Galley Beggars Press & friends. Sunday November 16th.

Sunday November 16th from 4.30pm - 6.30pm

Galley Beggars Press & Friends - Paul Ewen, Jonathan Gibbs, Lee Rourke.

£3 BUY TICKETS HERE.

You know how much we like Galley Beggar’s Press don’t you?

Well this is what I wrote about them last year when I was organising our Literary Festival.

Since I wrote this, A Girl Is a Half Formed Thing has won every book prize going and Galley Beggar’s have continued to publish the most high quality, interesting and diverse books.   

So, we thought to ourselves, why not invite them back to the shop. And the good news is that they agreed.

We have (at least) three brilliant authors appearing on this very special late Sunday afternoon event.

Paul Ewen is author of the so funny it hurts novel Francis Plug; How to Be a Public Author

'A wonderful survey of the strange world of famous authors... Plug's exchanges with dozens of Booker-prizewinning authors are priceless. But the novel (really an ingenious hybrid of fact and surreal fantasy) takes on much extra resonance in the portrayal of Plug himself, an alcoholic chancer with a propensity for whisky-fuelled escapades.' - The Guardian

'Francis Plug is a brilliant, deranged new comic creation by the unknown writer Paul Ewen... Like all great comic creations he inspires deep sympathy, loyalty as well as laughter. As a portrait of literary life, it is as spot-on as George Gissing's New Grub Street... Francis Plug is the funniest book I ve read in years. I haven t laughed so much since Martin Amis's Money. I hope the hugely talented Ewen refuses all author talks, signings and festivals, and still sells half a million copies.' Sunday Times

Jonathan Gibbs has written Randall, a brilliant reimagining of the 90s Brit Art scene.

'Gibbs has produced the sort of novel you pray for as a reviewer... Galley Beggar Press [have] had recent success with A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. Randall, I'd contend, is a better novel.’  Tibor Fischer in The Guardian

'Both absurd and eerily believable... Gibbs's novel is more than mischief: as with all the best lampoons, it dissects things that really matter and have gone awry... The characterisation is disarmingly sympathetic and the prose fluid and inventive, right up to the final, playful revelation.' The Telegraph

Lee Rourke’s latest powerful & dark novel, Vulgar Things was published earlier this year.

'A claustrophobic work that's ripe with alcohol and despair.’ Guardian

‘Sad, lost men looking for maps in the starry Essex sky, small-town strippers, absent mothers, angry brothers, planets photographed on smart phones, cider and a lot of rare steak – Rourke is on his way to becoming the J. G. Ballard of Southend-on-Sea.’ Deborah Levy.

We'll aslo be joined by Sam Jordison, co-owner of Galley Beggars Press.

There'll be readings, chat, fun, and refreshments and if you come along, there'll be an opportunity to get some Christmas Shopping done too as we'll be offering a very special deal to those of you who come along. 

An Illustrated Reading with Matilda Tristram. November 26th

Wednesday November 26th at 7.00pm-8.30pm

An Illustrated Reading with Matilda Tristram

£3. BUY TICKETS HERE

Matilda Tristram was 17 weeks pregnant and looking forward to having her first baby when she discovered she had cancer.

Her touching graphic memoir, Probably Nothing, published by Penguin, starts when Matilda was diagnosed and ends when her chemotherapy finished in October last year. Recording the awkward conversations, the highs and lows of treatment, and the reality of still having to queue too long for croissants, Matilda captures her experiences with style and warmth. Along the way she cherishes the small details of life, and learns not to sweat the big things.

Her beautiful and boisterous son James was born without complications.

Matilda studied animation at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2008. She’s worked as a children's writer, lecturer and filmmaker. She was co-writer on two animated BBC TV shows for CBeebies with Ragdoll Productions, The Adventures of Abney and Teal and Dipdap (so parents have a LOT to thank her for!)

Please join us for this special evening with Matilda when she will read from her wonderful book.

Refreshments will be available.

Tickets are just £3, which is redeemable on the book.

Flat to Rent in Noel Park, Wood Green, N22

When my little boy Ollie was born, my family and I very quickly realised that living in a small but perfectly formed flat with 2 children was a huge struggle. 

So, we looked for something equally cheap and a bit bigger to move into. Sadly, because I co-own the Big Green Bookshop, the mortgage companies were unwilling to offer us a mortgage. Small businesses/big risk etc.So we decided to rent our flat out and to find a place to rent ourselves. Which is how we found Brookmans Park, the place where we opened our new shop, Tuffet's Serendipity eh?Anyway, one of the lovely tenants who is currently at our flat is moving out on November 20th, and I thought it might be a good idea to put something on our blog, in case there were any readers who were looking for a place to move to.
The other tenant, Robin, is a delightful fellow, who often helps us out at the bookshop. He doesn't really want to move out (because it's such a lovely flat, obviously), so we're both hoping to find a better solution 
Below are all the details, and if you do know anyone who may be interested, please get in touch. 
The shop's phone number is 020 8881 6767 and if i'm not there, someone will give you my mobile number. 
Thanks for this.
Simon

Salisbury Rd, Wood Green, London N22

First floor Victorian garden conversion, on quiet residential street, close to tube

My flat

Situated in the leafy and tranquil Noel Park conservation area. Recently redecorated throughout; newly carpeted. To see a floorplan of this property click here

Layout as follows:

Internal staircase from front door to landing and hallway.

Bedroom 1 (14'7 x 10'5 ft) spacious converted living room, unfurnished, with laminate floor. Two large double glazed windows to front aspect. Built-in wooden shelving either side of chimney-piece.

Living Room

Bedroom 2 (10'10 x 9'1 ft) double bedroom, laminate flooring, double-glazed window to rear aspect overlooking gardens.

Kitchen (12 x 9'5 ft at widest): modern, recently fitted kitchen on two sides, with low level units, and oiled hardwood counter-top. Double aspect to side and rear of building, double-glazed. Ceramic tiled floor and splash-back. Stainless-steel gas hob. Full-height fridge/freezer. Washing machine.

Kitchen

Bathroom (6 x 5'8 ft): recently fitted white bathroom suite, comprising bath with showerscreen, wall-mounted electric pump-assisted shower, pedestal basin, and close-coupled low-d flush w.c. Double-glazed. Ceramic tiled mosaic walls; ceramic tiled floor.

Bathroom

Roof terrace with external steps descending to charming (and low maintenance) decked patio-style back garden.

Garden



0.37 miles to Wood Green Piccadilly line Underground Station; close to Wood Green High Road's many shops, cinemas, and Shopping City.

Available unfurnished £437.50 pcm, subject to contract.

To see a street map showing this property's exact location, click here The Map will open in a new window in your browser, so just close it to get back to this page.

Story Cabaret: Story time for grown-ups

Do you want to listen to some lovely stories? (apparently you do)

The voters have spoken, the polls are closed, the results are in.

Story-telling for grown-ups pipped wine-tasting to the post, and so...

Join us on Friday November 14^th at the Big Green Bookshop for the inaugural evening of storytelling for adults.

Enjoy brilliant stories told, sung, read and performed by inspiring storytellers in great company. AND there could be an Open-Mic spot.

Tickets are only £3.00 click here to buy.

And don't forget to bring your own refreshments

Do you have a story to tell at Story Cabaret?

Your stories can be funny or sad, fact or fiction, long or short. They can be told, sung, recited or acted.

We welcome experienced performers and enthusiastic first-timers – everyone with a tale to tell.

If you’d like a slot at Story Cabaret, email enquiries@biggreenbookshop.com with:

·         Your name and experience level (e.g. professional/ enthusiast/ newbie).

·         The title and subject of your story, with a 30 word summary.

We’ll be in touch to let you know if we can include you in this edition of Story Cabaret.

If you want more information on being a performer, or being in the audience just give a call on 020 8881 6767

Exciting isn't it?????

Cake & Bake Show

In the middle of September, we were contacted by the organisers of the Cake and Bake Show, and asked to be the official bookshop at this year's Show in Earls Court. Tim and I had a quick chat and a look at the website and decided it was too good an opportunity to turn down. We had a couple of weeks to pull it all together, because the show was being held from October 3rd-5th.

The more information we got, the more we realised that it was quite a big deal. They were expecting 25,000 visitors and we would be the only bookseller there. We would be looking after all the celeb chef signings and we needed to bring down enough copies to meet the demand.

First things first then. How could we persuade publishers to let us have all this stock? Our credit limit with most of the big publishers just isn't enough to cover the cost of the numbers of books we needed, so Tim and I started asking nicely. Most publishers were great, although we did have to pay a bit of dosh to some of them.

Special thanks goes to Gardners and Bertrams, two big book wholesalers who both did a great job of getting the bulk of the stock to us.

Next. How would we get the books to Earls Court. We don't drive and there were around 100 boxes of books to take to the venue. Step in Marky Market. If you don't know who Marky is, he's a bit of a legend. Twice a week he wakes up at 2am and visits all the London meat markets, buys nothing but the best produce and then delivers this personally throughout London during the day to his customers. read more about him HERE  . Follow him on Twitter if you do that ( @MarkyMarket ).
Mark volunteered to take us down to Earls Court in a Zipvan, so bright and very early for me, I headed to the bookshop last Thursday and Mark, Tim and I filled the poor van to the very brim.

Once at Earls Court we unpacked, I bid Mark adieu and started unpacking the books. I had some help for a few hours, as Katie, my girlfriend came down at about 10am to lend a hand, and by about 5pm things looked lovely.

Mmm, books.

So, the following three days, with help from Carmel and Laura, we sold lots of books, looked after author signings and generally had lots of fun. 

The show was even busier than predicted, but i'm very pleased to say that I think we did a pretty good job. We had the right books, we kept the stall looking good despite being mobbed at times and I think the chefs liked us. 

I also saw this....

 

Well, it seems we did do OK, because yesterday, the organisers from the Cake International Show at Birmingham NEC, asked us to be the official bookshop there.
So in early November we'll be on our travels to the Midlands.

No doubt we'll be asking you for favours to enable us to make this possible, but we're so pleased that it all worked out so well last weekend.