Events at Blackwell's Bookshops
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
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.
Our Shakespearean balloonists are:
- Katherine Duncan-Jones: Mistress Quickly
- Emma Smith: Falstaff
- Simon Palfrey: Macbeth
- Simon Muller: Horatio
- Jonathan Bate: Rosalind
- Tom Bird: Peter Quince
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!
1st March - David Cohen: Freud and Psychology in the 20th Century
Drawing from years of experience and interviews with important figures including B. F. Skinner, RD Laing, and Viktor Frankl, David Cohen will cast light on Freud as seen through the eyes of compatriots and competitors who all felt his influence. Cohen's works include 'Freud on Coke', 'The Escape of Sigmund Freud', and 'Carl Rogers: a Critical Biography'.
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 - Sold Out
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 Quiz
Monday 6th February, 5.45pm for a 6pm start
Caffe Nero, within Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Do you know your Waugh from your Peace, or your Meyer from your Heyer?
Then join us for Blackwell's Bookshops monthly BOOK QUIZ. We will quiz you on anything from Classics to current Bestsellers, Booker Prize winners to Celebrity Biographies.
Teams of up to five people can take part.
It is FREE to enter, but seats are limited so please come early to secure your place. There are no tickets required for this evening of fun!
For further information please contact James Anderson on 0131 622 8201 or james.anderson@blackwell.co.uk
Catriona Child: Trackman
Wednesday 8th February at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Luath Press Ltd and Blackwell's invite you to celebrate the publication of this stunning first novel from new writer Catriona Child.
Can a song change your life?
Can a song bring people, places and moments in time alive again?
Davie was about to leave the MP3 player lying on the pavement when something stopped him. A voice in his head.
You'll regret it if you leave it. You'll only come back for it later.
Catriona Child gained a degree in English from Aberdeen University before completing an MA in creative writing at Lancaster University. She won the Sunday Herald Blog competition and was shortlisted for the National Library of Scotland/The Scotsman Crime short story competition. Catriona has also been published in the magazine Northwords Now and reached the long list for the BBC radio short story broadcast. She has had short stories published in two anthologies of the 5 photo story competition. She now lives and writes in Edinburgh.
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
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst: Becoming Dickens
Thursday 9th February at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Blackwell's is delighted to welcome one of Britain's leading Dickens biographers!
Becoming Dickens tells the story of how an ambitious young Londoner became England's greatest novelist. In following the twists and turns of Charles Dickens's early career, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst examines a remarkable double transformation: in reinventing himself Dickens reinvented the form of the novel.
Douglas-Fairhurst's provocative new biography, focused on the 1830s, portrays a restless and uncertain Dickens who could not decide on the career path he should take and would never feel secure in his considerable achievements.
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is Fellow and Tutor in English, Magdalen College, Oxford. His work includes writing arts features and reviews for the Daily Telegraph, contributing to UK and US radio and television programs, and acting as the historical advisor on recent BBC adaptations of Jane Eyre (2006) and Emma (2009). ?
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
Listen to our Exclusive Interview Podcast with Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, in which he discusses with George Miller (http://www.podularity.com) his inspiration behind the book.
Blackwell's Book Group
Monday 20th February, 5.45pm for a 6pm start
Children's Dept, Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Are you eight to eleven years old, with a love of books and biscuits?
Become a member of our book group to enjoy a friendly hour of fiction, from both classic and contemporary Scottish writing to your own choice of favourite book. Come and discover more books to treasure!
Our current book is Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart
What is the book about?
FERGUS CRANE! YOU ARE IN GREAT DANGER! I AM SENDING HELP. Signed T. C., your long-lost Uncle Theo
Fergus Crane has an almost ordinary life - having lessons taught by rather odd teachers on the school ship Betty Jeanne, helping his mother in the bakery. But then a mysterious flying box appears at the window of his waterfront home - and Fergus is plunged headlong into an exciting adventure! The box is followed by a winged mechanical horse that whisks him off to meet his long-lost uncle and his penguin helpers, Finn, Bill and Jackson. Fergus finds out that his teachers are not quite what they seem - they're actually pirates! Can Fergus and his winged horse save his schoolmates from the far-off Fire Island? And who else will he find there...?
Membership of the book group gives you 10% off every book we read!
To join just email your details to
childrens.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk
Blackwell's Book Group
Monday 20th February, 5.45pm for a 6pm start
Music Dept, 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 Group by Mary McCarthy
What's the book about?
First published in 1963 The Group follows eight graduates from exclusive Vassar College as they find love and heartbreak, forge careers, gossip and party in 1930s Manhattan.
The Group can be seen as the original Sex and the City, and is the first novel to frankly portray women's real lives, exploring subjects such as sex, contraception, motherhood and marriage
Our next book (March): Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
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.
Hazel McHaffie: Saving Sebastian
Tuesday 28th February at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
The much awaited second novel from an ambitious new writer!
Time is running out for four-year-old Sebastian Zair. A rare blood disorder means that a stem-cell transplant is his only hope of surviving past childhood. His mother places her trust in the Pemberton Fertility Centre and a controversial IVF procedure which will allow her to select an embryo that is the same tissue type as Sebastian - to create a saviour sibling. But what she doesn't know is that the sword of Damocles is hanging over the Pemberton. A Nigerian couple, the Opakanjos, have just given birth to twins through IVF, but only one is their biological child. Someone has made a monumental mistake.
With a major enquiry under way and pro-life campaigners on the warpath, both families are faced with agonising personal choices as well as the intrusions of an unscrupulous journalist. Will they break under the strain? Will Sebastian survive?
Hazel McHaffie is a trained nurse and midwife who has carried out extensive research into medical ethics and has lectured around the world. She is widely published in the medical and academic spheres, and her move into fiction is a culmination of her far-reaching medical knowledge and her creative writing talent. Her previous novel, Right to Die, was short-listed for the British Medical Association Book Award.
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
Max Benitz: Six Months without Sundays
Wednesday 29th February at 6.30pm
Blackwell's, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh
Spending Six months with the Scots Guards in Afghanistan.
Max Benitz reports from the frontline of a highly controversial war in a perceptive and revealing account of several months spent in Afghanistan with this world-famous infantry battalion. Training with them and living amongst them as they undertake their tour in Helmand province, Benitz gives a unique insight into the pressures faced by those who risk their lives every second of the day in one of the most dangerous places on earth. Fascinating and illuminating; The Scots Guards in Afghanistan reveals new insights into the war raging in Afghanistan and the men and women who bravely serve there for the British forces.
Max will be speaking about his time in Afghanistan and illustrate his talk with pictures he took during his time with the Scots Guards.
Max Benitz was born in London in 1985. He read Modern History at the University of Edinburgh and South Asian History at the University of Calcutta, from where he traveled home in a Hindustan Ambassador via northern Pakistan/Central Asia and the Caucasus. After graduating in 2008 he took a local media job in Kabul and then worked at the Royal United Services Institute where he focused on the British Army's role in Afghanistan. He is best known for his leading role in Peter Weir?s Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World. Aged 17 he left home and school for the six month shoot outside Tijuana, Mexico. Six Months Without Sundays is his first book.
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 March
Thursday 1st March, 6.30pm: Tessa Ransford, Morelle Smith and Ann Clarke: What's the secret? Poems on travel, people and ideas as a warm up to International Women's Day
Monday 5th March, 6pm: Blackwell's Book Quiz,
Thursday 15th March, 6:30pm: Launch of Doug Johnstone's new novel Hit & Run
Monday 12th March, 6pm: Blackwell's Children's Book Group, book to be confirmed.
Monday 19th March, 6pm: Blackwell's Book Group discusses Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
Tuesday 20th March, 6.30pm: Launch: Stuart McHardy's new book The Pagan Symbols of the Picts
Thursday 22nd March, 6.30pm: History: David Breeze and Rebecca Jones discuss Roman Camps in Scotland
For information about forthcoming events please contact Ann Landmann on 0131 622 8222 or events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk.
Manchester
Forthcoming events to be announced. Please contact Blackwell, The Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9RN for more details.
London
Forthcoming events to be announced. Please contact Blackwell's Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0JG for more details.
Leeds
Forthcoming events to be announced. Please contact Blackwell, 21 Blenheim Terrace, Woodhouse Lane,
Leeds, LS2 9HJ for more details.
Newcastle
Forthcoming events to be announced. Please contact Blackwell University Bookshop, Percy Street, Newcastle for more details.
Sheffield
Forthcoming events to be announced. Please contact Blackwell Bookshop, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, S1 4DT for more details.
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