coddie

  • Renaturing

    Contributor: Author James Canton So, just for a moment, imagine your most idyllic literary festival event… a marque packed full of an intelligent, wise and interested audience, a fellow speaker who fits perfectly, a chair who coordinates the chat with wit and ease. Then throw in a castle as venue, a little over two miles from your home. Perfect. The EA Festival at Hedingham Castle over the weekend of June 14-15th 2025 – run by the amazing Joanne Ooi — was just such a dream for me. I was paired in a talk on ‘Renaturing’ – the title of my new […]

  • Writer In Residence (Jane- no longer tame)

    A blog. Written by customer and friend of Red Lion Books, Jane Herd Jane- no longer tame Writer in Residence- Red Lion Book Shop, Colchester High Street, 5 th to 23rd August 2025 As Jane- no longer tame I am a feminist writer. My nom de plume arose spontaneously at the end of one of a series of poems using the metaphor of birds to explore the need to fly the nest and break from the gilded cage. One of my friends on hearing this title joked when had I ever been tame, I may speak out but I have always […]

  • Hopeful Artwork coming to Red Lion Books

    Written by customer and friend of the shop, Eve Paterson who can be found on Instagram @e.f.paterson Some of the best stories are the ones we write with others. The ones that wrap you up like your favourite jumper. The ones that kindle joy and hope for what might be… Well, the Coat of Hopes is exactly one of those stories that is created in community, sewn with hope, and that you can quite literally wrap around you.   Some of the people who experienced the warmth of the Coat at COP26. The Coat of Hopes began its journey in 2021 […]

  • The Final Curtain, on ‘Wise Children’ by Angela Carter

      https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/_files/ugd/a0b156_c4e0aed82fc84c9483a6ca540dd9695f.pdf This article was written by Louise Prior, Red Lion Books and published in Underdog Lit Mag. Published in UNDERDOG, Literary Magazine, Issue 3, 2025 Louise’s article is Page 12.  The Final Curtain – On Wise Children by Angela Carter

  • The Cocoa Bookclub Reading List

    Hello Lovely Reader! The Cocoa Bookclub established itself in 2023 and has been growing ever since. If you scroll down, you can take a look at the books we have read previously. This list will be updated regularly to feature the most recent book club read. September 2025 – Piranesi August 2025 – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue July 2025 – Butter June 2025 – Intermezzo May 2025 – Spoilt Creatures April 2025 – The Giant Dark March 2025 – I Who Have Never Known Men February 2025 – The Lamb January 2025 – A Winter Book December 2024 – Upon a […]

  • Is Colchester an anomaly in the decline of young readers?

    This article was written by Lily Locke, one of the Newsquest Young Reporters, a scheme that gives 14 to 18-year-old school students a chance to write for a real newspaper. Find out more at the Young Reporter website.   Is Colchester an anomaly in the decline of young readers? A recent Guardian article reported that, in the UK, the number of children from age eight to 18 who read is at an all time low. Since the increased use of mobile devices in our society, fewer young people choose to read over online activities, as it can be perceived as boring […]

  • A year in the life of a customer, book by book

    Some books what I have read in 2024 This year, I saw the phrase “nourishing seepage” in an online book preview – on the first page, in fact. I ordered it (The Girls, by John Bowen) immediately. First published in 1986, you can only get it second hand in the UK, but this “wry, macabre tale of simple country living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple” has just been republished by McNally Editions in America, so hopefully some enterprising indie publisher here will follow suit. It’s gloriously mad, and one of those rare books where a man has written convincing […]

  • Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me

    How We Use Cannibalism as a Metaphor for All-Consuming Love Louise, our youngest member of staff, has recently had her writing published in the Literary Magazine, THE LITERARY UNDERDOG We are very proud of her. As you may ascertain from the title, the subject matter may not be palatable for everyone (see what we did there) but click the link to read her observations on the growing trend for cannibalism being featured in literature.  Scroll down until you see the title Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/news   On this subject, we have an Author Event with Lucy Rose on […]

  • What Am I Doing Here

    What on earth am I doing up here? Autumn 2024 You may not know who I am – I’m a part time Red Lion bookseller. I’m the one who rambles on about children’s books and often recommends contemporary fiction, as well as nature writing, a bit of high fantasy and occasionally, historical fiction. Right now I’m far away from the bookshop. I’m in Fasaig, Torridon – a tiny community on the shores of Loch Torridon in the region of Achnasheen, Wester Ross, North West Highlands. Nearest town, Inverness, just over an hour away. London, another galaxy… Readers, I just wanted to […]

  • Here Comes The Fun

      We were delighted to welcome Ben Aitken to the woods this summer for our Words In The Woods day festival.   Ben is bestselling author of Here Comes The Fun: A Journey into the Serious Business of Having a Laugh (Icon, July 2024). Perhaps you have read The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple (2022), The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders (2020), A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland (2019), or Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island (2015)?  He has also been published in The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The […]