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Queer Histories, Queer Futures

Join us in conversation with two powerhouses in the queer community, Ellen Jones and Elizabeth Lovatt to talk about their books, queer history, identity, community and the future of equality.

21st May

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2026 Events

We're working on it.

Lots of exciting things planned for 2026!

Check out our current events

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Latest Titles

Towering stacks of books for a temperant Saturday morning.
New fiction, non-fiction and enough children's books to keep them busy long enough for a nap.
Kathy Burke out in paperback and in a beautiful indie exclusive edition

It's perfect book-buying weather.
Come down and see us.

#bristolbookstagram
#bristolbookshop
#indiebookshop #booksfortheweekend #bristolbusiness

Towering stacks of books for a temperant Saturday morning.
New fiction, non-fiction and enough children's books to keep them busy long enough for a nap.
Kathy Burke out in paperback and in a beautiful indie exclusive edition

It's perfect book-buying weather.
Come down and see us.

#bristolbookstagram
#bristolbookshop
#indiebookshop #booksfortheweekend #bristolbusiness

What a great evening!
Thanks to @clairellynch and @anthonyshapland for braving the heat and the transport to get to us for a really fascinating event.

We've been championing these two exceptional debuts since they came out and so were thrilled they came together to chat about their books and queer history in fiction.
We cant recommend them enough.

We have a few signed copies of both books in the shop, while stocks last.

Thank you to Andrew Kelly for masterful guidance through a great conversation, and thanks to everyone who, as Claire noted, chose us over a beer garden. We salute you all.

More events to be announced for July - sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear.
Some exciting plans coming to fruition for autumn as well!

#authortalk #authorevent #bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #bristolbookstagrammers

What a great evening!
Thanks to @clairellynch and @anthonyshapland for braving the heat and the transport to get to us for a really fascinating event.

We've been championing these two exceptional debuts since they came out and so were thrilled they came together to chat about their books and queer history in fiction.
We cant recommend them enough.

We have a few signed copies of both books in the shop, while stocks last.

Thank you to Andrew Kelly for masterful guidance through a great conversation, and thanks to everyone who, as Claire noted, chose us over a beer garden. We salute you all.

More events to be announced for July - sign up to our newsletter to be the first to hear.
Some exciting plans coming to fruition for autumn as well!

#authortalk #authorevent #bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #bristolbookstagrammers

🌞Sun's out Books out.

🌞It's warm, it's sunny and it's a long weekend. This means perfect reading conditions.

🌿We have perfect books for reading in the park, your garden or in the house with the curtains closed.

🌍Come and see us at the shop, it's been a big week for newly published books and we have them all (almost).

-------------------------------------------

#bookrecommendations
#indiebookshop #bristol #bs5 #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram

🌞Sun's out Books out.

🌞It's warm, it's sunny and it's a long weekend. This means perfect reading conditions.

🌿We have perfect books for reading in the park, your garden or in the house with the curtains closed.

🌍Come and see us at the shop, it's been a big week for newly published books and we have them all (almost).

-------------------------------------------

#bookrecommendations
#indiebookshop #bristol #bs5 #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram

We're in a whirlwind of great events and are now only just catching up on sharing some pics!

Thank you to @saba_sams for an amazing evening last week, discussing her novel, Gunk. Now out in paperback and a few signed copies left!

Thanks to @ellen__jones and @elizabethlovatt for last night on Queer Histories, Queer Futures. For sharing their stories and thoughts. It was a great evening.

Thanks to everyone who came. Truly lovely audiences.

Next week is Queer History in Fiction with Claire Lynch and Anthony Shapland. Not miss it.

#authortalk #authorevent #bristolevents #bristolbookstagram

We're in a whirlwind of great events and are now only just catching up on sharing some pics!

Thank you to @saba_sams for an amazing evening last week, discussing her novel, Gunk. Now out in paperback and a few signed copies left!

Thanks to @ellen__jones and @elizabethlovatt for last night on Queer Histories, Queer Futures. For sharing their stories and thoughts. It was a great evening.

Thanks to everyone who came. Truly lovely audiences.

Next week is Queer History in Fiction with Claire Lynch and Anthony Shapland. Not miss it.

#authortalk #authorevent #bristolevents #bristolbookstagram

Join us in conversation with Anthony Shapland & Claire Lynch on their novels, A Room Above A Shop and A Family Matters, and how fiction can raise awareness of our LGBTQ+ history.

With Andrew Kelly from Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Thursday 28th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm
Tickets from £7 with a free drink!

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch
WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS GOLD PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
A mother following her heart. A father with the law on his side. A child caught in the middle. 1982 Dawn is a young wife and mother hemmed in by village life.
Then Hazel appears like a torch in the dark. Their attraction is instant and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected. 2022 Maggie has always lived with an absence where her mother should be.
Her father never speaks of her and it feels impossible to ask. Then an official letter arrives with news from the past, and Maggie must face a truth far bigger than just her family’s secret.

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland
When two quiet men form a tentative connection neither knows where it might lead. M has inherited his family's ironmongery business and B is younger by eleven years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side in the shop, they also begin a life together in their one shared room above - the kind of life they never imagined possible and that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.

Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.

#bristolevents #authortalk #bristolbookshop #indiebookshop

Join us in conversation with Anthony Shapland & Claire Lynch on their novels, A Room Above A Shop and A Family Matters, and how fiction can raise awareness of our LGBTQ+ history.

With Andrew Kelly from Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Thursday 28th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm
Tickets from £7 with a free drink!

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch
WINNER OF THE NERO BOOK AWARDS GOLD PRIZE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
A mother following her heart. A father with the law on his side. A child caught in the middle. 1982 Dawn is a young wife and mother hemmed in by village life.
Then Hazel appears like a torch in the dark. Their attraction is instant and suddenly Dawn’s world is more joyful, and more complicated, than she ever expected. 2022 Maggie has always lived with an absence where her mother should be.
Her father never speaks of her and it feels impossible to ask. Then an official letter arrives with news from the past, and Maggie must face a truth far bigger than just her family’s secret.

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland
When two quiet men form a tentative connection neither knows where it might lead. M has inherited his family's ironmongery business and B is younger by eleven years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side in the shop, they also begin a life together in their one shared room above - the kind of life they never imagined possible and that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.

Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.

#bristolevents #authortalk #bristolbookshop #indiebookshop

Join us in conversation with two powerhouses in the queer community, Ellen Jones and Elizabeth Lovatt to talk about their books, queer history, identity, community and the future of equality.

Outrage by Ellen Jones

Complete equality for LGBTQ+ people should be our benchmark. But despite massively increased visibility in mainstream life and culture, the queer community is facing unacceptable levels of prejudice and danger – from the rise in homophobic and transphobic violence to the rollback of hard-fought-for rights across the globe. In this groundbreaking, compelling and immensely readable book, writer and activist Ellen Jones exposes the discrimination queer people continue to face in all areas of life, from marriage to mental health, education to ageing, religion to sport and much more.

Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt

Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line is a remarkable piece of work.' Kerry Hudson, Observer
Elizabeth Lovatt reimagines the women who both called and volunteered for the Lesbian Line in the 1990s while also tracing her own journey from accidentally coming out to disastrous dates to finding her chosen family. With callers and agents alike dealing with first crushes and breakups, sex and marriage, loneliness and illness (or simply the need to know the name of a gay bar on a night out), this is a celebration of the ordinary lives of queer women. Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line is a timely and vital exploration of how lesbian identity continues to remake and redefine itself in the 21st century and where it might lead us in the future.

#bristolevents #bristolbookshop #authortalk

Join us in conversation with two powerhouses in the queer community, Ellen Jones and Elizabeth Lovatt to talk about their books, queer history, identity, community and the future of equality.

Outrage by Ellen Jones

Complete equality for LGBTQ+ people should be our benchmark. But despite massively increased visibility in mainstream life and culture, the queer community is facing unacceptable levels of prejudice and danger – from the rise in homophobic and transphobic violence to the rollback of hard-fought-for rights across the globe. In this groundbreaking, compelling and immensely readable book, writer and activist Ellen Jones exposes the discrimination queer people continue to face in all areas of life, from marriage to mental health, education to ageing, religion to sport and much more.

Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt

Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line is a remarkable piece of work.' Kerry Hudson, Observer
Elizabeth Lovatt reimagines the women who both called and volunteered for the Lesbian Line in the 1990s while also tracing her own journey from accidentally coming out to disastrous dates to finding her chosen family. With callers and agents alike dealing with first crushes and breakups, sex and marriage, loneliness and illness (or simply the need to know the name of a gay bar on a night out), this is a celebration of the ordinary lives of queer women. Thank You for Calling the Lesbian Line is a timely and vital exploration of how lesbian identity continues to remake and redefine itself in the 21st century and where it might lead us in the future.

#bristolevents #bristolbookshop #authortalk

The shop is heaving under the weight of all the signed copies, sprayed edges & exclusive editions.

New books everywhere. Come and see!

#bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #bookshopsoftheworld #booksbooksbooks #newbooks

The shop is heaving under the weight of all the signed copies, sprayed edges & exclusive editions.

New books everywhere. Come and see!

#bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #bookshopsoftheworld #booksbooksbooks #newbooks

📘Sarah's Staff Pick for May is Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi

Paradiso 17 is the story of a man’s endless search for home after he is exiled from Palestine in the Nakba of 1948. It's an intimate tale of family but also educated me about the history of this period and is of course so timely now.

With Sufien's search for home, the novel takes us through the decades and around the globe and has a soft, hypnotic feel.

I read all of the Women's Prize Longlist and this was in my top 2!

#womensprizeforfiction #paradiso17 #bs5 #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #staffpicks

📘Sarah's Staff Pick for May is Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi

Paradiso 17 is the story of a man’s endless search for home after he is exiled from Palestine in the Nakba of 1948. It's an intimate tale of family but also educated me about the history of this period and is of course so timely now.

With Sufien's search for home, the novel takes us through the decades and around the globe and has a soft, hypnotic feel.

I read all of the Women's Prize Longlist and this was in my top 2!

#womensprizeforfiction #paradiso17 #bs5 #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #staffpicks

Introducing one of our new team members: Meet Mal!

Hi, I'm Mal!

As a poet and theatre-maker, I love books that play with expectations, challenge form and transform the ways we see the world. I'm particularly fond of writers who find the sparks of magic (or menace!) in our everyday encounters. My stack includes stories of young women discovering rocky routes to autonomy, spoken word poets who've unlocked the key to making their work sing on the page, short stories that bend reality, and a cook book that'll change how you look at everything in your kitchen.

I look forward to meeting you, and getting to know which little worlds you love and helping you find new ones to delve into.

#staffpicks #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #indiebookshop #bristolbookshop #bookstagramuk #bookshopping #booksbooksbooks

Introducing one of our new team members: Meet Mal!

Hi, I'm Mal!

As a poet and theatre-maker, I love books that play with expectations, challenge form and transform the ways we see the world. I'm particularly fond of writers who find the sparks of magic (or menace!) in our everyday encounters. My stack includes stories of young women discovering rocky routes to autonomy, spoken word poets who've unlocked the key to making their work sing on the page, short stories that bend reality, and a cook book that'll change how you look at everything in your kitchen.

I look forward to meeting you, and getting to know which little worlds you love and helping you find new ones to delve into.

#staffpicks #bookrecommendations #bookrecs #indiebookshop #bristolbookshop #bookstagramuk #bookshopping #booksbooksbooks

The wonderful Sophie Mackintosh!
Long one of our favourite writers, it was such a treat to hear Sophie talk about her new novel Permanence, her inspiration and writing process.
We will await the story of the sad couple in the woods...

Thanks to everyone who came and made the evening as great as always.
Big thank you to @sophmackintosh for spending the evening with us.

Lots of events coming up in May - grab a ticket!

#bristolevents #bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #authortalk #authorevent

The wonderful Sophie Mackintosh!
Long one of our favourite writers, it was such a treat to hear Sophie talk about her new novel Permanence, her inspiration and writing process.
We will await the story of the sad couple in the woods...

Thanks to everyone who came and made the evening as great as always.
Big thank you to @sophmackintosh for spending the evening with us.

Lots of events coming up in May - grab a ticket!

#bristolevents #bristolbookstagram #bristolbookshop #authortalk #authorevent

Bookseller Lucy here, sharing one of my favourite reads from this sunny spring.

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Winner of the 2025 @dylanthomasprize): There are echoes of Miranda July in this compelling, complex dive into the world (and mind) of a nameless Palestinian woman making her way in New York City. The first person narrative weaves a tight and tangled web around the reader, taking you on a journey into the depths of our heroine's compulsions and obsessions at a frenetic, sometimes relentless, pace. I love novels that give you an insight into women's internal worlds, no matter how chaotic - something that this book 100% delivers!

Bookseller Lucy here, sharing one of my favourite reads from this sunny spring.

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher (Winner of the 2025 @dylanthomasprize): There are echoes of Miranda July in this compelling, complex dive into the world (and mind) of a nameless Palestinian woman making her way in New York City. The first person narrative weaves a tight and tangled web around the reader, taking you on a journey into the depths of our heroine's compulsions and obsessions at a frenetic, sometimes relentless, pace. I love novels that give you an insight into women's internal worlds, no matter how chaotic - something that this book 100% delivers!

Happy Earth Day! 🌍🌎🌏

To celebrate, we're highlighting some stellar new nature writing – gardening, tree histories, water and waterways, birding, "a year in the life" stories. Just a few of the many different ways we interact with our planet. What's your favourite?

#earthday #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

Happy Earth Day! 🌍🌎🌏

To celebrate, we're highlighting some stellar new nature writing – gardening, tree histories, water and waterways, birding, "a year in the life" stories. Just a few of the many different ways we interact with our planet. What's your favourite?

#earthday #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

Its Record Store Day so go & support your local independent record shop.

We highly recommend a visit to our neighbours @cherrywavesvinyl!

#recordstoreday #bristolrecordshop #bristolbusiness #shoplocal

Its Record Store Day so go & support your local independent record shop.

We highly recommend a visit to our neighbours @cherrywavesvinyl!

#recordstoreday #bristolrecordshop #bristolbusiness #shoplocal

✨📚 We have lots of special editions and signed copies in the shop atm! There's always something slightly special about a signed copy ✨📚

❤️Perfect for gifts, or for keeping for yourself.

❤️Sarah is particularly absorbed in London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe. She has not spoken to her family for a few days now.

❤️We have 2 Lenas left! They have a cute drawing inside.

✨📚Pop in and discover them while they’re here ✨📚

#independentbookshop #signedbooks #specialeditions #bookstagram #booklover #readmore #bookish #bookshopfinds #giftideas #supportindie #bookcollection #BS5 #indiebookshopsofbristol

✨📚 We have lots of special editions and signed copies in the shop atm! There's always something slightly special about a signed copy ✨📚

❤️Perfect for gifts, or for keeping for yourself.

❤️Sarah is particularly absorbed in London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe. She has not spoken to her family for a few days now.

❤️We have 2 Lenas left! They have a cute drawing inside.

✨📚Pop in and discover them while they’re here ✨📚

#independentbookshop #signedbooks #specialeditions #bookstagram #booklover #readmore #bookish #bookshopfinds #giftideas #supportindie #bookcollection #BS5 #indiebookshopsofbristol

We're hiring!

We're looking for a part-time bookseller to join our small yet mighty team.

The role is 10-15 hours per week across 3 days, including Saturday. We're looking for someone who is passionate about books, reading and can't stop talking about them.

Send a CV and a cover letter including a short one-paragraph review of a book you've read recently to us at hello@thesmallcitybookshop.co.uk, by Friday 24th April.

Interviews will be held at the shop over the week commencing 27th April.
We are a Real Living Wage employer.

#bookshopjobs #bristolbookshop
#bristolbookstagrammers

We're hiring!

We're looking for a part-time bookseller to join our small yet mighty team.

The role is 10-15 hours per week across 3 days, including Saturday. We're looking for someone who is passionate about books, reading and can't stop talking about them.

Send a CV and a cover letter including a short one-paragraph review of a book you've read recently to us at hello@thesmallcitybookshop.co.uk, by Friday 24th April.

Interviews will be held at the shop over the week commencing 27th April.
We are a Real Living Wage employer.

#bookshopjobs #bristolbookshop
#bristolbookstagrammers

We had such a great evening and we were so mesmerised by Brigit that we forgot to take any pictures.

If you were there, you know. If you weren't, you should have been!

Thanks to @brigitannamcneill for sharing her words and wisdom on the natural power of healing - it was a lovely way to spend an evening. We could have listened to her read for hours.

Thanks to everyone who came, as always.
There are loads more exciting events coming up over April and May.

See you there.

#bristolbookstagram
#authortalk
#bristolevents #bristolbookshop

We had such a great evening and we were so mesmerised by Brigit that we forgot to take any pictures.

If you were there, you know. If you weren't, you should have been!

Thanks to @brigitannamcneill for sharing her words and wisdom on the natural power of healing - it was a lovely way to spend an evening. We could have listened to her read for hours.

Thanks to everyone who came, as always.
There are loads more exciting events coming up over April and May.

See you there.

#bristolbookstagram
#authortalk
#bristolevents #bristolbookshop

We've been flooded with exciting new fiction recently! Here's just a taste of the gorgeous new titles we have in stock.

From historical Hungarian epic to queer NYC summer romance to lyrical Scottish fever dream to 1980s Houston and beyond, the whole world awaits in these tomes.

#newfiction #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

We've been flooded with exciting new fiction recently! Here's just a taste of the gorgeous new titles we have in stock.

From historical Hungarian epic to queer NYC summer romance to lyrical Scottish fever dream to 1980s Houston and beyond, the whole world awaits in these tomes.

#newfiction #indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🎉Event Announcement!

Join us in conversation with Isabel Waidner on their latest novel: As If.

We love this novel - come and chat about it with us!

7th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm

Tickets: £7 and include a free drink.
Available online or in the shop.

*As If*
As If follows two characters as they swerve onto the road not taken – a deeply empathetic, tragicomic novel that reckons with the absurdity of modern lives

Two men meet in a flat in London. They are total strangers and yet they look remarkably alike. Lewis is grieving his dead wife; Korine is hiding from his very-much-alive one. Lewis never had children; Korine is an ambivalent parent at best. Lewis is an erstwhile actor, too depressed to attend the big audition that has just fallen into his lap. Korine has tried a dozen dead-end jobs but never pursued his acting dreams.

Two men living mirror image lives. Each seeking a second chance to get things right. Each wanting what the other has.

As If is an existential farce about the road not taken. Surreal and slyly poignant, suffused with ironic melancholia, it is a parable for the twenty-first century everyman: a character trapped in reality’s hall of mirrors, endlessly searching for something to live for.

**Isabel Waidner**
Isabel Waidner is the author of five novels – including Sterling Karat Gold, which won the Goldsmiths Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and Corey Fah Does Social Mobility which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. They teach in the School of the Arts at Queen Mary University of London.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🎉Event Announcement!

Join us in conversation with Isabel Waidner on their latest novel: As If.

We love this novel - come and chat about it with us!

7th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm

Tickets: £7 and include a free drink.
Available online or in the shop.

*As If*
As If follows two characters as they swerve onto the road not taken – a deeply empathetic, tragicomic novel that reckons with the absurdity of modern lives

Two men meet in a flat in London. They are total strangers and yet they look remarkably alike. Lewis is grieving his dead wife; Korine is hiding from his very-much-alive one. Lewis never had children; Korine is an ambivalent parent at best. Lewis is an erstwhile actor, too depressed to attend the big audition that has just fallen into his lap. Korine has tried a dozen dead-end jobs but never pursued his acting dreams.

Two men living mirror image lives. Each seeking a second chance to get things right. Each wanting what the other has.

As If is an existential farce about the road not taken. Surreal and slyly poignant, suffused with ironic melancholia, it is a parable for the twenty-first century everyman: a character trapped in reality’s hall of mirrors, endlessly searching for something to live for.

**Isabel Waidner**
Isabel Waidner is the author of five novels – including Sterling Karat Gold, which won the Goldsmiths Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and Corey Fah Does Social Mobility which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. They teach in the School of the Arts at Queen Mary University of London.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

It's Saturday and our last day open across the weekend. It's time to start stockpiling books.

#bristolbookshop #booksfortheweekend #bristolbookstammers #bookstagramuk #shoplocal

It's Saturday and our last day open across the weekend. It's time to start stockpiling books.

#bristolbookshop #booksfortheweekend #bristolbookstammers #bookstagramuk #shoplocal

Our event calendar is full to bursting with some incredible events over April and May.

Get yourself a ticket to one or many.
Tickets to all events are £7, and include a free drink and a great evening.

Tickets available for all events on our website or in the shop.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

Our event calendar is full to bursting with some incredible events over April and May.

Get yourself a ticket to one or many.
Tickets to all events are £7, and include a free drink and a great evening.

Tickets available for all events on our website or in the shop.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🐣 It’s almost the Bank Holiday weekend

🐣 Does everyone have their reading sorted?

🐣 We’re open as usual Friday and Saturday. Closed on Sunday for reading egg eating reasons.

🐣🐣🐣Have a good one! 🐣🐣🐣

#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🐣 It’s almost the Bank Holiday weekend

🐣 Does everyone have their reading sorted?

🐣 We’re open as usual Friday and Saturday. Closed on Sunday for reading egg eating reasons.

🐣🐣🐣Have a good one! 🐣🐣🐣

#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🎉Event Announcement.

May is jam-packed with great events and here comes another absolute banger.

Join us with Saba Sams - one of our favourite contemporary writers - for the Bristol launch of Gunk in paperback.

14th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm

Tickets are £7, including a free drink.
What better way to spend a Thursday evening?

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2026

Selected as a Book of the Summer 2025 by the Guardian, The Times, Sunday Times, independent.co.uk, Vogue and Marie Claire.

Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at Gunk, the grotty student nightclub he owns in central Brighton. She spends her nights serving shots and watching, from behind the bar, as Leon flirts with students on the dancefloor. But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar – and her arrival jolts Jules awake for the first time in years.

When Nim discovers she’s pregnant, Jules agrees to help. As the months pass, and the relationship between the two women grows increasingly intimate and perplexing, it emerges that Nim has her own unexpected gifts to give. Now, alone in her small flat, Jules is holding a baby, just twenty-four hours old, who still smells of Nim.

But no one knows where Nim is, or if she’s coming back. What could the future – for Jules, Nim, and this unnamed baby – possibly look like?

Raw, exhilarating, tender and wise, Gunk is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control – and family in all its forms.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🎉Event Announcement.

May is jam-packed with great events and here comes another absolute banger.

Join us with Saba Sams - one of our favourite contemporary writers - for the Bristol launch of Gunk in paperback.

14th May
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm

Tickets are £7, including a free drink.
What better way to spend a Thursday evening?

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2026

Selected as a Book of the Summer 2025 by the Guardian, The Times, Sunday Times, independent.co.uk, Vogue and Marie Claire.

Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at Gunk, the grotty student nightclub he owns in central Brighton. She spends her nights serving shots and watching, from behind the bar, as Leon flirts with students on the dancefloor. But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar – and her arrival jolts Jules awake for the first time in years.

When Nim discovers she’s pregnant, Jules agrees to help. As the months pass, and the relationship between the two women grows increasingly intimate and perplexing, it emerges that Nim has her own unexpected gifts to give. Now, alone in her small flat, Jules is holding a baby, just twenty-four hours old, who still smells of Nim.

But no one knows where Nim is, or if she’s coming back. What could the future – for Jules, Nim, and this unnamed baby – possibly look like?

Raw, exhilarating, tender and wise, Gunk is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control – and family in all its forms.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

Sunshine, Saturday, stacks of new books.

Prize-nominees, nature, politics, interesting lives, folklore, literary fiction, thrillers, prose-poems, a first edition, film / TV adaptations, queer history, immersive fantasy, just-out hardbacks, fungi board books, funny picture books, more Jamie Smart, bestsellers and our diehard recommendations.
We promise there is something for everyone.

#booksfortheweekend #booksaremybag #bookshopsoftheworld #booksbooksbooks #bristolbookstagrammers

Sunshine, Saturday, stacks of new books.

Prize-nominees, nature, politics, interesting lives, folklore, literary fiction, thrillers, prose-poems, a first edition, film / TV adaptations, queer history, immersive fantasy, just-out hardbacks, fungi board books, funny picture books, more Jamie Smart, bestsellers and our diehard recommendations.
We promise there is something for everyone.

#booksfortheweekend #booksaremybag #bookshopsoftheworld #booksbooksbooks #bristolbookstagrammers

Our Tuesday Book Club has read some bangers in the past few months! While never fully unanimous, the majority of the group has loved these titles:

- Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj
A mosaic novel following members of a Christian Palestinian community in the United States. Despite heavy themes and characters experiencing some of life's most difficult moments, there is a lightness that buoys you on.

- A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
Gorgeous landscape descriptions juxtaposed with the practicalities of three people overwintering in a tiny hut in the polar north. A classic memoir about the year the author spent on Svalbard with her husband, who was living there as a trapper.

- Accidental Darlings by Crystal Jeans
A mystery underpins this historical fiction about a young orphan who goes to live with her eccentric aunt at her small country manor. Gothic vibes, lovable characters, and queer themes throughout make for a very fun read.

- Hum by Helen Phillips
Speculative fiction set in a city full of super-intelligent robots, constant surveillance, and rampant device addiction. A mother provides a nature retreat for her family, but things go terribly wrong.

- Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
Inspired by Book 7 of the Aeneid, this is a feminist telling of young Lavinia, who is determined to follow her prophesied destiny to marry a Trojan hero. The poet as the prophet is a clever device that gives this myth a modern self-awareness.

#bookrecommendations #bookrecs #bristolbookclub #bristolbookshop #bs5 #bookshop #indiebookshop #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagramuk #shoplocal

Our Tuesday Book Club has read some bangers in the past few months! While never fully unanimous, the majority of the group has loved these titles:

- Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj
A mosaic novel following members of a Christian Palestinian community in the United States. Despite heavy themes and characters experiencing some of life's most difficult moments, there is a lightness that buoys you on.

- A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
Gorgeous landscape descriptions juxtaposed with the practicalities of three people overwintering in a tiny hut in the polar north. A classic memoir about the year the author spent on Svalbard with her husband, who was living there as a trapper.

- Accidental Darlings by Crystal Jeans
A mystery underpins this historical fiction about a young orphan who goes to live with her eccentric aunt at her small country manor. Gothic vibes, lovable characters, and queer themes throughout make for a very fun read.

- Hum by Helen Phillips
Speculative fiction set in a city full of super-intelligent robots, constant surveillance, and rampant device addiction. A mother provides a nature retreat for her family, but things go terribly wrong.

- Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
Inspired by Book 7 of the Aeneid, this is a feminist telling of young Lavinia, who is determined to follow her prophesied destiny to marry a Trojan hero. The poet as the prophet is a clever device that gives this myth a modern self-awareness.

#bookrecommendations #bookrecs #bristolbookclub #bristolbookshop #bs5 #bookshop #indiebookshop #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagramuk #shoplocal

🌟 Spring things in the shop 🌟

All the classic signs of Spring on the way to the shop today: daffodils, sun, iced coffees, a man with no top on.

Come and say hello and enjoy the shop in the sun!

#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshopinthesun #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

🌟 Spring things in the shop 🌟

All the classic signs of Spring on the way to the shop today: daffodils, sun, iced coffees, a man with no top on.

Come and say hello and enjoy the shop in the sun!

#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshopinthesun #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

What a great evening with @gillianebest for the launch of her new book, Chronic: Understanding Pain.

A fascinating and hopeful conversation into the research, the hope for a solution and the joy a network of support can bring - thanks to Gillian for her time, wit and enthusiasm!

Thanks to everyone who came.
I reiterate there will be no podcast but we're interested in merch...

Lots more great events coming up over April and May. See you there.

#bristolbookshop #indiebookshop #bookshop #nonfiction #bookshopevents

What a great evening with @gillianebest for the launch of her new book, Chronic: Understanding Pain.

A fascinating and hopeful conversation into the research, the hope for a solution and the joy a network of support can bring - thanks to Gillian for her time, wit and enthusiasm!

Thanks to everyone who came.
I reiterate there will be no podcast but we're interested in merch...

Lots more great events coming up over April and May. See you there.

#bristolbookshop #indiebookshop #bookshop #nonfiction #bookshopevents

The first day of Spring is accompanied by stacks of great new paperback fiction.

Light enough to carry with you on spring adventures, read in the park and fall asleep under.

Onyx Storm is now out in paperback and don’t miss the feminist retelling of Moby Dick - Call Me Ishmaelle, or That Dark Spring for page-turning true crime.

Happy reading. 🌞

#springbook #spring #springbooks #springreading #bookrecs

The first day of Spring is accompanied by stacks of great new paperback fiction.

Light enough to carry with you on spring adventures, read in the park and fall asleep under.

Onyx Storm is now out in paperback and don’t miss the feminist retelling of Moby Dick - Call Me Ishmaelle, or That Dark Spring for page-turning true crime.

Happy reading. 🌞

#springbook #spring #springbooks #springreading #bookrecs

📣Event Announcement

We're very excited to welcome Sophie Mackintosh - one of our favourite authors is back with her new novel, Permanence.

Booker Prize-nominated author of The Water Cure and Cursed Break.

Thursday 23rd April.
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm
Tickets £7 with a free drink.

*Permanence*
An intoxicating modern love story. Permanence is a thrillingly erotic and sharply relatable portrait of longing and obsession, intimacy and betrayal, possession and dispossession.

This is the story of an affair. Clara and Francis are in love, but nobody knows it. For months they have been slipping away from their respective lives, sharing stolen afternoons in hotel rooms, their time together painfully sweet and all too short.

Until one day they wake up in a bedroom neither of them recognises with no memory of how they got there. They find themselves in a strange and unfamiliar city: a place where adulterers can live openly as couples, without fear of consequence, putting the theory of their love into practice. Here the sky is painted over the old town square in changeless, cloudless blue.

Ripe fruits wait on the table each morning and the sunset comes down in a blaze of pink each night. And contact with the real world is impossible. As long as Clara and Francis are here, they only have each other.

How do you know when you’ve found true love? How much would you sacrifice to keep hold of it? And how long can you stay in paradise before the cracks start to show?

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

📣Event Announcement

We're very excited to welcome Sophie Mackintosh - one of our favourite authors is back with her new novel, Permanence.

Booker Prize-nominated author of The Water Cure and Cursed Break.

Thursday 23rd April.
Doors: 6.45pm
Start: 7pm
Tickets £7 with a free drink.

*Permanence*
An intoxicating modern love story. Permanence is a thrillingly erotic and sharply relatable portrait of longing and obsession, intimacy and betrayal, possession and dispossession.

This is the story of an affair. Clara and Francis are in love, but nobody knows it. For months they have been slipping away from their respective lives, sharing stolen afternoons in hotel rooms, their time together painfully sweet and all too short.

Until one day they wake up in a bedroom neither of them recognises with no memory of how they got there. They find themselves in a strange and unfamiliar city: a place where adulterers can live openly as couples, without fear of consequence, putting the theory of their love into practice. Here the sky is painted over the old town square in changeless, cloudless blue.

Ripe fruits wait on the table each morning and the sunset comes down in a blaze of pink each night. And contact with the real world is impossible. As long as Clara and Francis are here, they only have each other.

How do you know when you’ve found true love? How much would you sacrifice to keep hold of it? And how long can you stay in paradise before the cracks start to show?

#bookshopevents #authortalk #stories #storytelling #bristolevents #bristolstorytelling
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

It's #neurodiversitycelebrationweek so here's a selection of favourites old and new for folks of all ages!

Cloud Boy by Gregg Stobbs
Gina Kaminsky Saves the Wolf by Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin
Wonderfully Wired Brains by Louise Gooding
Being Autistic by Niamh Garvey
ADHD is Our Superpower by Soli Lazarus
Rebel Girls Celebrate Neurodiversity
Is It My ADHD? by Grace Timothy
Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs by Jordan Stephens
The Lost Girls of Autism by Gina Rippon
Untypical by Pete Wharmby
The Pattern Seekers by Simon Baron-Cohen

#neurodiversityweek #independentbookshop #indiebookshop #bristolbookshop #bs5 #shopindependent

It's #neurodiversitycelebrationweek so here's a selection of favourites old and new for folks of all ages!

Cloud Boy by Gregg Stobbs
Gina Kaminsky Saves the Wolf by Craig Barr-Green and Francis Martin
Wonderfully Wired Brains by Louise Gooding
Being Autistic by Niamh Garvey
ADHD is Our Superpower by Soli Lazarus
Rebel Girls Celebrate Neurodiversity
Is It My ADHD? by Grace Timothy
Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs by Jordan Stephens
The Lost Girls of Autism by Gina Rippon
Untypical by Pete Wharmby
The Pattern Seekers by Simon Baron-Cohen

#neurodiversityweek #independentbookshop #indiebookshop #bristolbookshop #bs5 #shopindependent

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Brigit McNeill on her book, The Wild Within: What Plants Taught Me about Life, Recovery and Renewal.

9th April
Doors open : 6.45pm
Start : 7pm.

Tickets are £7 with a free drink. Available in the shop or on our website.

In a series of viscerally alive chapters, exploring the wildlife, folklore and medicinal properties of common wild flowers and trees, Brigit Anna McNeill tells her own story of recovery and rewilding.

Herbalist, trained therapist, and popular Instagram and Substack writer McNeill explains how the natural cycle of dispersal, growth and bloom can inspire our recovery from trauma, stress and illness. By weaving together both the beauty and psychology of reciprocity and non-human connection, she deepens our interaction with the wildness to be found both in the city and the woodlands beyond.

The Wild Within illuminates a botanical path of self-care.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brigit Anna McNeill is an eco-psychotherapist and herbalist, and the author of Bloom & Thrive: Essential Healing Herbs and Flowers. She has 70,000 followers on Instagram, 75,000 followers on Facebook and a popular Substack newsletter Into The Woods. She lives in Dartington, Devon.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #naturebooks #bristolevents
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

Join us for a fascinating conversation with Brigit McNeill on her book, The Wild Within: What Plants Taught Me about Life, Recovery and Renewal.

9th April
Doors open : 6.45pm
Start : 7pm.

Tickets are £7 with a free drink. Available in the shop or on our website.

In a series of viscerally alive chapters, exploring the wildlife, folklore and medicinal properties of common wild flowers and trees, Brigit Anna McNeill tells her own story of recovery and rewilding.

Herbalist, trained therapist, and popular Instagram and Substack writer McNeill explains how the natural cycle of dispersal, growth and bloom can inspire our recovery from trauma, stress and illness. By weaving together both the beauty and psychology of reciprocity and non-human connection, she deepens our interaction with the wildness to be found both in the city and the woodlands beyond.

The Wild Within illuminates a botanical path of self-care.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brigit Anna McNeill is an eco-psychotherapist and herbalist, and the author of Bloom & Thrive: Essential Healing Herbs and Flowers. She has 70,000 followers on Instagram, 75,000 followers on Facebook and a popular Substack newsletter Into The Woods. She lives in Dartington, Devon.

#bookshopevents #authortalk #naturebooks #bristolevents
#indiebookshop #bristol #bristolbookshop #bookshop #bookstagramuk #bristolbookstagrammers #bookstagram #bookshopsofinstagram #bs5

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