Oxford
Group 2012
We are delighted to announce the launch of
Group 2012, a new literary group for writers of all levels, on
Tuesday 24th January 2012. Group 2012 is a joint venture between Blackwell's Oxford, Hersilia Press and The Oxford Editors.
The group will welcome new writers as well as the more experienced authors, and will serve as a friendly place to exchange ideas and experiences, to encourage, inform and stimulate members. Meetings will be at a selection of venues including Blackwell's Bookshop, but from time to time we will meet at other venues in Oxford.
The direction of Group 2012 will be determined by its members, but we propose to invite guest speakers, including best-selling authors, leading agents and respected publishers to speak at meetings and to mingle with members to answer questions in an informal setting.
Although the group is open to all, it aims to help new writers to gain confidence and learn about their craft and the publishing industry. There will always be visiting professionals to answer questions. Members will be able to take part in smaller groups focusing on different aspects of the industry and will have the chance to read from their work and get feedback from the group. We look forward to the many first-time writers whose book launches we will hold at Blackwell's in the months and years to come!
The first meeting is on
Tuesday 24th January 2012 at 7pm at
Blackwell Bookshop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford. Please do come along and meet your fellow group members and facilitators. We look forward to seeing you!
There will be a small membership fee to be discussed at the initial meeting to cover refreshments and speakers' travel. For further registration information please contact:
stephanie.henry@blackwell.co.uk
Alexander Fiske-Harrison: Into the Arena
Thursday 9th February at 7pm
Alexander Fiske-Harrison has spent a year travelling with bullfighters to watch them work in the bullrings and ranches of Spain. Along the way he has entered the ring and ran with the bulls in Pamplona and trained with world famous matador Eduardo Davila Miura and is on a personal quest to fight a bull in the ring with the aim of winning. In a remarkable and controversial book, Fiske-Harrison follows the tracks of a whole bullfighting year in Spain. He trains and takes part in the sport himself. He gives us memorable portraits of bull-fighters and bulls, of owners, trainers and fans - of a whole country. Fiske-Harrison offers a fully rounded and involving portrait of a sport as played for centuries and of the arguments that dog it today.
Tickets are free and available from Customer Services. Tel: 01865 333623.
James Attlee: Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight
Join us at 7pm on Wednesday 15th February for an evening with James Attlee, discussing his book
Nocturne: A Journey In Search of Moonlight.
For many of us the moon, and the chill light it casts, are things we either ignore or take for granted. It wouldn't enter our heads therefore to set off around the world in search of moonlight. But, as James Attlee's eccentric quest proves, we couldn't be more wrong.
From Normandy to Naples, Wales to Arizona, Las Vegas to Japan, Attlee explores moonlight's many moods and meanings. Taking in the ancient and modern, art and literature, science and music, Nocturne travels far and deep to provide a portrait of an enigmatic light increasingly endangered in our over-illuminated world.
Tickets are £2 available from Customer Services. Tel: 01865 333623.
The Shakespeare Balloon Debate!
Thursday 23rd February at 7pm
Who is the greatest figure of all from the plays of William Shakespeare?
What does 'greatest' mean in this context - the noblest? The most compassionate? The most enduring? The cleverest? The funniest? The character who has the most to teach us? Take part in the discussion at our Shakespeare Balloon Debate on Thursday 23rd February at 7pm, here at Blackwell's Bookshop and have your say!
This event begins with a wine reception at 7pm. The balloon debate commences at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £3 and are available from Customer Services. Tel: 01865 333623.
Creation Theatre return to Blackwell's
Hamlet: 5th - 24th March
The Odyssey: 29th March - 28th April
Following on from the great success of
Doctor Faustus, Creation Theatre have teamed up with an innovative company called The Factory, who are renowned for their unique spirit of spontaneity, playfulness and imagination. They are bringing two productions to Blackwell's in March and April.
From 5th-24th March, you can see their landmark production,
Hamlet; then, from 29th March-28th April, they bring you their brand new play,
The Odyssey.
To book tickets, please call the Creation Box Office on 01865 766266.
The Oxford Literary Festival
Saturday 24th March - Sunday 1st April
Put the dates in your diary - the Oxford Literary Festival takes place from Saturday 24th March to Sunday 1st April. Once again, we will be the official bookseller.
Further details of festival events can be found at:
www.oxfordliteraryfestival.org.
Our Norrington lunchtime events are free to attend - please just come along!
19th January - Will Hutton: Them and Us: Why We Need a Fair Society
Recently available in paperback,
Them and Us by author and journalist Will Hutton, provides an incisive look at how reconstructing a bust financial system cannot be done without a wholescale revision of the wider system and values on which it is based.
26th January - Nigel Warburton
Nigel Warburton has many strings to his bow as a Philosopher; lecturer; and writer on Philosophy, as well as Art and Photography. He is a senior lecturer at the Open University, a regular columnist for 'Prospect' magazine and, along with David Edmonds, he runs the highly popular 'Philosophy Bites' website featuring podcast interviews with Philosophers.
2nd February - Nicholas Perkins & Alison Wiggins: Romance of the Middle Ages
Nicholas Perkins and Alison Wiggins will be discussing their engaging, scholarly, and richly illustrated guide to medieval romance and its continuing influence on literature and art.
Romance of the Middle Ages will have a major exhibition opening on 28th January in the Bodleian Library.
Here at Blackwell's Bookshop, Oxford, we host three Reading Groups. For further details, please e-mail the contact as listed below, or telephone 01865 792792.
The Fiction Reading Group aka "Books on the Broad"
Next meeting: Monday 6th February
Reads: Fiction past and present
Next Books: February: Daughters of Jerusalem by Charlotte Mendelson
March: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.
Further Details: Contact Kate: kathrynwilson.06@googlemail.com
The Non-Fiction Reading Group
Next meeting: Wednesday 1st February at 6.30pm
Reads: Non-Fiction books across every subject
Next Book: 1st February: The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross
29th February: Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke
Further Details: oxford@blackwell.co.uk
Confessions of Book Addicts: The Teenage Fiction Reading Group
Next meeting: Friday 10th February
Reads: A range of teenage fiction
Next Book: The Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey
Further Details: Contact Hannah: hannah.chinnery@blackwell.co.uk
Blackwell's Free Historic Walking Tour
We are again conducting our free internal historic walking tour, showing you our 133-year history inside our shop. You will see Sir Basil Blackwell's office, still in its Edwardian style with stunning views of Oxford University from the window.
Dorothy L. Sayers was once Sir Basil's personal assistant here, amongst the many other famous writers he met here.
Tours last around half an hour and will be conducted on Tuedays,Wednesdays and Fridays, at 11am and 1pm.
Tours will run from Tuesday 31st January until Friday 23rd March 2012.
Please enquire beforehand, as due to unforeseen bookings, the tour may not go ahead on the planned day.
Telephone 01865 333606
Email oxford@blackwell.co.uk
We hope to see you there.
Cambridge
Book Launch: The Bellwether Revivals
Wednesday 8th February, 6.30pmHeffers, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TY
Join us for the launch of benjamin Wood's debut.
Bright, bookish Oscar Lowe has escaped the urban estate where he was raised and made a new life for himself amid the colleges and spires of Cambridge. He has grown to love the quiet routine of his life as a care assistant at a local nursing home, where he has forged a close friendship with the home's most ill-tempered resident, Dr. Paulsen. But when he meets and falls in love with Iris Bellwether, a beautiful and enigmatic medical student at King's College, Oscar is drawn into her world of scholarship and privilege, and soon becomes embroiled in the strange machinations of her brilliant but troubled brother, Eden, who believes he can adapt the theories of a forgotten Baroque composer to heal people with music. Eden's self-belief knows no bounds, and as he draws his sister and closed circle of friends into a series of disturbing experiments to prove himself right, Oscar realises the extent of the danger facing them all...
This is NOT a ticketed event. For more information or to sign up to our events mailing list please contact us on 01223 463200 or email events.tst@heffers.co.uk
Alexander McCall Smith
Tuesday 6th March, 6.30pmHeffers, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TY
Join us for an evening with Alexander McCall Smith, one of the world's most prolific and popular authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has sold over twenty million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty languages and become bestsellers through the world.
Tickets cost £3 and are available from Heffers, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TY Tel: 01223 463200 Email: events.tst@heffers.co.uk
Cambridge Wordfest
12th-15th April 2012www.cambridgewordfest.co.uk
Highlights will include
Ian Rankin,
Alan Hollinghurst,
Alain de Botton as well as a vibrant children's programme, with
Cressida Cowell and many more.
To make sure that you don't miss out, save the dates for the spring festival now: 12th-15th April, with the ADC Box Office opening on Friday 2nd March.
Please visit
www.cambridgewordfest.co.uk for further details.
Children's at Heffers
Heffers have recently opened a brand new Children's department. As well as a host of instore special offers, the department will also be hosting a variety of fun and exciting events over the coming weeks.
For the full schedule of events and special offers, visit our Children's at Heffers page.
STORYTELLING EVERY SATURDAY AT 3pm
Heffers, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TY
Join us for half an hour of fun and enchanting stories every Saturday afternoon. You can also receive a 10% discount off the price off the featured book for that afternoon.
For all other enquiries please contact 01223 568568 or visit us at Heffers, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge CB2 1TY.
Heffers Crime Reading Group, "Crimecrackers"
We meet on the third Wednesday of every month in Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street from 6.00pm until 7.00pm.
If you would like to join our Crimecrackers Reading Group, please contact Richard Reynolds in the Literature Department, Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street: Telephone: 01223 463 223, email: literature@heffers.co.uk
Heffers Fiction Reading Group
The Heffers Fiction Reading Group meets in Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge on the last Tuesday of each month, 6.00pm until 7.00pm. Why not come along and enjoy a complimentary glass of wine and discuss some of the best books in contemporary fiction.
Next books:
1st November -
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, Parts 1 and 2
26th November -
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman, Part 3
20th December -
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse
31st January -
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
28th February -
The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen
27th March -
Spies by Michael Frayn
24th April -
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
To join the reading group, please contact David Robinson on 01223 463 201 or email: general@heffers.co.uk.
Edinburgh
Blackwell's Book Group
Monday 16th January, 6pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Who says reading is a solitary pursuit? Not us! Come and join the Blackwell Book Group for lively, friendly book chatter. No previous experience required! We will meet monthly to discuss a wide range of books\fiction and non-fiction, classic and contemporary, prizewinners and cult heroes\in short, whatever you fancy!
Our current book: The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre
What's the book about?
Tessa Quayle has been horribly murdered on the shores of Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has disappeared. Her husband, Justin, a career diplomat and amateur gardener at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive. His quest takes him to the Foreign Office in London, across Europe and Canada and back to Africa, to the depths of South Sudan, and finally to the very spot where Tessa died. On his way Justin meets terror, violence, laughter, conspiracy and knowledge. But his greatest discovery is the woman he barely had time to love.
Our next book (February): The Group by Mary McCarthy
We offer 10% discount on the current book to Book Group members. So join today!
So join today! Just email your name and address details to
events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk.
James Holmes Dickson: Ancient Ice Mummies
Thursday 19th January at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Ancient human bodies, melted from their glacial time-capsules, present unique sources of highly detailed information of lives spent long ago. In this engaging and fully illustrated new book, one of the world's foremost authorities on glacier mummies explores their curious preservation and unravels the clues they have left for us locked in ice, frozen in time.
One example of particular note has been dubbed by the world's media 'Otzi the Iceman'. Deservedly celebrated from the moment of his incredible discovery, his fame has only increased with the realisation of his murder. Found high in the Alps shot in the back by an arrow, Otzi lived some 5,200 years ago and represents the oldest and coldest of cold cases. The hectic and violent last few days of his life have been revealed by various analyses of his gut contents which can be likened to an encoded diary and a map. Pollen and coarse remains of plants including mosses have been crucial in these respects. DNA analysis has revealed details of his diet. Stable isotopes have indicated two homelands. This is a detective story unparalleled in scientific archaeology. In this engaging and fully illustrated new book, one of the world's foremost authorities on glacier mummies explores their curious preservation and unravels the clues they have left for us locked in ice, frozen in time.
This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell's.
For more information please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or
events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk
Paul Quigley: Shifting Grounds: Nationalism and the American South, 1848-1865
Tuesday 31st January at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
The American Civil War brought with it a crisis of nationalism. IN his new book Shifting Grounds Professor Quigley reinterprets southern conceptions of allegiance, identity, and citizenship within the contexts of antebellum American national identity and the transatlantic "Age of Nationalism."
Paul Quigley has been Lecturer in American History at the University of Edinburgh since 2007, and spent academic year 2009-10 in the United States on a Leverhulme Research Fellowship, researching at archives in Washington, North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky.
This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell's.
For more information please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or
events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk
Coming up in February
Thursday 2nd February, 6.30pm: Stuart MacBride will speak about his new book Birthdays for the Dead. Free but ticketed event.
Monday 6th February, 6pm: Blackwell's Book Quiz,
Thursday 9th February, 6:30pm: Becoming Dickens by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst - tells the story of how an ambitious young Londoner became England's greatest novelist. Free but ticketed event.
Monday 13th February, 6pm: Blackwell's Children's Book Group, book to be confirmed.
Monday 20th February, 6pm: Blackwell's Book Group discusses The Group by Mary McCarthy.
For information about forthcoming events please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or
events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk.
