first full-length collection of poems, Will Harris reflects on race, […] See more »
Andrew Ziminski Stonemason: A History of Building Britain
Thursday 26th March 2020, 8pm
Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason living and working in what was ancient Wessex. He has three decades of hands-on experience with the tangible history of this country and has worked on some of the greatest and most interesting monuments in Britain; from using his skills to create a Stonehenge megalith, to the restoration of Roman […] See more »
Eley Williams
Wednesday 20th May 2020, 8pm
Eley Williams’ debut collection Attrib. and other stories. showed that she was a writer of utter brilliance, marrying creative flair and intelligence with subtle charm and depth of emotion. In her new novel The Liars’ Dictionary, Peter Winceworth a Victorian lexicographer inserts bogus definitions into a dictionary. In the present day, Mallory a young overworked and […] See more »