Newsletter.

Hello,
  here is a copy of our newsletter which we send out each week. I have added some pictures to make it look pretty. Yes, we do a lot don't we?

Hello,

this week's newsletter is a long one, but we thought it would be useful to remind you of some of the regular events we put on as well as letting you know about the special author events too.

There's news of a couple of events we've just confirmed at the end of the newsletter too, as well as news of the Big Green Bookshop Quiz.

Simon's training for the sponsored 120 miles cycle ride is going well and he's taken the stabilisers off his bike. The next step is turning corners.

We really need people to join in with our world record book group to make it a record worth breaking. You can join in as a group, or on your own. All you have to do is read “Where Would I Be, Without You?” by Guillaume Musso. There’s even a Facebook page and a twitter hashtag (#ReadingGroup) to make it easier for you to get involved. Put Saturday July 30th in your diary now.

Hope you're enjoying the sunshine and hope to see you soon.

Coming up over the next fortnight

Tuesday June 28^th 7.00pm-9.00pm

The Alexander Technique Explained.

Have you ever wondered what the Alexander Technique is all about? Yes, me too. Well, to shed some light on this little understood skill Jeremy Cassidy, an Alexander Teacher who works in Tottenham and Highbury, will be giving a practical talk here at the Bookshop at 7pm on Tuesday 28th June. You may have already sat up straight just reading these words.
Refreshments will be available.

Thursday June 30th 7.00pm-9.00pm

Hayley Campbell Takes us on an Autobiographical Tour of Horror Comics

When Hayley Campbell was between the ages of three and thirteen, her Dad (Eddie Campbell) was illustrating a 600 page graphic novel called From Hell, a book about Jack the Ripper and one of the grisliest and most over-theorised spate of serial killings in history. This is a talk about what becomes of a three-year-old whose father goes to the butcher and asks for bits of cow, places them on a hanky and uses them as picture reference for the insides of disembowelled prostitutes: she becomes totally obsessed with death. It’s an autobiographical history of horror comics – her own careening train of enthusiasm and the stuff it collided with on the way. There's stuff you've heard of, stuff you haven't, and stuff she'd be better off keeping to herself.
Hayley writes for the Comics Journal, London’s esteemed Gosh! Comics Blog, and is working on a book about Neil Gaiman.
Tickets are just £3, which will be redeemable on any graphic novel or horror title bought or ordered on the night.
Tickets can be purchased here, or by contacting the shop direct.
This is going to be a brilliant evening and we hope you can make it.

Friday July 1^st  11.00am

Songs and Stories for the under 5’s

Relax for an hour in the shop as we read stories and sings songs. Ideal for the under 5’s. Tea and coffee (and flapjacks) served. FREE, but all contributions very welcome.

Friday July 1^st 8.00pm-10.00pm

Working Title Comedy Club presents The Age of Treason

The Age of Treason's Edinburgh preview show will take place under the auspices of Working Title comedy club at the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green. Three stand up comedians will tell you hair raising stories of love and hate, heart breaks and heart attacks, skinhead weddings, fridge magnets, serial killers, and war and piss in the Middle East. And there'll be uplifting music too. With Liz Hobbs, Boris Witz and MissD. Guest MC: Mark Jeary.pounds.
Bring a bottle of wine or a few cans of beer, it is a bit like a house party. And do buy a book while you are there. So you get to see an Edinburgh Preview, support live comedy in London, support independent bookshops AND have a party. How much more worthy can you get? AND WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE??? And all this for meagre 3 British Ponds. Come!

 Saturday July 2^nd 10.30am-11.30am

Kids Reading Group (Artemis Fowl)

Hurrah! The Children's Reading Group is back. Aimed at kids aged around 8-12 we'll be meeting every month and discussing a different book each time.

The book that we're going to be talking about is Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

Twelve-year-old villain, Artemis Fowl, is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. His bold and daring plan is to hold a leprechaun to ransom. But he's taking on more than he bargained for when he kidnaps Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Unit). For a start, leprechaun technology is more advanced than our own. Add to that the fact that Holly is a true heroine and that her senior officer Commander Root will stop at nothing to get her back and you've got the mother of all sieges brewing!

So, if you've read it and want to talk about it, or if you haven't read it and want to, or if you are just interested in coming along, then we'll be meeting on Saturday July 2nd at 10.30am.

Also, as a bonus to those of you that turn up, one of you will be taking home a very special signed copy of Eoin's book Airman. We have a pre publication proof copy which i'm sure you'll enjoy, so there's another reason to come along.

Biscuits and juice will be available.

Note to parents / guardians. You don't have to stick around during the discussion. You can head off for an hour and leave the kids in the shop with us.

Sunday July 3^rd 1.00pm-4.00pm

Knitting Day at the Bookshop

Join us for our monthly knitting day at the shop. No experience necessary, as there are lots of lovely knitters who are happy to help you. It’s a lovely relaxing way to spend a Sunday, so come along.

Tea coffee and biscuits will be available throughout the day.

Tuesday July 5^th 7.00pm-9.00pm

The Big Green Bookshop Quiz.

The Big Green Bookshop's now legendary quiz nights returns, due to popular demand. The theme of the quiz is mainly book related but we’ve introduced one or two rounds to test out your knowledge of other cultural joys (not the Simpsons again though).
Each team will have a MAXIMUM OF 4 people
It's £5 per team to enter. Payment in advance please.
The Quiz will start at 7.00pm prompt, so please try and get here on time.
You can buy a ticket online http://www.biggreenbookshop.com/quiz/quiz-entry/prod_415.html which will guarantee you a table, or else you can pay over the phone or you can actually come into the bookshop. Yes the bookshop.
Refreshments will be available, but feel free to bring your own as they usually run out pretty quickly
Your question master will be TheManWhoFellAsleep Greg Stekelman. He is very funny. This is his website. http://www.themanwhofellasleep.com/
Look forward to seeing you there.
Please come along. 

Wednesday July 6^th 11.00am

Elevenses Coffee and Cake Book Group

We meet at Café Nero on Wood Green High Road on the first Wednesday of each month. This month’s book choice is A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel.

Please come along if you’re interested in joining the group, even if you don’t have a chance to read the book.

Wednesday July 6^th 7.00pm

Writers Group.

We meet every fortnight at the bookshop. The group shares experiences and offers each other support and advice. The group is for genre fiction writers of all levels and experience. £3 entrance. This is a really useful group and if you’re at all interested it would be well worth coming along

Thursday July 7^th 7.00pm

Graphic Novels and Comics Reading Group

Whether you're a comic book veteran or an eager novice, all are welcome at our new group for comics and graphic novels. We meet on the first Thursday of every month at 7pm. This month we'll be discussing horror as a genre/theme, and Hellblazer: Original Sins is our suggessted reading material. A second reading option is Chew: Taster's Choice. Both these fine books are available at the shop now. FREE.

Friday July 8^th 11.00am

Songs and Stories for the under 5’s

Relax for an hour in the shop as we read stories and sings songs. Ideal for the under 5’s. Tea and coffee (and flapjacks) served. FREE, but all contributions very welcome.

Friday July 8^th 8.00pm

Working Title Comedy Club Edinburgh Preview.

Every Friday throughout July we’ll be hosting comedy at the shop, showcasing some of the best acts that will be performing at this years Edinburgh Festival. More details nearer the time.

Just confirmed

Wednesday July 13^th 7.00pm

Maggie Butt talks about & reads from her new book Ally Pally Prison Camp.

Few people are aware that Alexandra Palace in North London was used as a prison of war camp in the First World War. Although the 3000 men who were interned there were of German nationality, many of them had lived and worked in England for many years and had English wives and children.
Further research from Maggie Butt uncovered letters from these men, as well as photographs of life in the camp and a number of fine paintings by the artist, George Kenner, who was one of the prisoners. Maggie has brought this material together and with a series of her poems based on the Ally Pally Prison Camp, has produced a fascinating and moving record of a piece of little-known history.
The bookshop is delighted to be welcoming Maggie back for her first event to celebrate the launch of the new book, published by Oversteps Press and priced just £10.
This is a FREE event and refreshments will be available.

Thursday July 21^st at 7.00pm

David Pinner author of Ritual, the book that inspired The Wicker Man

Originally published in 1967, Ritual follows the trail of English police officer, David Hanlin, who is requested to investigate the murder of a local child in an enclosed small Cornish village. During the protagonist's short stay, he is slowly subjected to a spectacle of psychological trickery, sexual seduction, ancient religious practices and nightmarish sacrificial rituals.

 Pinner's poetic and hallucinatory sequences were transformed into the rural celluloid folk story for Robin Hardy's 1973 film, The Wicker Man, which has enthralled and inspired generations of British movie patrons and folk-pop enthusiasts throughout the world.

 Original copies of Ritual's short print run have been known to command price tags as high as £600, rendering reading copies, in any form, to be virtually untraceable... until now.

 Finders Keepers Record's debut print run sees Ritual painstakingly reproduced from the author's own personal copy, including its original striking wood-cut cover artwork and a new forward by The Guardian / The Times journalist and pop composer Bob Stanley.

 David has kindly agreed to join us to talk about this and also about his extraordinary career as an actor, author and playwrite. This is a not to be missed opportunity and we hope you'll be able to make it.

The book will be available on the night for £7.99 and David will be happy to sign copies for you.

This is a FREE event, but please get here early as this is likely be a very popular.

The Dunwich Dynamo

Hello.
 It all started during our appeal in March. We had been totally overwhelmed by the wonderful and generous people who wanted to keep the bookshop going, and by the incredible things that people offered to do to help.

 One morning a customer came in and told us that her husband, let's call him Azeem, was doing a cycle ride in July and wanted to donate any money that he made in sponsorship to the Bookshop. This was one of those *gulp* moments for me. One of those *hold it together Simon, don't blub again* moments. I held it together and after saying thank you thank you thank you, said that the least I could do was do the cycle ride with him too. I like a bike ride, me.

 She told me that the ride was known as the Dunwich Dynamo and that Azeem had done it last year and loved it. She then gave me a few more bits of information.

• It's an overnight ride
• It's unsupported (there was no organisation as such)
• Oh, and it's 120 miles.

OK. 120 miles. That's like cycling from London to Bristol. Or like Portsmouth to Coventry. That's quite a long way isn't it?

Here's the Route.



A gentle jaunt overnight from Hackney, through idylic countryside and along uncared for potholed roads, ending on the Suffolk coast in a little place called Dunwich. This is what I can tell you about Dunwich at the moment. Time Team are in Dunwich right now. HP Lovecraft wrote a short story called The Dunwich Horror . It's 120 miles away.

Well, it's happening. It's happening alright. And we're going to do it. And there'll be 4 or 5 of us doing it now. It's happening on July 16/17th and will probably take me until July 18th to finish and July 29th to recover. Just in time for the Reading Group World Record attempt (see previous blogpost).

But we're not going to be raising money for the shop. We're going to be raising money for six local Schools. The budgets for Schools have been cut somewhat recently (some may even go as far as to say they have been slashed), and as such there is less for them to spend on books. We like books and we like kids being able to read books, so any money raised will go towards buying books for the School libraries. It might not be much, but we all hope that whatever we raise helps a little bit.

I'M CYCLING 120 MILES!! IN THE DARK!!

The six Schools are Primary Schools that have supported us or that we know don't have a huge budget for books, and so we hope they will benefit from this. It is very difficult choosing Schools as there are so many that we'd like to help, but it seemed to make sense to choose six.

The six schools are;

• Noel Park Primary School N22
• South Harringay Infant/Junior School N4
• North Harringay Primary School N8
• St Michael's CE Primary School N22
• Broadwater Farm Primary School N17
• Chestnuts Primary School N15

OK, so here's a link that gives you a bit of information about the cycle ride we'll be doing. They make it sound so easy. I shall be tweeting throughout the night, so you can all enjoy the pain I will be suffering. I hope it doesn't rain.

If you want to donate/sponsor us, a special Dunwich Dynamo account has been set up. We wanted to do one of those Just Giving pages, but because Schools aren't charities we couldn't.

120 MILES!!

There's a button on the Top Right of this Blog which will link you to the Donation Account. It is sensibly called 'Dunwich Dynamo'.

Clearly, this is a very local appeal, but even if you don't want to donate, please spread the word. It's really important to us.
Really important.

Thanks.

Reading Group World Record Attempt.

Here's a copy of a Press Release we have sent out to push our World Record Attempt.
If you know anyone who may be interested, please let them know.
Ta.

To celebrate National Reading Group Day, the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green is organising a nationwide attempt to set a World Record for the Largest Reading Group ever. This is being supported by The Independent Booksellers Week and is aimed to raise the profile of Reading Groups and their importance in our communities.

The attempt will take place on Saturday July 30^th and will be made by joining people nationwide using social networking websites Twitter and Facebook, using a website forum and also Skype and video links.

 On the day of the record attempt itself, those wanting to take part will be asked to register online with a central administrator based at the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green. People can register as a group or as individuals. The online discussion will take place from 4.00pm until 8.00pm, and a central forum will be set up on which people can share their views.

 There is a Facebook page, “Reading Group World Record Attempt”, and also a twitter hashtag, #ReadingGroup, which will be linked to the forum. From 6.00pm until 8.00pm all those taking part will be asked to mark the book out of ten. The scores will be kept by the central administrator and at 9.00pm the average score and the number of people who took part will be announced.

 The book that’s been chosen for discussion is Where Would I Be Without You, a romantic thriller by one of France’s bestselling authors Guillaume Musso. The book is widely available in all good bookshops and libraries and the publishers, Gallic Books have kindly agreed to sell it at a special price for this record attempt.

They are also selling the book in packs of 3 and 6 to enable the Reading Groups who are getting involved a chance to get the book at an even better price.

Packs of 6 are just £30. (£5 a copy).

Packs of 3 are just £18. (£6 a copy).

single copies are £7.

Postage and Packing is FREE.

The more people that get involved, the more exciting it will be and we really hope that you want to be a part of this exciting World Record attempt.

For further information please contact Simon, Tim or Mark at the Big Green Bookshop on 020 8881 6767 or you can email at enquiries@biggreenbookshop.com.

You can also visit the website for updates http://www.biggreenbookshop.com/