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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Pickering Book Tree
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250408T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250408T210000
DTSTAMP:20260418T232103
CREATED:20250225T192535Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T193438Z
UID:10000003-1744140600-1744146000@www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk
SUMMARY:Stephen May
DESCRIPTION:Join us in conversation with Stephen May about his fantastic new historical novel\, which explores the unsolved mystery of socialist politician Victor Grayson’s disappearance in 1920. Intriguing\, original and convincing\, Green Ink is a Book to Look Out for in 2025 (The Times).\nWe’re very much looking forward to welcoming Stephen May to talk about his vivid historical novel\, Green Ink. The story explores what could have happened to British socialist politician Victor Grayson\, who vanished in 1920 after threatening to expose a government scandal. \nVictor’s disappearance remains an unsolved mystery to this day\, and this fascinating imagining brings the historical details to life. This is a highly anticipated book which has been highlighted by The Times in their Books to Look Out for in 2025 list. \nBook Blurb\nStephen May has a nose for fascinating historical events — The Times \nThe spry\, sardonic voice of the new historical fiction — Hilary Mantel \nDavid Lloyd George is at Chequers for the weekend with his mistress Frances Stevenson\, fretting about the fact that his involvement in selling public honours is about to be revealed by one Victor Grayson. \nVictor is a bisexual hedonist and former firebrand Socialist MP turned secret service informant. Intent on rebuilding his profile as the leader of the revolutionary Left\, he doesn’t know exactly how much of a hornet’s nest he’s stirred up. Doesn’t know that this is\, in fact\, his last day. \nNo one really knows what happened to Victor Grayson – he vanished one night in late September 1920\, having threatened to reveal all he knew about the prime minister’s involvement in selling honours. Was he murdered by the British government? By enemies in the Socialist movement (who he had betrayed in the war)? Did he fall in the Thames drunk? Did he vanish to save his own life\, and become an antiques dealer in Kent? \nWhatever the truth\, Green Ink imagines what might have been with brio\, humour and humanity; and is a reminder that the past was once as alive as we are today. \nVivid and wholly credible recreation of post-Great War London — Robert Edric \nIntrigue\, betrayal\, redemption — Rachel Seiffert \nAbout the Author\nStephen May is the author of six novels including Life! Death! Prizes! which was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and The Guardian Not The Booker Prize. He has been shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year and is a winner of the Media Wales Reader’s Choice Award. He has also written plays\, as well as for television and film. \nHis seventh novel\, Green Ink\, is published in March 2025. He is also an experienced Creative Writing teacher and the author of Write A Novel and Get It Published.
URL:https://www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/stephen-may/
LOCATION:Pickering Book Tree\, 43a Market Place\, Pickering\, YO18 7AE
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Historical Fiction,In Conversation With,Meet the Author
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250314T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250314T220000
DTSTAMP:20260418T232103
CREATED:20250114T194245Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T193444Z
UID:10000002-1741980600-1741989600@www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk
SUMMARY:Storytelling on Page and in Song
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a unique collaborative event exploring Louise Beech’s novels and Carrie Martin’s music\, with songs inspired by the books! Expect extracts and discussion of page-turning stories with characters who stay with you\, combined with Carrie’s stunning mix of folk\, blues and prog rock influenced music.\n\n \nWe’re thrilled to welcome author Louise Beech (also known as Louise Swanson) and singer-songwriter Carrie Martin to the Book Tree for a unique collaborative event!  \n\n \nThere will be two sets\, each alternating between Louise sharing extracts and talking about seven of her highly acclaimed books\, and Carrie performing her gorgeous original music inspired by each story. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions to both Louise and Carrie about their work. \n\n \nDrinks will be available to purchase at an informal bar before the show and during the interval. The evening will be held in our atmospheric upstairs performance space\, surrounded by the building’s old oak beams. \n\n \nDoors will open from 7pm\, and the event will start at 7.30pm. \n\n \nThis is sure to be a wonderful way to engage with stories told on page and in song. Join us for an immersive experience\, reflecting on the themes and characters as we hear them brought to life through words and music! \n\n \nAbout the Author\nBeautifully written\, intelligent and moving\, this book will stay with you long after you reach the end — Ruth Dugdall\, on How To Be Brave \n\n \nLouise Beech is an exceptional literary talent\, whose debut novel How To Be Brave was a Guardian Readers’ Choice for 2015. The follow-up\, The Mountain in My Shoe was shortlisted for Not the Booker Prize. \n\n \nHer following books Maria in the Moon and The Lion Tamer Who Lost were widely reviewed\, critically acclaimed and number-one bestsellers. Maria in the Moon was described as quirky\, darkly comic and heartfelt by the Sunday Mirror\, while The Lion Tamer Who Lost was shortlisted for the RNA Most Popular Romantic Novel Award and longlisted for the Polari Prize. \n\n \nCall Me Star Girl longlisted for the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and was Best Magazine’s Best Book of the Year 2019; and I Am Dust was a Crime Magazine Monthly Pick. This Is How We Are Human was published in June 2021 and Nothing Else in June 2022. \n\n \nLouise’s short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize\, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose\, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition\, as well as shortlisting for the Bridport Prize twice. \n\n \nShe also writes under the name Louise Swanson\, and her first book in that guise\, End of Story\, was published in March 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton and her second\, Lights Out\, followed in September 2024. \n\n \nFind out more: \n\nRead more about Louise on her website \n\nFollow Louise on Instagram \n\n\nTense and intriguing\, creeping paranoia oozes from every page… Louise Swanson is a talent that shines in the dark — Janice Hallett\, on Lights Out \n\n \nAbout the Singer-Songwriter\nMartin is equally skilled on guitar\, on vocals and as writer. The voice is distinctive — the crystalline purity and range of a Kate Bush\, the depth and delicacy of a Sandy Denny. And the songs to which she applies them stand up with any of her peers. The chord sequence of the title track evokes Joni Micthell’s Hejira album. — Trevor Raggatt\, RnR Magazine. \n\n \nCarrie is an acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter\, whose music spans an eclectic mix of folk\, blues and prog rock influences. She is an incredible songwriter\, vocalist and guitarist. \n \nMentored by instrumental guitarist Gordon Giltrap MBE she has attracted endorsements from Vintage Guitars\, G7th Capos\, Martin Strings\, and is currently an artist for Faith Guitars. \n \nCarrie’s last three albums Seductive Sky\, Entity and Evergreen have included guests Elliott Randall\, Gordon Giltrap\, Oliver Wakeman\, Daniel Cassidy (brother of late Eva Cassidy) ex Bad Company guitarist Dave Colwell\, John Verity (Argent) and Roger Fisher (ex Heart guitarist).\n \nShe has performed in Canada on tour and has represented Vintage Guitars three times at the Namm Show In California. She also guests at various guitar shows around the UK to demo her use of open tunings. \n \nFind out more: \n\nFollow Carrie on Facebook or Instagram \n\nRead more about Carrie on her website \n\nListen to Carrie’s music on Spotify or YouTube \n\n \nIt’s pretty obvious from the moment you hear Carrie Martin sing that she is an outstanding vocalist with passion in each breath. Don’t be too sidetracked by that voice and stage persona and well-crafted songs\, because you might just miss the fact that she is a fine guitar player as well! — Gordon Giltrap\, MBE
URL:https://www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/louise-beech-and-carrie-martin/
LOCATION:Pickering Book Tree\, 43a Market Place\, Pickering\, YO18 7AE
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Folk at the Book Tree,Live Music,Meet the Author
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250220T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250220T210000
DTSTAMP:20260418T232103
CREATED:20250107T165459Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250913T162248Z
UID:10000001-1740079800-1740085200@www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk
SUMMARY:Adelle Stripe
DESCRIPTION:Join us in conversation with Adelle Stripe about her wonderfully evocative and stubbornly funny memoir\, Base Notes: The Scents of a Life.Told through the prism of vintage perfumes\, Base Notes is an unflinching tale of working class womanhood and smalltown life.\n\n \nWe are very excited to welcome Adelle Stripe to Pickering Book Tree this February to chat about her ingenious memoir\, Base Notes. Plotting key episodes in her life against the iconic perfumes we have all known over the years\, Adelle’s book is a relatable coming-of-age story\, an ode to unconventional families and a marvellous description of life lived on the cusp of town and countryside. At times elegiac yet also stubbornly funny\, Base Notes is a fabulous read that will reawaken your own memories and have you reaching for that perfume bottle you kept hold of for all those years.\n \nWear your favourite scent\, bring your own olfactory reminiscences and come along to hear Adelle chat about the writing of this wonderfully evocative book. \n \nBook Blurb\n\n‘Already your future has been planned out. There is not much choice about what to become in the small town where you live . . .’ \n\n\nA bedroom dreamer with a headful of Warhol\, Adelle Stripe’s formative years were ones of daytime drinking and religious fervour\, frustrated mothers and reckless daughters\, desire\, ambition and the pursuit of creativity. Told through a prism of vintage perfumes\, and played out in vivid detail with startling clarity and colour\, Base Notes chronicles an unbridled Northern England of the late 20th century already fading from view.\n \nWith a keen eye for the absurd\, an ear cocked to eavesdropped conversations and a nose that finds perfume wherever it goes\, this tragi-comic tale of working-class womanhood is no clichéd story of redemption or escape\, but instead a bleakly funny yet unflinching memoir of dead-end jobs\, lost weekends\, brief encounters and those wild\, forgotten characters who slip through the cracks. \n \nInfused with acerbic observations and unexpected poignancy\, Base Notes sees Adelle Stripe boldly laying her lived experience on the page\, creating literature from a life less ordinary. \n\n \nAn addictive – frequently devastating – memoir of escape\, immolation and reinvention\, never better than when observing the various traps of working-class womanhood or being labelled ‘a strong northern voice’… told with her now trademark restraint\, humour and empathy. A brilliant and singular book. — Fergal Kinney \n\n \nAbout the Author\n\nAdelle Stripe was born in York\, UK\, in 1976 and lives in Calderdale\, West Yorkshire. \n\n \nHer writing is rooted in the nonfiction novel form and explores working-class culture\, untold histories of Northern England\, popular music\, and smalltown life. \n\n \nAdelle’s debut novel\, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile\, was based on the life and work of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. Described by David Peace as ‘one of the great debut novels of the century\,’ Black Teeth was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize for Literature. It was an Observer book of the year. A new edition is forthcoming on Virago Press. \n\n \nHer second book\, Ten Thousand Apologies: Fat White Family and the Miracle of Failure\, was shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize. Co-written with lead singer Lias Saoudi\, the biography charts the rise\, fall and eventual salvage of one of the UK’s most controversial bands. It was a Rough Trade book of the year and a Sunday Times bestseller. \n\n \nThree of her poetry chapbooks were published by Blackheath Books from 2007-2012. The Humber Star\, a poem based on the experiences of her seafaring ancestors in 19th century Hessle Road\, was performed live at John Grant’s North Atlantic Flux for Hull City of Culture. In 2023\, she recorded a New Postscripts audio essay based on J.B. Priestley’s classic wartime broadcasts as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. \n\n \nAs a journalist\, Adelle has contributed to The Quietus\, Yorkshire Post\, Times Literary Supplement\, Record Collector\, and New Statesman. She has received writing commissions from the British Film Institute\, Manchester Literature Festival\, Leeds West Indian Carnival and many more. \n\n \nAdelle holds a BA\, MA and PhD by Research in Modern British History and Creative Writing. As a lecturer\, she has tutored at York St. John\, Manchester Metropolitan University and Leeds Trinity. She is a Burgess Fellow at the University of Manchester and an editorial board member at British Pop Archive Books. \n\n \nBase Notes: The Scents of a Life\, her forthcoming memoir\, is due for publication by White Rabbit / Orion in February 2025. \n\n \nYou can read more about Adelle’s work on her website\, or follow her on Instagram.
URL:https://www.pickeringbooktree.co.uk/event/adelle-stripe/
LOCATION:Pickering Book Tree\, 43a Market Place\, Pickering\, YO18 7AE
CATEGORIES:In Conversation With,Meet the Author,Memoir,Non Fiction
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