Bath in the Great War: A Guided Walk with Andrew Swift
Sunday 21st October, 10.30am
Over 1800 men from the Bath area died in the Great War. Their average age was 27. Many more were permanently disabled or bore terrible psychological scars for the rest of their lives. And, while Bath’s men went to war, the war came to the city, as their families battled against hunger and privation in […] See more »
October Fiction Reading Group
Sunday 21st October, 7.30pm
This month we are reading a Ugandan epic. Kintu is a glorious, engrossing sweep through generations of a family as they struggle to free themselves of a curse. Comparable to One Hundred Years of Solitude or last year’s Homegoing, this is the kind of book that benefits from having the family tree at the beginning. Our reading group is […] See more »
Joe Trivelli Pasta Masterclass
Tuesday 23rd October, 8pm
Joseph Trivelli, co-head chef and the beating heart of the world-renowned River Cafe, comes to the Bookshop for a masterclass in pasta making. Trivelli first learned to cook watching his Italian grandmother in their family kitchen. From well-loved classics of his childhood to his own signature creations, he joins us to demonstrate how to make […] See more »
Oliver Bullough on Moneyland
Wednesday 24th October, 8pm
The investigative journalist and author of The Last Man in Russia and Let Our Fame be Great, Oliver Bullough, takes us on a journey into the universe of the lawless, stateless superrich, where third-world kleptocrats rub shoulders with terror financiers, captains of industry and western heads of state. From the ruins of Kiev to the Bond-villain lairs of Knightsbridge and Central Park, something […] See more »
Darjeeling Express with Asma Khan in Bath
Thursday 25th October, 8pm
The bold, witty, talented and unstoppable Asma Khan of the famous Darjeeling Express comes to Bath to celebrate her soulful new book, Asma’s Indian Kitchen. Following the route of the Darjeeling Express train from Bengal, through Calcutta, where she grew up, and along the foothills of the Himalayas to Hyderabad, these are authentic Indian recipes […] See more »
Mike Brearley on Cricket in Bath
Friday 26th October, 6.30pm
Mike Brearley was arguably one of England’s finest cricket captains; not just for his outstanding record leading his country but also for the way he orchestrated, during the 1981 Ashes series, one of the most extraordinary reversals in sporting history. In this collection of sparkling essays, Brearley reflects on the game he has come to […] See more »
NEW DATE: Andrew Roberts on Churchill
Saturday 27th October, 12 noon
Please note this new rescheduled date. Internationally renowned historian and biographer Andrew Roberts joins us to discuss his magnificent and scholarly biography of Winston Churchill. Drawing on previously unearthed sources such as the private diaries of King George VI, Churchill: Walking with Destiny depicts this iconic statesman more intimately and fully than ever before. See more »
Paddy Ashdown
Tuesday 30th October, 8pm
Prize-winning historian Paddy Ashdown discusses his revelatory new history of German opposition to Hitler during WWII. In his last days, Hitler raged in his bunker that he had been defeated from the inside. In part, he was right. Nein! reveals the conspiracies, espionage, and plots by the German high command who were committed to bringing […] See more »
Peter Marshall on the Reformation
Tuesday 30th October, 8pm
Peter Marshall’s Heretics & Believers, winner of the 2018 Wolfson Prize for History, offers an all-encompassing new interpretation of the English Reformation. Marshall frames the actions of people great and small against a background of profound and often violent change. “Appearing on the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s launching of the European Reformation in Wittenberg, this is […] See more »
An Evening with Don Paterson
Wednesday 31st October, 8pm
Aphorisms have been described as ‘the obscure hinterland between poetry and prose’ (New Yorker) – short pithy statements that capture the essence of the human condition in all its shades. In The Fall at Home, master of the form Don Paterson brings the best examples from his two previous volumes together with ingenious new material relevant […] See more »
Kamal Ahmed
Thursday 1st November, 8pm
BBC Economics Editor and respected journalist discusses his timely memoir, The Life and Times of a Very British Man. Growing up in 1970s London as a Half English, half Sudanese boy, terms like `coloureds’ still formed part of the national lexicon. With personal stories and thoughtful political analysis, Ahmed makes the case for a new […] See more »
Horatio Clare
Monday 5th November, 8pm
As November stubs out the glow of autumn and the days tighten into shorter hours, winter’s occupation begins. Preparing for winter has its own rhythms, as old as our exchanges with the land. Of all the seasons, it draws us together. Horatio Clare is one of Britain’s foremost travel and nature writers. His work is […] See more »
An Evening with Sue Prideaux on Nietzsche
Tuesday 6th November, 8pm
Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most important individuals in the history of Western thought, is also one of the most misunderstood. Myths have accumulated that render him unrecognisable, casting him as isolationist, misogynistic, and even a Nazi. No less complicated are his writings that can seem intricate and inaccessible, even elusive to the common reader. […] See more »
Launch of Carrie Etter’s Poetry Collection The Weather in Normal
Thursday 8th November, 8pm
The Weather in Normal explores the poet’s loss of her hometown of Normal, Illinois through her parents’ deaths, the sale of the family home, and the effects of climate change, a collection at once innovative, emotive, and deeply resonant. “Taking the temperature of memory, Etter’s deeply moving fourth collection maps family and personal history against the […] See more »
An Evening With Alan Johnson
Saturday 10th November, 8pm
From the Bing Crosby he heard as a small child living in 1950s ungentrified West London, to the Costello he hummed as he went about his work as a postman, Labour politician Alan Johnson’s life has always had a musical soundtrack. In fact music hasn’t just accompanied his life, it’s been an integral part of […] See more »
Bookshop Supper with Gizzi Erskine
Monday 12th November, 8pm
Restaurateur and food writer Gizzi Erskine breathes new life into the idea of ‘slow’ and urges you to linger in the kitchen. Her new book, Slow: Food Worth Taking Time Over is the result of a life-long love affair with food and will show you how to braise, bake, poach and roast to truly make the […] See more »
An Evening with Ian Rankin
Tuesday 13th November, 8pm
In a house of lies, who can ever know the truth? John Rebus might be retired, but he’s far from finished. In this brand new mystery from the peerless Ian Rankin, the ex-DI returns alongside series stalwart Siobhan Clarke. A missing private investigator is discovered in a locked car, deep in the woods—however, the area had […] See more »
An Evening with Prue Leith
Wednesday 14th November, 8pm
The spectacular Prue Leith has been at the top of the British food scene for many years. She has seen huge success not only as founder of the renowned Leith’s School of Food and Wine, but also as a caterer, restaurateur, teacher, TV cook, food journalist, novelist, and cookery book author. She’s also been a leading […] See more »
Ben Fogle
Thursday 15th November, 8pm
Modern day adventurer and broadcaster Ben Fogle comes to talk about his latest amazing feat – climbing Everest for the British Red Cross. Everest was the mountain of his childhood dreams and Ben’s seven-week expedition was an adventure of a lifetime. Come to listen to his account of this thrilling expedition, as he talks with […] See more »
An Evening with Ben Aaronovitch
Wednesday 21st November, 8pm
Ben Aaronovitch has created a superbly entertaining supernatural crime series with his Rivers of London books. Rich with witty one-liners, they centre around the adventures of PC Peter Grant, Britain’s Last Wizard and member of the Met’s Economic and Specialist Crime Unit. Lies Sleeping is the long-awaited seventh book in which the Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, […] See more »
Will Ashon on The Wu-Tang Clan
Thursday 22nd November, 7.30pm
Will Ashon joins us to discuss his book Chamber Music: About the Wu-Tang (in 36 Pieces). Described by Max Porter as ‘genre-defying’, it peels back the layers of the Wu-Tang Clan by carefully dissecting lyrics and delving into the history of each member; all while remaining acutely aware of and present within the cultural and political […] See more »
Aardman Animations with Peter Lord and David Sproxton
Saturday 24th November, 11.30am
Oscar-winning Claymation experts, Peter Lord and David Sproxton are the brilliantly creative force behind some of our most beloved animations such as Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and Chicken Run. An Epic Journey is a fascinating and funny behindthe-scenes look at Aardman Animations, from their tough early days to conquering Hollywood, and everything in […] See more »
An Evening with Jenni Murray
Monday 26th November, 8pm
In A History of the World in 21 Women, Jenni Murray celebrates great women from around the world – rescuing some from obscurity and shining a new light on familiar names. Breaking the mould in art, science, journalism and politics, each of these women fought, in her own way, for change. From Joan of Arc to […] See more »
An Evening with Louis de Bernieres
Tuesday 27th November, 8pm
Bestselling author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, whose short stories, novels, and poetry have delighted readers for almost thirty years, Louis de Bernières returns to Bath with his new novel So Much Life Left Over. Set in Ceylon during the inter-war period, this novel follows Daniel and Rosie as they attempt to revive their marriage and […] See more »
Max Hastings on Vietnam
Tuesday 27th November, 8pm
From the best-selling author of All Hell Let Loose comes a masterful chronicle of one of the most devastating international conflicts of the 20th century and how its people were affected. Vietnam became the Western world’s most divisive conflict since the Second World War, first creating a humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for […] See more »
The New Silk Road with Peter Frankopan
Wednesday 28th November, 8pm
Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads continues to be one of the most sought after books in our expansive history section. An anecdote to a tradition of a eurocentric view, the book was a refreshing and deeply informative look at the world from an alternative perspective. The New Silk Roads follows the trail eastwards, from Europe through to China, […] See more »
Diarmaid MacCulloch on Thomas Cromwell
Friday 30th November, 8pm
Thomas Cromwell is one of the most famous – or notorious – figures in English history. Born in obscurity in Putney, he became a fixer for Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s. After Wolsey’s fall, Henry VIII promoted Cromwell to a series of ever greater offices, and by the end of the 1530s he was effectively […] See more »
An Evening with James Runcie
Tuesday 9th April 2019, 8pm
“There is no denying the winning charm of these artfully fashioned mysteries” – The Independent. Crime fiction is a treasured genre for us here in Bath; from the gritty to the cosy, we love it all. It’s therefore an absolute delight to welcome none other than James Runcie to the bookshop to discuss Quickstep, a prequel […] See more »
James Hawes Book Launch for The Shortest History of England
Tuesday 16th April 2019, 8pm
James Hawes wrote the authoritative, and highly enjoyable bestseller The Shortest History of Germany. His brief yet rewarding book examined Germany’s place in a continent on the throes of upheaval. Garlanded with superb reviews, it is an exhilarating book to read. His highly anticipated The Shortest History of England is equally excellent. Comprehensive, yet still concise, the book […] See more »
Dazzling Science Fiction with Peter F Hamilton
Tuesday 8th October 2019, 8pm
Peter F. Hamilton is a stalwart of modern science fiction, internationally renowned for the genre expanding Commonwealth & Void trilogies. We’re very happy to announce that Peter will be coming to Bath in October 2019 to celebrate the launch of Salvation Lost, the second volume of his epic new trilogy. As with his best writing, Salvation Lost has dynamic, multifaceted characters; brilliant […] See more »