Village Books

Tuesday 20th October, 10am, virtual event with Andy Griffiths We're delighted to be working with Macmillan Books for a virtual event with Andy Griffiths, author of the forthcoming The 130 Storey Treehouse: Laser Eyes and Annoying Flies! Andy and Terry Denton have added 13 new levels to their ever growing treehouse including a soap bubble blaster, a grabinator (it can grab anything from anywhere at any time), a time-wasting level, a toilet paper factory (because you can never have too much toilet paper?) and an extra-terrestrial observation centre. The 130 Storey Treehouse is a laugh-out-loud story told through a combination of text and cartoon-style illustrations in a shiny 10th book special edition. Andy will be talking about the latest book in the Treehouse Series all the way from Australia and viewers will have a chance to ask Andy their own question about his books. Tickets: ?12.99, includes a copy of The 130 Storey Treehouse (RRP ?12.99) with a signed bookplate Copies will be sent free of charge to UK addresses. Ticket holders will be sent a link to Crowdcast on Monday 19th October To book a ticket please visit www.village-books.co.uk/events

Join Village Books and Alleyn?s School Enterprise for a culinary evening with authors Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley. ?In Falastin, Tara and Sami have picked up the baton where it was left after Jerusalem. Once again, this is a purely delicious affair?Tara and Sami are the best guides I can possibly think of to take you into this world, to learn, like me, to enjoy it and absolutely love it.? Yotam Ottolenghi Falastin is a love letter to Palestine, the land and its people; an evocative collection of over 110 unforgettable recipes and stories from the co-authors of Jerusalem and Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, and Ottolenghi SIMPLE. Travelling through Bethlehem, East Jerusalem, Nablus, Haifa, Akka, Nazareth, Galilee and the West Bank, Sami and Tara invite you to experience and enjoy unparalleled access to Sami?s homeland. So get ready to laden your table with the most delicious of foods ? from abundant salads, soups and wholesome grains to fluffy breads, easy one-pot dishes and perfumed sweet treats. These are stunning Palestinian-inspired dishes that you will want to cook, eat, fall in love with and make your own. Sami and Tara will be in conversation with Guardian Food Journalist and author Felicity Cloake. Sami Tamimi was born and raised in Jerusalem and was immersed in food from childhood. Sami moved to London in 1997. In 2002 he partnered with Noam Bar and Yotam Ottolenghi to set up Ottolenghi in Notting Hill. The company now has two delis and four restaurants, including NOPI and ROVI, all in central London. In his position as the executive head chef, Sami is involved in developing and nurturing young kitchen talents and creating new dishes and innovative menus. Tara Wigley worked in publishing for the best part of a decade before switching to food and writing in 2010. She trained at the Ballymaloe cookery school in Ireland before starting to work with Yotam in 2011. Tara first visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem 20 years ago. During the course of researching and writing Falastin she has returned to the area many times both with and without Sami. Note: Food brand Zaytoun will be running a stall during the event to promote their products including olive oil, dates, za?atar and more. There will be an opportunity to sample and buy their products on the night. Tuesday 24th March, 7.30pm The Lower School Atrium, Alleyn's School, Townley Road, East Dulwich SE22 8SU Tickets ?10/?8 https://mct.alleyns.org.uk/page.aspx?id=273 Copies of Falastin will be on sale on the night for ?20 (RRP ?28)

Village Books are delighted to welcome Elinor Lipman, author of The Inn at Lake Devine, Then She Found Me and The Family Man to Dulwich. The Washington Post described Elinor as ?an enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist? Elinor will be discussing her new book Good Riddance: One woman?s trash becomes another woman?s treasure, with deliriously entertaining results? In a fit of decluttering, Daphne Maritch throws away the heavily annotated high street yearbook she inherited from her mother. But when it?s found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbour turned documentary filmmaker, its mysteries ? not to mention those of her own family ? take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd. Elinor Lipman is the award-winning author of eleven novels, including The View from Penthouse B and The Inn at Lake Devine; one essay collection, I Can?t Complain; and Tweet Land of Liberty. She lives in New York City. Tuesday 17th March, 7.30pm Bell House, 27 College Rd, Dulwich, London, SE21 7BG Tickets ?10 (includes a glass of wine) https://www.trybooking.com/uk/book/event?eid=10478&

If change is the natural order of things, why do many of us feel ill-equipped to deal with it? ?Time and again, I have witnessed the limitless creative ways in which we anaesthetise pain, but trying to avoid unhappiness means it will last longer. Pain is the agent of change: if we build walls around it, it remains untouched and alive inside us, slowly contaminating our other feelings. But if we accept the agent of change, and learn how to adapt, we will have the energy and confidence to take the next step.? Julia Samuel We live in a culture of limitless choice ? and life is now more complex than ever. In This Too Shall Pass, acclaimed psychotherapist Julia Samuel draws on hours of conversations with her patients to show how we can learn to adapt and thrive during our most difficult and transformative experiences. Illuminated by the latest social and psychological research, This Too Shall Pass unflinchingly deals with the hard times in family, love, work, health and identity. These powerful, unforgettable and deeply intimate stories about everyday people will inform our understanding of our own unique response to change and enlighten the way we approach challenges at every stage of life. Julia Samuel MBE is a leading psychotherapist and one of the UK?s leading councillors. Seeing over 20 clients every week, she has worked in private practice and with the NHS for the last thirty years and is Founding Patron of Child Bereavement UK. Julia is the bestselling author of Grief Works. She?s been featured on Desert Island Discs and has been interviewed on National TV. Wednesday 11th March, 7.30pm The Lower School Atrium, Alleyn's School, Townley Road, East Dulwich SE22 8SU Tickets ?10/?8 https://mct.alleyns.org.uk/page.aspx?id=272

We?re always thrilled to find a brilliant new novelist to introduce and we?re delighted to be bringing a huge new talent to Dulwich. Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning poet, playwright and children?s novelist. Her first novel for adults The Mercies is being published by Picador in February. Inspired by the real events of the Vard? storm and the 1620 witch trials, The Mercies is a breath-taking story of love, evil, and obsession, at the ever dark edge of civilisation. On Christmas Eve, 1617, the sea around the remote Norwegian island of Vard? is thrown into a reckless storm. As Maren Magnusdatter watches, forty fishermen, including her father and brother, are lost to the waves, the menfolk of Vard? wiped out in an instant. Now the women must fend, and fish, for themselves. The novel has been widely praised in advance of its publication: ?The Mercies took my breath away. A beautifully rendered portrait of a community, a landscape, a relationship, I read it with equal parts hope and dread. Kiran has masterfully built up an incredible claustrophobic atmosphere, shot through with delicate intimacy. On finishing it I pressed the book to me, hoping to absorb some of her skill.? ? Tracy Chevalier, author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Kiran will be talking about her work and the writing process ? join us for what promises to be a fascinating insight to one of the year?s most talked about novels. Thursday 27th February 2020 7.30pm Bell House, 27 College Road, Dulwich, SE21 7BG Tickets ?10 (to include a glass of wine) https://www.trybooking.com/uk/book/event?eid=10111&

Melissa will be talking about her fabulous new cookbook Eat Green, a flexitarian approach to cooking designed to help you produce delicious meals, with minimum fuss and maximum flavour. The recipes are flexible so you can add meat in or take it out, making the book suitable for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. If you want to eat more healthily with less waste, this is the perfect book to get you started. But don?t just take our word for it: ?A delicious and much needed nudge towards a healthier and more sustainable kitchen? Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ?In this beautiful book, Melissa joyfully guides the reader through the small changes that really can make a big difference. The recipes are bright, unfussy and delicious ? Melissa?s passion is infectious. More than a recipe book, this is a guide for how to shop and eat now!? Skye Gyngell Come and hear how Melissa will help you shop smart, waste less and make a difference. Melissa Hemsley is one-half of the bestselling Hemsley Sisters, the authors of The Art of Eating Well and Good + Simple. She is a Vogue columnist and runs Sustainability Sessions that complement her Eat Think Grow columns for Vogue. Wednesday 12th February 2020 7.30pm Bell House, 27 College Road, Dulwich, SE21 7BG Tickets ?10 (includes a glass of wine) https://www.trybooking.com/uk/book/event?eid=10040&

Village Books and James Allen?s Girls? School are delighted to welcome bestselling author Robin Stevens back to Dulwich! Robin will be talking about her bestselling series Murder Most Unladylike including her new book Top Marks For Murder. Daisy and Hazel are finally back at Deepdean, and the school is preparing for a most exciting event: the fiftieth Anniversary. Plans for a weekend of celebrations are in full swing. But all is not well?Beanie witnesses a shocking incident in the woods close by ? a crime that Daisy and Hazel are sure is linked to the Anniversary. As parents descend upon Deepdean, decades-old grudges, rivalries and secrets begin to surface, and soon Deepdean?s future is at stake. Can the girls solve the case ? and save their home? Robin will also be discussing her World Book Day title The Case of the Drowned Pearl. On holiday at the seaside, the girls discover a body on the beach. They soon realise this is Antonia Braithwaite: a famous swimmer, nicknamed The Pearl, who was due to compete at the Berlin Olympics next month. It appears she has accidentally drowned in the sea ? but it?s odd that this should happen to such a strong swimmer. Even more mysteriously, she smells not of the sea, but of Pears soap. Rushing back to their hotel, Daisy and Hazel discover several suspicious guests who all had reason to murder Antonia . . . Robin Stevens was born in California and grew up in an Oxford college, across the road from the house where Alice in Wonderland lived. When she was twelve, her father handed her a copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and she realised that she wanted to be either Hercule Poirot or Agatha Christie when she grew up. Robin is now a full-time author who lives in Oxford with her husband and her pet bearded dragon, Watson. Sunday 1st March, 3pm VWA, James Allen's Girls' School, 144 East Dulwich Grove, SE22 8TE Tickets ?10/?8 https://www.trybooking.com/uk/book/event?eid=10349&

Monday 11th NOovember, 7.30pm. The Great Hall, Alleyn's School, Townley Road, East Dulwich SE22 8SU Join Village Books and Alleyn?s School Enterprises for an evening with one of Britain?s best loved historians, Dan Cruickshank. Dan will be talking about his new book Cruickshank?s London where he vividly describes some of the historic walks that span North, East, South and West London. As he tours the city, Dan Cruickshank uncovers the forgotten stories that shaped the districts we all thought we knew: from the mysterious Celtic origins of Hampstead Heath, via the West Ham churches inscribed with the occult symbols of the Knights Templar, to the features of Tower Bridge that were included to appease Queen Victoria?s infamous temper. Cruickshank?s London is not just a walking guide: it is a love letter to a city whose history immerses and inspires anyone who passes through. Dan Cruickshank is an architectural historian and television presenter. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group, and on the Architectural Panel of the National Trust. His recent work includes the BBC television programmes Civilisation Under Attack (2015) and At Home with the British (2016), and the books A History of Architecture in 100 Buildings (2015) and Spitalfields (2016). He lives in London. Book & Ticket Offer ?30 (Book RRP ?25) Tickets ?10/8 Tickets via www.village-books.co.uk

Sunday 3rd November, 3pm, VWA Auditorium, James Allen's Girls' School, 144 East Dulwich Grove, SE22 8TE Lindsay McCrae is an award-winning cameraman. His passion for wildlife filming began at the age of fourteen when he wrote to BBC Springwatch and encouraged them to come and film near his home in the Lake District. To his delight, they did! He then took out a loan from his Mother to buy his first camera and secured an internship with the film crew from Springwatch. Since then his career has taken off, culminating in the TV documentary Dynasties about emperor penguins, narrated by Sir David Attenborough and watched by eight million people in November 2018. Lindsay spent an extraordinary year in the Antarctic living alongside the most resilient creatures in nature. He endured unimaginable weather conditions and witnessed behaviour new to science, all the while living isolated on an Antarctic ice shelf for an entire winter that lasts eight months. And finally, how could anyone forget the intervention he and the crew took to save the penguins from death in the storm? My Penguin Year is Lindsay?s story and the culmination of a childhood dream. An event for all the family, Lindsay will be discussing his extraordinary journey and sharing some stories and photographs of his expedition to film the incredible emperor penguins ? from a frost bitten nose to near impossible journeys across a harsh landscape, and being over 15,000 km from home with no way back for a whole year. This event is suitable for the whole family ? budding cameramen and camerawomen welcome! This event is in partnership with James Allen?s Girls? School. Tickets : ?10/?8 Book via wwww.village-books.co.uk

Wednesday 18th September, 7.30pm Lower School, Alleyn?s School, Townley Road, Dulwich, SE22 8SU Tickets ?10/8 from www.village-books.co.uk/events Kick-start the academic year with Joe Norman, author of The Super Tutor, who will be sharing his top tips for educational success Joe Norman has been a tutor for over 15 years. Drawing on his experience, Joe will share his top seven essential lessons including: what and how to read, how to write, how to structure an essay, how to read a poem, how to tell a story, how to avoid common mistakes and much more.The Super Tutor is a book to help build confidence and kick-start the academic year. This event is suitable for secondary school students and grown-ups of all ages!

Thursday 26th September, 7.30pm The Great Hall, Alleyn's School, Townley Road, Dulwich, SE22 8SU Tickets ?10/8 from www.village-books.co.uk/events Tracy Chevalier is the author of ten novels, including At the Edge of the Orchard, Remarkable Creatures and Girl with a Pearl Earring, an international bestseller that has sold over five million copies. Join Village Books and Alleyn?s School Enterprises on Thursday 26th September where Tracy will be talking about her new novel A Single Thread, her first novel set in the UK since Remarkable Creatures. It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fianc? and her brother and regarded by society as a ?surplus woman? unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything. "... Chevalier has such a sure eye for detail, whether she is describing the timeless loveliness of the cathedral or the dismal interior of a 1930s boarding house. Reading this is deeply pleasurable and the ending made me cry." Kate Saunders, The Times

Tuesday 1st October, 7.30pm The MCT at Alleyn's. Alleyn's School, Townley Road, East Dulwich SE22 8SU Tickets ?10/?8 from www.village-books.co.uk/events Join us for an evening of chat and food demonstration with chef and bestselling author Ching-He Huang. Ching will be demonstrating recipes from her new book Wok On: Deliciously Balanced Meals in 30 Minutes or Less. Perfect for saut?ing, braising, frying and steaming, cooking with a wok is a way of life all over Asia. In Wok On, Ching celebrates the huge versatility of this magical 2,000-year-old cooking pot with fast, fresh and fun dishes that are simple enough for every day as well as every cook. Created with nutrition, taste and affordability in mind, the recipes focus on the techniques you may not have considered when using your wok and include everything from dumplings and curries to stir-fries and soups. A stunning and accessible guide, Wok On includes recipes that range from Thai Green Sweet Potato Curry, to Saucy Mushroom and Ginger Tofu, Japanese Rice Omelette, Vegan Pho, Taiwanese Seafood Pancake and Golden Macanese Cod. It will inspire both stir-fry lovers and the novice alike. Ching-He Huang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. An Emmy-nominated TV chef, her culinary ethos is to use fresh, organic, ethically sourced ingredients to create modern dishes that fuse Chinese tradition with innovation. Her TV series include Chinese Food Made Easy, Chinese Food in Minutes, Exploring China and Ching?s Amazing Asia. She is the author of eight cookbooks and appears regularly on TV including ITV?s This Morning and BBC?s Saturday Kitc

Andy Griffiths, author of THE TREEHOUSE books will at Village Books on Wednesday 27th March from 4pm to 5pm. Come along to meet Andy and get your favourite Treehouse books signed! Andy will also be signing copies of his new book The Treehouse Fun Book 3 Venue: Village Books, 1D Calton Avenue, Dulwich, SE21 7DE

"Remember the words of Ivan Rogers the next time you hear some posh boy in a suit telling you ?no deal? wouldn?t hurt at all and might even be a jolly good thing.? J.K. Rowling Ivan Rogers is a former British civil servant, he was Principal Private Secretary to Tony Blair from 2003 to 2006, and served David Cameron as Prime Minister?s Adviser for Europe and Global Issues from 2012 to 2013. From 2013 to 2017, he was the UK?s Permanent Representative to the EU and was the UK?s most senior negotiator with other Member States and the European institutions. Since his resignation in 2017, Rogers has not spoken publicly. Now he shares his experience and knowledge ahead of Britain?s scheduled March 29 exit date from the EU. Two and a half years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, the political debate over Brexit seems as intense and as complicated as ever. Who and what can we trust, and how on earth do we make sense of it all? Ivan Rogers is uniquely placed to tell some home truths about the failure of the British political class and the flaws, dishonesty and confusion inherent in the UK?s approach to Brexit so far. Ivan will be talking about the ideas in his book 9 Lessons in Brexit. This event is for anyone who wants to understand what has been going on and what our post-Brexit outcomes can be, if they are to be based on anything other than wishful thinking. ?Ivan Rogers on blistering form, setting out the unpalatable truths of Brexit that effectively got him sacked as our man in Brussels.? George Parker, Political Editor, The Financial Times DATE: Wednesday 27th March, 7.30pm VENUE: Lower School, Alleyn's School, Townley Road, Dulwich, SE22 8SU TICKETS: ?8/10 TICKET LINK: https://mct.alleyns.org.uk/page.aspx?id=249

Tuesday 26th March, 7.30pm, Bell House 27 College Road SE21 7BG Tickets ?10 (includes a glass of wine) https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/farrow-and-ball-recipes-for-decorating-with-joa-studholme-tickets-55562895115 Joa Studholme has worked for Farrow & Ball for 23 years and creates colour schemes for more than 4,500 rooms per year. In Recipes for Decorating she shares her unrivalled experience by offering a wide range of precise colour ?recipes? for successful decorating schemes, showing exactly which of Farrow & Ball?s internationally renowned paint colours work well together, whatever your decorating style. Joa will be talking about how to select the right range of colours for your home, how colour can create a harmonious room, and how to combine colour with light and space to get the most of out of every area. 'The different choices that people make in their decorating never cease to amaze and delight me. And thank goodness for that ? the world would be a far duller place if we all liked the same things. So in the book we have included sleek, ultra-modern rooms, farmhouse rooms, diminutive and huge rooms ? all very personal in style but all decorated with love? ? Joa Studholme

Date and Time: Tuesday 26th February, 7.30pm Venue: Dulwich College, Dulwich Common, SE21 7LD Join bestselling author Ben Schott as he discusses his new novel based on the work of P G Wodehouse: Jeeves and the King of Clubs. ?Vibrates with the spirit and rhythms of Wodehouse?s heart.? Sunday Times ?A delight to read? Observer Storm clouds loom over Europe. Treason is afoot in the highest social circles. The very security of the nation is in peril. Jeeves, it transpires, has long been an agent of British Intelligence, but now His Majesty's Government must turn to the one man who can help . . . Bertie Wooster. In this magnificent new homage to P. G. Wodehouse, Ben Schott leads Jeeves and Wooster on an uproarious adventure of espionage through the secret corridors of Whitehall, the sunlit lawns of Brinkley Court, and the private clubs of St James's, complete with an unforgettable cast of characters ? old and new. Fully approved by the Wodehouse Estate, Jeeves and the King of Clubs is faithful to the history and personality of Wodehouse?s characters - but casts them in new roles and era, with hilarious results. Ben will be in conversation with Dr Spence, Master of Dulwich College. Ben Schott is a journalist, public speaker and brand strategist. He lives in London and the US. This is his first novel. Schott is the author of Schott?s Original Miscellany. A number one bestseller in the UK, within months and three more Miscellanies followed. P.G. Wodehouse wrote around seventy novels and some three hundred short stories over seventy-three years. Wodehouse spent many happy years at Dulwich College and remained devoted to the College for his entire life. This event is in partnership with Dulwich College Enterprises.

Join Village Books and The Midults for an evening of gin and giggles! Founders Annabel Rivkin and Emilie McMeekan will be discussing their new book I?m Absolutely Fine! A Manual for Imperfect Women. They?ll be offering a wry, heartfelt and edgy look at what it is to be a grown-up woman : with all the anxiety and potential, all the fun and dysfunction woven through every minute of every day. I?m absolutely fine but I slightly need to pee, I followed the road less travelled and now I don?t know where the hell I am, I just ate the fridge, my sock is slipping off inside my shoe, another week has ended without me becoming accidentally rich, my jeans hate me, unexpected object in the bagging area, I?ll have a caf? mocha vodka Valium latte to go please, where?s my phone? My anxieties have anxieties, no? not like that ? here, I?ll do it, do I have to do everything? Annabel and Emilie founded The Midult in 2016. They are journalists, worriers and incredibly good friends. Together they write a Midult column in the Saturday Telegraph Magazine and Annabel has a column in the Evening Standard?s ES Magazine. DATE: Thursday 31st January TIME: 7.30pm LOCATION: Bell House, 27 College Road, SE21 7BG TICKETS: ?10, includes a gin or seedlip cocktail https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gin-giggles-with-the-midults-tickets-53538734797

Join Village Books for an evening of wine tasting with Oz Clarke, one of the world?s leading wine experts. Oz will be talking about his new book Red and White which pops the cork on his life-long love affair with the fruit of the vine. Join him to taste four wines, while he shares anecdotes from his long and varied career, along with insider tips on how you can enjoy wine regardless of your budget. The best loved wine communicator of our time, Oz Clarke is the guest you want at your table, the person to select the wine, and the ideal drinking companion. ?Red & White is very much a return to form. It functions as both a memoir and a guide to Oz's world of wine and, my God, he really can write" Henry Jeffreys, Spectator The evening will include a Q&A and a book signing. This event is in partnership with Dulwich College Wine provided by Dulwich Vintners Tickets ?30 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wine-tasting-with-oz-clarke-tickets-52409270539

?With Donald Trump in the White House, is the American Dream Over?? This was the headline that dispatched travel writer Tim Moore on a 6000-mile transatlantic road trip in a 100-year-old Model T Ford with wooden wheels, from coast to coast across the counties with the highest Trump vote. Armed only with a fan belt made of cotton, wooden wheels and a trunkload of ?wise-ass Limey liberal gumption?, his route takes him exclusively through Donald-voting counties, meeting the everyday folk who voted red, or rather orange, along the way. With his trademark blend of slapstick humour, affable insight and butt-clenching peril, Tim Moore invites us on an unforgettable road trip through Trump?s America. Buckle up! Tim Moore is the author of Gironimo!, French Revolutions, Do Not Pass Go, Spanish Steps, Nul Points, I Believe In Yesterday and more. His writing has appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the Observer, the Sunday Times and Esquire. Date: Thursday 22nd November, 7.30pm Venue: Bell House, 27 College Rd, Dulwich, London SE21 7BG Tickets ?10. Includes a glass of wine https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/another-fine-mess-across-trumpland-in-a-ford-model-t-with-tim-moore-tickets-51759518112?aff=eac2

Susan Calman will be in Dulwich on Thursday 6th September for an hour long event beginning at 7.30pm to celebrate the publication of her new book SUNNY SIDE UP. Susan will discuss how she wants to get the nation to join her in not being negative. To bring back joy, kindness and community, to find that joy in the little things in life and defeat the hate and fear. Susan is a one-woman army of hope and joy, and she?s ready to lead the nation in a different direction. This is her Calmanifesto of Happiness. Comedian and broadcaster Susan Calman danced her way across our screens and into our hearts for 10 weeks on Strictly Come Dancing 2017, but how did this ability to find joy change her life? At this event Susan will share her thoughts and cheer us all up. BOOK TICKETS HERE: http://village-books.co.uk/events/ ?25 (includes a copy of Sunny Side Up), Under 18?s ?10. Susan Calman?s enthusiasm at being on Strictly Come Dancing was an inspiration to all of us. Cheer Up Love, Susan?s first book, had a clear aim: to help people understand depression. Sunny Side Up has a similarly clear path: to persuade people to be kinder to each other and spread more joy. These are extremely difficult and confusing times ? people are cross and shouty. It?s exhausting! But more than anything, people like Susan, people who don?t hate other people, are apologising for the way that they think. Susan wants to make sure that they don?t. That it?s ok to love people, that kindness is something wonderful and brilliant and to bring on the joy. This event is taking place on Thursday 6th September 2018 19.30pm in JAGS Community Hall, 144 East Dulwich Grove London SE22 8TE

Join Village Books for an evening of entertaining discussion about writing with one of the UK?s leading authors. Patrick is the author of bestselling novels including The Whole Day Through, the Richard and Judy bestsellers Notes From An Exhibition and A Perfectly Good Man, the Costa nominated A Place Called Winter and his latest, Take Nothing With You. And he was the author of the BBC drama, Man in an Orange Shirt. Patrick?s sixteenth novel, Take Nothing With You, is a sad-funny comedy of resilience and survival that is sure to appeal to fans of Rough Music as well as to readers newly drawn to his work from watching Man in an Orange Shirt. Patrick will be in conversation with Hannah Beckerman. Hannah is an author and journalist, writing features and book reviews for The Guardian, The Observer and the FT Weekend Magazine. Her new novel, If Only I Could Tell You, will be published next February. BOOK TICKETS HERE: www.village-books.co.uk/events Tickets ?10/?8 & this event is a partnership with Alleyn?s School Enterprises This event is taking place on Wednesday 26th September 2018 7.30pm at Alleyns Lower School, Townley Road, Dulwich SE22 8SU

Come along on Saturday 23rd June when we celebrate Independent Bookshop Week with our fabulous family shopping day. We have 15% off all stock all day, free balloons and treats for children (and dogs!). Our favourite face-painter Marianne will be on hand between 2pm and 5pm, creating works of art to make your child smile.And of course there will be a glass of delicious Prosecco for grown-ups!

The British fascination with heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem ? the battle for the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine in 1944 ? in myths. Antony Beevor, the distinguished military historian, has reconstructed the terrible reality of the fighting. It is a gripping account of an iconic moment in British and European history as well as an analysis of the cost of failure, which included pitiless German reprisals. Join us on Wednesday 21 June to hear Antony Beevor talk about the battle of the bridges at Arnhem. Antony Beevor?s previous bestselling books include Berlin, D-Day, Ardennes 1944 and the multiple prize-winning Stalingrad. BOOK TICKETS HERE: www.village-books.co.uk Tickets are ?10/?8 This event is taking place on Thursday 21st June 7.30pm in the MCT at Alleyns School

Christie Watson worked as a nurse for 20 years. She has now written an extraordinary account of her time on the front line & reveals life at its frailest and most courageous ? and the transformative power of kindness. The Language of Kindness is an astonishing account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness Come along to the event on Tuesday 8th May to hear Christie Watson and Caroline Elton discuss the NHS, share their views of life behind the scenes and what it is like for the teams that look after us in hospitals. BOOK TICKETS HERE: www.village-books.co.uk/events ?10 & includes entry & drinks. This event is taking place at Bell House, 27 College Road, Dulwich SE21 7BG

Join Christie Watson and Caroline Elton as they discuss the NHS, share their views of life behind the scenes and what it is like for the teams that look after us in hospitals. Doctors and nurses are the people we turn to when we fall ill and who look after us. They are the people we trust with our lives, and with the lives of those we love. But what is it like from their side? Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A&E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astonishing account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness. BOOK TICKETS HERE: www.village-books/events ?10 & includes entry & drinks. This event is taking place at Bell House, 27 College Road, Dulwich SE21 7BG Christie?s book has received many fantastic reviews. Just to quote a couple: ?An amazing book ? terrifying at times, but tender and truthful. Let?s be thankful for wonderful nurses ? and writers ? like Christie Watson? JACQUELINE WILSON ?A remarkable book about life and death and so brilliantly written it makes you hold your breath? RUBY WAX