News & What's On
In Conversation:
Hattie Crisell & Nick Newman
We are very excited to present a conversation on the process of writing with Hattie Crisell, author of In Writing : Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation, and Nick Newman, author of The Garden. Please join us at 7pm on Thursday 24th April for an interesting and fun-filled evening.
​
Both authors will be signing copies of their books afterwards.
In Writing
The must-have companion for any writer, based on Hattie Crisell's hit podcast. Hattie Crisell invites some of our most-read authors, poets, journalists and screenwriters to share their secrets, as she asks them: where do ideas come from? What happens when confidence falters or the work fails? And what does writing success look like? The answers are as revelatory and entertaining as they are diverse. With contributions from André Aciman, Jesse Armstrong, Charlie Brooker, Wendy Cope, Cressida Cowell, Elizabeth Day, Kit de Waal, Geoff Dyer, John Lanchester, Emily St John Mandel, Liane Moriarty, David Nicholls, Maggie O'Farrell, Jon Ronson, Michael Rosen, David Sedaris, Curtis Sittenfeld, Brandon Taylor, Barbara Trapido, Meg Wolitzer and many many more.
​
The Garden
In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. For as long as they can remember, Evelyn and Lily have only had each other.
What was before the garden, they have forgotten; what lies beyond it, they do not know. Each day is spent in languid service to their home: tending the bees, planting the crops, and dutifully following the instructions of the almanac written by their mother. So, when a nameless boy is found hiding in the boarded house at the centre of this new Eden, the reality of their existence is irrevocably shattered. Who is he? And where did he come from?
Hattie Crisell is a freelance writer based in London. Her book, In Writing: Conversations on Inspiration, Perspiration and Creative Desperation, was published by Granta Books in November 2024. Since 2019 she has produced and hosted the podcast In Writing with Hattie Crisell, interviewing writers of all kinds in their studies. She is a contributing editor of Grazia magazine and has written for The Times, Bustle, Elle, Vogue, You, The Telegraph, The Evening Standard and The Sunday Times Style, among others.
​
Nick Newman is the author of The Garden. He has also written four critically acclaimed children's books as Nicholas Bowling, and has been shortlisted for the Costa Children's Book Award. He works as a bookseller at Daunt Books.
Date: Thursday, 24th April
Time: 7 pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Price: £5, redeemable off one of the books. Refreshments free.
Tickets: in advance only, available in-store or online through Eventbrite (note: online purchases incur a fee from Eventbrite)
Charity Book Drive for Doorstep Library
Throughout April you will see 15 children’s titles displayed prominently by our till. These are the books charity Doorstep Library most needs and we hope you will consider gifting one to them.
Doorstep Library brings books and reading to children in communities across London. Volunteers visit children at home for weekly reading sessions, widening their access to books and helping spark a love of reading.
You can help us get fun, fresh books into the hands of children who need them.
Please donate a book from Doorstep Library’s wishlist while shopping in April at Everybody Reads. All books donated are 25% off.
​
Daytime Group: Shared Reading
At Shared Reading a short story or poem is read aloud in a group. People can just listen, or join in and talk with others about their responses to the piece. The sessions are led by the lovely Asya, trained by the charity The Reader. This is a great way to enjoy something thought-provoking together with others.
Date: Thursday 24th April
Time: 11am-12pm
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: No pre-booking required, but if you know you are coming let us know as it helps us to anticipate numbers
Book Group: Everybody Reads Fiction
This group meets monthly to discuss a new fiction title in paperback. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
May Title:
The Husbands
by Holly Gramazio
You wait ages for The One . . .then 203 come along at once. One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right. And then another one appears.
Date: Wednesday, 7th May
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group: Everybody Reads Novellas
This group meets monthly to discuss short works of fiction. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
May Title:
Perfection
by Vincenzo Latronico
Millennial expat couple Anna and Tom are living the dream in Berlin, in a bright, affordable, plant-filled apartment. Their life as young digital creatives revolves around slow cooking, Danish furniture, sexual experimentation and the city’s twenty-four-hour party scene – an ideal existence shared by an entire generation and tantalizingly lived out on social media. But beyond the images, dissatisfaction and ennui burgeon.
Feeling increasingly trapped in their picture-perfect life, the couple takes ever more radical steps in the pursuit of an authenticity and a sense of purpose perennially beyond their grasp. ​​
​
120 pages
Date: Tuesday, 13th May
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group: Ideas for Life
This group meets monthly to discuss a non-fiction title. Just buy the book at Everybody Reads (at 10% off) and register for the discussion at time of purchase. Feel free to bring refreshments on the night; we can provide glasses.
May Title:
The Price of Life
by Jenny Kleeman
Kleeman investigates the costs of everything from hiring a hitman to undergoing IVF. Digging into the price tags placed on making, taking or losing a life, she examines what we value and why.
Date: Tuesday, 20th May
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Children's Group: StoryTime!
For children over 2 (and their grown-ups)
.jpeg)
Join us as we read 3 picture books we love. 10% off any of the books we read on the day.
Date: Saturdays, 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th April
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
Children's Group: BabyTime!
For children under 2 (and their grown-ups)
.jpeg)
It's never too early to read to your baby! This group is an opportunity for our youngest readers (and their parents!) to meet, socialise and enjoy age-appropriate board books together. 10% off recommended board books from our BabyTime! basket on the day.
Date: Wednesdays, 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th April
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
Keep Sharing your Book Recommendations
and Win Free Books!
We’ve been enjoying speaking with the ‘Wild Readers of Chiswersmith' (pictured along the top of this page) and sharing their thoughts on what they are reading with you.​
Congratulations to Sylvie, one of our February Wild Readers and the winner of our February Free Book Draw. She won £30 in free books!
​​
In addition to our Wild Reader recommendations, we have had a number of book recommendations submitted to us through our website. Many of these are now on our shelves, displayed with an accompanying customer review.
Thanks so much to everyone who has shared a recommendation with us so far and do, please, continue to do so - you might just be our next winner of £30 in free books! Submit your book recommendations and reviews here.​
​​