 Celebrating Independent Bookshop Week.... We're incredibly proud of our independent status. This June we're joining bookshops across the country in celebrating Independent Bookshop Week - a national campaign promoting the individuality and diversity of high street bookselling, now in its 10th year.
We've put together a great and varied line-up of author events including cycling, fiction, nature writing and poetry. We're also hosting a Summer Party too!
Hope to see you at some point during the week. |  SUMMER PARTY FRIDAY 17TH JUNE - 7.30pm
at Booka Join us for a Summer Party at the start of Independent Bookshop to celebrate the launch of our 'Oswestry Stories' cards and prints collection with Sunny Side Art. There will be Cheese and Wine and we'll be offering 20% off all bookshop purchases on the night. If you're free, come along! |  HARRY PARKER - ANATOMY OF A SOLDIER
Book Now!
TUESDAY 21ST JUNE
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
at Booka
Join us for an evening in the company of Harry Parker as he talks about is hugely acclaimed debut novel Anatomy of a Soldier. Captain Tom Barnes is leading British troops in a war zone. Two boys are growing up there, sharing a prized bicycle and flying kites, before finding themselves separated once the soldiers appear in their countryside. On all sides of this conflict, people are about to be caught up in the violence, from the man who trains one boy to fight the infidel invaders to Barnes's family waiting for him to return home.
We see them not as they see themselves, but as all the objects surrounding them do: shoes and boots, a helmet, a trove of dollars, a drone, the bike, weaponry, a bag of fertilizer, a medal, a beer glass, a snowflake, dog tags, an exploding IED and the medical implements that are subsequently employed. Anatomy of a Soldier is a moving, enlightening and dramatic novel about one man's journey of survival and the experiences of those around him. Forty-five objects, one unforgettable story. Anatomy of a Soldier is a novel, but one clearly based on the author's searing experiences in combat and during recovery. It provides a vivid description of life as a soldier in Afghanistan and of life after being seriously wounded. We are delighted to welcome Harry to Oswestry during Independent Bookshop Week for what should be a memorable event. Tickets: £5 (redeemable against a signed hardback copy of Anatomy of a Soldier). Includes a glass of wine/soft drink on arrival. Please book in advance. For tickets, call in at the shop or purchase online via our Eventbrite page. |  SHORE TO SHORE - CELEBRATING POETRY & COMMUNITY WITH CAROL ANN DUFFY & FRIENDS Book Now! Saturday 25TH JUNE
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
at Holy Trinity Church, Roft Street, Oswestry Picador and Booka Bookshop present: SHORE TO SHORE – Celebrating Poetry & Community with the Laureate and Friends 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. Purchase tickets from the shop, or online here | |  CHRIS BOARDMAN - sorry SOLD OUT!
TRIUMPHS & TURBULENCE WEDNESDAY 15TH JUNE 2016
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
The Marches School, Morda Road, Oswestry We're thrilled that British Cycling legend, Chris Boardman, is coming to town on June 15th to talk about his long awaited autobiography, Triumphs & Turbulence. Chris will be interviewed at this sell out event by Radio Shropshire Sports Editor, James Bond.
While the event is sold out, we are taking pre-orders for signed copies of Triumphs & Turbulence. If you would like a signed copy please let us know, or order online via our website. |  VASEEM KHAN - 'POP-UP' BOOK CLUB Book Now!
WEDNESDAY 22ND JUNE
3.30pm (for 4.00pm start)
at Booka Join us during Independent Bookshop Week for a special 'pop-up' Book Club with Vaseem Khan, author of 'The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra' – a charming mystery set in Mumbai. On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra discovers that he has inherited an elephant: an unlikely gift that could not be more inconvenient. For Chopra has one last case to solve…But as his murder investigation leads him across Mumbai – from its richest mansions to its murky underworld – he quickly discovers that a baby elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs. So begins the start of a quite unexpected partnership, and an utterly delightful new crime series that will appeal to fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Rachel Joyce. Pick up a copy of The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra before the event and come along to discuss the book with Vaseem over coffee/tea and tiffin – a great way to spend an afternoon! Tickets: £10 (includes a copy of The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, plus coffee/tea and tiffin). Please book in advance. Tickets available from the shop |  JOHN LEWIS-STEMPEL - THE RUNNING HARE Last few tickets!
THURSDAY 23RD JUNE
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
at Booka Join us for an evening in the company of award winning nature writer John Lewis-Stempel as he talks about his new book, The Running Hare – The Secret Life of Farmland. Traditional ploughland is disappearing. Seven cornfield flowers have become extinct in the last twenty years. Once abundant, the corn bunting and the lapwing are on the Red List. The corncrake is all but extinct in England. And the hare is running for its life. Written in exquisite prose, the Running Hare tells the story of the wild animals and plants that live in and under our ploughland, from the labouring microbes to the patrolling kestrel above the corn, from the linnet pecking at seeds to the seven-spot ladybird that eats the aphids that eat the crop. It recalls an era before open-roofed factories and silent, empty fields, recording the ongoing destruction of the unique, fragile, glorious ploughland that exists just down the village lane. But it is also the story of ploughland through the eyes of man who took on a field and husbanded it in a natural, traditional way, restoring its fertility and wildlife, bringing back the old farmland flowers and animals. John Lewis- Stempel demonstrates that it is still possible to create a place where the hare can rest safe. John Lewis-Stempel won the Thwaites Wainwright Prize 2015 for his book Meadowland. The Running Hare is a Radio Four Book of the Week. We are delighted to welcome John to Oswestry during Independent Bookshop Week for what should be a great event. Tickets: £5 (redeemable against a signed hardback copy of The Running Hare). Includes a glass of wine / soft drink on arrival. Please book in advance. For tickets, call in at the shop or purchase online via our Eventbrite page. |  JO BAKER - A COUNTRY ROAD, A TREE Book Now!
THURSDAY 7TH JULY
7.30pm (doors 7.00pm)
at Booka Join us for an evening with Jo Baker, the bestselling author of Longbourn, as she talks about her new novel, A Country Road, A Tree. Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young unknown writer- Samuel Beckett- recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance…Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art. We were huge fans of Jo's book, Longbourn, a below stairs account of the world of 'Pride and Prejudice'. In A Country Road, A Tree she goes behind the scenes again with a moving and beautifully written historical novel based on a fictional portrayal of a twentieth century literary icon. We look forward to welcoming Jo to Oswestry for what should be a great event. Tickets: £5 (plus booking fee if purchasing online). Ticket price redeemable against a signed hardback copy of A Country Road, A Tree). Includes a glass of wine/soft drink on arrival. Please book in advance For tickets, call in at the shop or purchase online via Eventbrite. | |
