 ROB COWEN - COMMON GROUND
TUESDAY 12TH APRIL
7.00PM (7.30PM START) AT BOOKA
Join us for an evening with one of the UK's most exciting nature writers as journalist, author and broadcaster, Rob Cowen, talks about his highly acclaimed book, Common Ground. After moving from London to a new home in Yorkshire, Rob Cowen finds himself on unfamiliar territory, disoriented, hemmed in by winter and yearning for the nearest open space. So one night, he sets out to find it - a pylon-slung edge-land, a tangle of wood, meadow, field and river on the outskirts of town. Despite being in the shadow of thousands of houses, it feels unclaimed, forgotten, caught between worlds, and all the more magical for it. Obsessively revisiting this contested ground, Cowen ventures deeper into its many layers and lives, documenting its changes through time and season and unearthing histories that profoundly resonate and intertwine with transformative events happening in his own life. Common Ground blurs the boundaries of memoir, natural history and novel and offers an enthralling way of writing about nature and our experiences within it. Rob's book was one of the most talked about non-fiction literary titles of 2015. We are delighted to welcome him to Oswestry for the paperback publication of Common Ground.
Tickets: £5 (redeemable against book purchase). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. LAST FEW TICKETS! For tickets, call in at the shop or book online via our Eventbrite page. |  KATHERINE WEBB - THE ENGLISH GIRL THURSDAY 21ST APRIL
7.00PM (FOR 7.30PM) AT BOOKA Join us for an evening with bestselling author, Katherine Webb, as she talks about her new novel, The English Girl - a story of feuds, secrets and turmoil in 1950's Arabia. Joan Seabrook, a fledgling archaeologist, has fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit Arabia by travelling from England to the ancient city of Muscat with her fiancé, Rory. Desperate to escape the pain of a personal tragedy, she longs to explore the desert fort of Jabrin, and unearth the treasures it is said to conceal. But Oman is a land lost in time - hard, secretive, and in the midst of a violent upheaval - and gaining permission to explore Jabrin could prove impossible. Joan's disappointment is only alleviated by the thrill of meeting her childhood heroine, pioneering explorer Maude Vickery, and hearing first-hand the stories that captured her imagination and fuelled her ambition as a child. Joan's encounter with the extraordinary and reclusive Maude will change everything. Both women have things that they want, and secrets they must keep. As their friendship grows, Joan is seduced by Maude's stories, and the thrill of the adventure they hold, and only too late does she begin to question her actions - actions that will spark a wild, and potentially disastrous, chain of events. Will the girl that left England for this beautiful but dangerous land ever find her way back? Katherine Webb is the bestselling author of The Legacy, The Night Falling, The Misbegotten and The Unseen. We are delighted to welcome Katherine to Oswestry to talk about The English Girl.
Tickets: £5 (redeemable against a signed hardback copy of The English Girl). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. BOOK NOW! For tickets, call in at the shop or book online via our Eventbrite page. |  SHORE TO SHORE - CELEBRATING POETRY & COMMUNITY WITH THE LAUREATE & FRIENDS SATURDAY 25TH JUNE
7.30PM (DOORS 7.00PM) AT HOLY TRINITY PARISH CHURCH, OSWESTRY Celebrating Poetry & Community with Carol Ann Duffy, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Jackie Kay, John Sampson plus special guest poet. Carol Ann Duffy has been a bold, original voice and one of Britain's best loved poets since the publication of Standing Female Nude in 1985; she has subsequently won every major poetry prize in the UK, published collections that have collectively sold more than one million copies worldwide and was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009. Coinciding with and supporting the 10th anniversary of Independent Bookshop Week, SHORE TO SHORE sees the Poet Laureate and her chosen fellow artists undertaking a major national tour to perform their work and to celebrate communities with independent bookshops at their heart. Picador and Booka Bookshop are proud to present Carol Ann Duffy performing alongside three of the fellow poets whom she most admires: Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker and Jackie Kay. The evening will be accompanied by music from instrumentalist and composer John Sampson plus a special guest poet local to the venue. Shore to Shore: Celebrating Poetry and Community with the Laureate and Friends will bring audiences an unforgettable evening featuring some of the finest voices in contemporary British poetry. Tickets: £15 each (plus 75p booking fee).
Each ticket includes a Shore to Shore commemorative tour programme to be collected on the night. BOOK NOW! Purchase tickets online here | |  CHRIS CLEAVE - EVERYONE BRAVE IS FORGIVEN
TUESDAY 19TH APRIL
7.00PM (7.30PM START) AT BOOKA
Join us for an evening with award winning author Chris Cleave as he talks about his breathtaking new novel, Everyone Brave is Forgiven – one of the literary highlights of 2016. In a powerful combination of both humour and heartbreak, this dazzling novel weaves little-known history, and a perfect love story, through the vast sweep of the Second World War – daring us to understand that, against the great theatre of world events, it is the intimate losses, the small battles, the daily human triumphs, that change us most. Chris Cleave's debut novel, Incendiary, was an international bestseller and multiple prize-winner. His second novel, the Costa-shortlisted, New York Times #1 bestseller The Other Hand, has found phenomenal worldwide success. His third book, Gold, confirmed his status as "one of our most powerful, important and psychologically insightful novelists". A new novel from Chris Cleave is always something to look forward to. We are delighted to welcome Chris to Oswestry two days before publication. Tickets: £5 (redeemable against a signed hardback copy of Everyone Brave is Forgiven.) Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. BOOK NOW! For tickets, call in at the shop, give us a call or purchase online via our Eventbrite page. Please note that the venue and ticket price for this event has changed from that originally listed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. |  CHRIS PACKHAM - FINGERS IN THE SPARKLE JAR THURSDAY 12TH MAY - 12.30PM (DOORS 12 NOON) AT THE WYNNSTAY HOTEL, OSWESTRY TV presenter, photographer and conservationist Chris Packham is one of the nation's favourite naturalists, best known for the BAFTA-winning The Really Wild Show and fronting Springwatch and Autumnwatch. As a boy, his intense fascination with wildlife marked him out as 'the weird kid' and his childhood in Hampshire was spent as a solitary, silent observer of miraculous, miniature worlds populated by ants, bats, otters and snakes. But it was a single act that would change his life forever: taking a young kestrel from its nest. He would form an all-consuming friendship with this tiny fledgling and their remarkable bond would teach him what it meant to love. In his rich, lyrical and emotionally exposing memoir, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, he weaves back and forth through time, gloriously capturing a child's view of the 70s – the music, the clothes, the cars, the freedom – alongside recent, more exposing recollections from adulthood. Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is unexpected but it truly glitters. We are delighted to welcome Chris to Oswestry for what should be a great event. Event Format: Talk 'in conversation' followed by audience Q&A and book signing. Tickets: £10 (£5 redeemable against a signed hardback copy of Fingers in the Sparkle Jar). Includes refreshments. LAST FEW TICKETS! For tickets, call in at the shop or book online via our Eventbrite page. |  PICADOR, PIZZA & PROSECCO - HANNAH KOHLER & LISA OWENS TUESDAY 17TH MAY
7.00PM (FOR 7.30PM START) AT BOOKA
Discover great debut fiction and join us for an evening with two of Picador's brightest new writers as Hannah Kohler and Lisa Owens talk about their brilliant and very different debut novels over a glass of Prosecco and a slice or two of pizza. Hannah Kohler is the author of The Outside Lands, a story of people caught in the slipstream of history. With masterful and deeply imagined storytelling, Kohler takes us from 1960's California to Vietnam at the height of the conflict, focussing on how we struggle in the face of loss to build our world and how easily it can all be swept away. This powerful debut captures what it means to live through historic times and announces her as a remarkable new literary talent. In Not Working by Lisa Owens, Claire Flannery has quit her job in order to discover her true vocation - only to realize she has no idea how to go about finding it. Whilst everyone around her seems to have their lives entirely under control, Claire finds herself sinking under pressure and wondering where her own fell apart. Funny, sharp, tender and brilliantly observed, Not Working is the story of a life unravelling in minute and spectacular ways, and a novel that voices the questions we've all been asking ourselves but never dared to say out loud. We are delighted to bring two such talented debut authors to Oswestry for what should be a great event. Tickets: £10 (£5 redeemable against copies both books). Prosecco and Pizza included. BOOK NOW!. For tickets, call in at the shop or purchase online via our Eventbrite page. |  CATHY CASSIDY BOOK SIGNING SATURDAY 30TH APRIL
3PM AT BOOKA
Calling all Cathy Cassidy Fans! Bestselling children's author, Cathy Cassidy, will be visiting us for a book signing on Saturday 30th April at 3pm.
This is a brilliant opportunity for fans to meet and chat with Cathy and get copies of her latest book signed - her new standalone title, Broken Heart Club, is published on 21st April.
Free Event - Just come along! | |
