News & What's On
The Wild Readers of Chiswersmith:
Monika Radojevic In Conversation with Shahed Ezaydi
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Join us on Wednesday, 14th October at 7pm to hear award winning author Monika Radojevic in conversation with author and editor Shahed Ezaydi as they discuss Monika’s novel, Strangerland. Both authors will be signing copies of their books afterwards. Tickets are £5 redeemable off the price of Strangerland if purchased on the night. Refreshments are free.
Strangerland - London, 1990. Zivoin is newly arrived in a strange country. The dependable oldest son, he works all hours of the day and night, sending every penny he can save back to his family. On the news, he watches his homeland, Yugoslavia, slowly fracturing. Thousands of miles away, in the tropical heat of Uberlândia, Brazil, Alegria prepares to leave behind the country – and the family – she loves dearly. Bright and ambitious, she strives to give her parents the life they deserve, even if it takes her far from them. A chance meeting in London throws Alegria and Zivoin together – and for a brief moment, they feel at home. But their journey is just beginning, and what follows will draw them irresistibly across countries and continents, leaving them both forever changed.
The powerful, exhilarating debut novel from an award-winning new voice in fiction, Strangerland is a heartfelt testament to the endurance that has come to define a generation of immigrants. It’s also the soaring, emotionally rich story about the power of love to transcend languages, borders and time.
The Othered Woman - Shahed Ezaydi was often asked how she could call herself a feminist and still practise her faith. It’s a question that reveals a deeper issue that Muslim women often face: being ignored in feminist spaces entirely, or cast as passive victims in need of being saved. This mindset fuels gendered Islamophobia and a narrow white feminism. But Muslim women don’t need rescuing.
The Othered Woman is the book Ezaydi wishes her younger self could have turned to. Accessible and compelling, this is urgent reading for anyone who considers themselves a feminist.
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MONICA RADOJEVIC is a Brazilian-Montenegrin writer and poet who was born and raised in London. She spent years working in the feminist and political sector, and her writing is a continuous exploration of power dynamics, inequality and freedom. Monika is the inaugural winner of the #Merky Books New Writers' prize, and writes to make sense of life. She has previously published a volume of poetry, Teeth in the Back of My Neck, and a short story collection, A Beautiful Lack of Consequence. Strangerland is her debut novel.
SHAHED EZAYDI is a writer and editor, specialising in features and reporting on culture, social issues and feminism. She was formerly an editor at Bustle and a staff writer at Stylist Magazine but now freelances for a range of publications, including Glamour, Dazed and Service95. Shahed is also the author of The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women, which is her debut book.
Date: Wednesday, 14th October
Time: 7-8.30pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Tickets: £5.00 in advance only, redeemable off the price of Strangerland. Purchase in-store or on Eventbrite (an additional fee is charged by Eventbrite)
An Evening With Sarah Clegg
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Join us on Monday 19th October for an evening with Sarah Clegg, talking about her new book Perilous Enchantment: The True History of Faeries. Sarah will be signing copies of her book afterwards. Tickets are £5. Refreshments are free.
In Perilous Enchantment, Sarah Clegg tracks the fascinating history of fairies, from the pre-Christian creatures of classical myths to the stories of fairy royalty told in the medieval French courts; from the early modern period in which fairies became bound up with the witch trials to the 16th century when they were imagined as tiny for the first time, the 17th century when they gained their wings and the late Victorian era, which made them sweet, pretty things with pointy ears, right through to their contemporary manifestation in both the sanitised cuteness of girlhood and in the darker realm of fantasy and romantasy.
In pursuit of the fae, in all their darkness and splendour, Clegg visits significant faerie sites across the world, including the Thirteenth Night celebrations of Iceland, where the elf fires are lit; the Eildon Hills in Scotland, in search of a beautiful enchantress; an entrance to fairyland in the Apennine Mountains; a castle and mine in Germany haunted by a once-helpful fairy turned murderous; a magical stone circle in Cornwall with the power to reverse a changing curse; and a fairy ball in Los Angeles.
As Clegg shines fresh light on the real and imagined landscape of fairies, she also illuminates how tales change in the telling, how our folklore evolves in response to culture, religion and politics, and how the stories we share in turn shape the beliefs we hold. The one constant in this story of perpetual transformation is our own willingness to be enchanted by the fae, in all their darkness and splendour.
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SARAH CLEGG is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller, The Dead of Winter. Her first book, Woman's Lore, was shortlisted for the HWA Non-fiction Crown. She has a PhD in ancient history from the University of Cambridge, is a former bookseller and now works in publishing.
Date: Monday, 19th October
Time: 7-8.30pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Tickets: £5.00 in advance only. Purchase in-store or on Eventbrite (an additional fee is charged by Eventbrite)
Adult Creative Writing Group
Join Mariah Mannae for a series of 4 creative writing sessions exploring voice, perfectionism, authenticity and creativity through reflective prompts, writing and artistic conversation.
Designed for adults of all writing backgrounds, this monthly creative writing group is a gentle invitation to return to the page, nurture your imagination, and grow in confidence as a writer.
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MARIAH MANNAE is a writer, producer and director working across film, television and literature. In 2021, she was selected as one of only sixteen writers globally for the prestigious Curtis Brown Creative novel writing programme before receiving the Dennis Diderot Grant and a writing residency at Château d'Orquevaux in France, where she collaborated with international artists across disciplines. She produced the award-winning film Love, Tea & Epiphany and has written and produced for REACH TV, North America’s largest airport television network. Her original short film is currently in pre-production to be directed in Cornwall next year, alongside her work as a director with the British Theatre Academy. Mariah also hosts conversations with emerging writers and artists exploring creativity, voice and the creative process. Her workshops focus on authenticity, storytelling and sustainable creative practice for writers and artists.
Date: Every second Sunday of the month 13th Sept - 13th Dec (4 sessions total)
Time: 5.30-6.30pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Tickets: in advance only, click below for details
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.
October Title:
Endling
by Maria Reva
Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a maverick scientist who scours the country's forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails while her relatives urge her to settle down and start a family of her own. What they don't know: Yeva already dates plenty of men – not for love, but to fund her work. She entertains Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they'll find docile brides untainted by feminism.
Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.
So begins a journey of a lifetime across a country on the brink of war: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species.
Date: Tuesday, 6th October
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.
October Title
Cosmos
by Lucia Odoom
A deeply moving novella that questions what it means to belong to a person, as much as to a place.
It is the height of summer in Copenhagen. Cosmos, a Ghanaian migrant, makes a living as a bottle collector. He spends his nights sleeping under the open sky in city parks, writing WhatsApp messages to his family back in Woe, and his days cycling through the streets with The Crows, his newfound friends.
Everything changes when Cosmos meets Elizabeth, a photographer. They fall in love, the city forming a backdrop to their different worlds – and home takes on a new meaning.
128 pages
Date: Tuesday, 13th October
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Book Group:
Everybody Reads Historical Fiction
This group meets every month to discuss a historical 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.
September Title:
Golden Hill
by Francis Spufford
New York is a small town on the tip of Manhattan Island. The year is 1746.
One rainy evening a charming and handsome young stranger fresh off the boat from England pitches up to a counting house on Golden Hill Street with a suspicious yet compelling proposition – he has an order for a thousand pounds in his pocket that he wishes to cash. But can he be trusted? This is New York in its infancy, a place where a young man with a fast tongue can invent himself afresh, fall in love, and find a world of trouble.
Date: Monday, 28th September
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: From 25th August, at time of book purchase
Book Group: Everybody Reads History
This group meets every other month to discuss a history 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.
September Title:
The Eagle and the Hart
by Helen Castor
Henry had all the qualities Richard lacked, all the qualities a sovereign needed, bar one: birth right. Increasingly threatened by his charismatic cousin, Richard became consumed by the need for total power, in a time of constant conflict, rebellions and reprisals. When he banished Henry into exile, the stage was set for a final confrontation, as the hart became the tyrant and the eagle his usurper.
Helen Castor tells this story of one of the strangest and most fateful relationships in English history. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe. At its heart, it is the story of two men whose lives were played out in extraordinary parallel, to devastating effect.
Date: Monday, 14 September
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.
September Title:
The Anxious Generation
by Jonathan Haidt
Acclaimed psychologist Jonathan Haidt reveals how the decline of free-play in childhood and the rise of smartphone use among adolescents is changing our world.
Date: Tuesday, 15th September
Time: 7 - 8pm
Place: Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE, with purchase of featured title
Register: At time of book purchase
Fairy Fun with John Condon
(for ages 2 and over)
On 19th September, children's author John Condon will be taking over our regular Saturday morning StoryTime! John will be reading his newest picture book, We Are Fairies, and guiding children in a 'fairy fun' arts and crafts activity. As with our regular weekly StoryTime, this session is for children over 2 and free of charge. But...we do recommend that you reserve in advance for this one as we expect it to be popular and space is limited. Just pop in or phone to add your child to the list.
Both We Are Fairies and John's earlier book, We Are Dragons, are illustrated by Patrick Corrigan who has also painted our shop window this month! Both books are £7.99, in paperback, and will be available for purchase the day. John will be very happy to sign your purchases.
We Are Fairies - Join four determined fairies on a hilarious clean-up adventure in their home, where fun turns into chaos at every turn. All these four fairies want to do is leave their attic home and help around the house. But when hoovering goes awry and bubbly baths get a little out of control, it seems they've caused more chaos than clean-up! This rhyming tale is bursting with humour and vibrant illustrations that will delight young readers.
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JOHN CONDON is a multi-award nominated author, whose picture books have received critical acclaim in the UK and abroad. His titles include “The Wondrous Dinosaurium”, (Maverick Arts, 2018), “The Best Bear Tracker”, (Templar, 2022), and “The Pirates Are Coming!” (Nosy Crow, 2020). His writng won The Children’s Jury Award, and he has been translated into thirteen languages.
PATRICK CORRIGAN grew up in a cloudy town in Cheshire where he brightened up his life with various creative endeavours and activities (his favourite was cross stitch!). He studied ceramics at university before training as an art teacher. He then went on to become the art director of a busy design studio in London. In 2018 he made the decision to try his hand as a freelance illustrator and has never looked back.
Date: Saturday 19th Sept
Time: 10.30 - 11(ish)
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: limited places, register in advance to avoid disappointment.
Children's Group: StoryTime!
For children over 2 (and their grown-ups)
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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 and 26th September
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
On Saturday 19th September @ 10.30, our regular StoryTime will be taken over by children's author John Condon. The session is free but preregistration is recommended to avoid disappointment. See above for further information on the event.
Children's Group: BabyTime!
For children under 2 (and their grown-ups)
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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 September
Time: 10.30-11.00am
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: no pre-booking required, just turn up!
Daytime Group for Adults: 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.
Dates: Thursdays, 3rd and 17th September
Time: 11am-12pm
Place: Downstairs at Everybody Reads
Fee: FREE
Register: limited places, register in advance either in-person or by telephone.
Keep Sharing your Book Recommendations
and Win Free Books!
On the last day of every month we draw the winner of our monthly draw to win £20 in free books at Everybody Reads.
Congratulations to our August 2026 winner: Joe!
If £20 in free books sounds good to you, there are two ways to enter the September draw:
1) Become a Wild Reader. If we happen spot you reading in Chiswick or Hammersmith in September, just talk to us about your book! You will not only become one of the 'Wild Readers of Chiswersmith' featured across the top of this page but you will be entered into the prize draw!
2)Review a book for us. Submit a short review of a book you recommend here. If we like your review, and think our customers will enjoy reading the book, we will add it to our shelves and display your review next to it. Anyone who submits a review in September is eligible for the September prize draw.
Good luck!