Event Musings

  • Previous events

    Previous Events At Red Lion Books We have had thousands of events over the years. Book clubs, craft clubs, writing clubs, poetry clubs and author events -including the late and great Terry Pratchett but it’s only in recent years that we have had a digital record. We hosted 96 book clubs last year alone. Here are some of the Author events we’ve hosted from the past year. These events are no longer available to book

  • Death Club

    A press article in the Metro Newspaper featured our Death Club. Read more HERE

  • Dave Rowntree from Blur visits the book club he knew as a child

    Click here for Ben Howard article

  • Wild Essex Imaginarium

    Wild Essex Imaginarium University of Essex – 27 September 2025 This event will appeal to academics, art practitioners, heritage workers, activists and policy makers. The Wild Essex Imaginarium aims to re-engage/re-enchant the relationship between the arts and conservation practice in Essex over the next five years of this ‘critical decade’. We begin by asking how arts and cultural practice and engagement can influence environmental policy (local/regional/national) and support diverse participation. With the recent publication of the Essex Local Nature Recovery Strategy, this has become an ever more important issue. BUY THE BOOKS HERE BOOK EVENT HERE

  • Rivers, Bodies, Stars with award winning poets

    We are thrilled to have an event scheduled with award winning poets, Rebecca Goss, Emily Hasler and Joanna Ingham   Amongst other accolades, Rebecca is the winner of the Sylvia Plath award 2022,  Joanna won second place in the BBC Wildlife Poet Competition and Emily received an Eric Gregory Award.  Their new work is strongly focussed on place or person. Our event, Rivers, Bodies, Stars, on 1st June 2023 can be found on our Events page https://shorturl.at/hwRY6 Rebecca Goss Rebecca Goss is a poet, tutor and mentor living in Suffolk. Her first full-length collection, The Anatomy of Structures, was published by Flambard Press in […]

  • Local poet, Ricci Read, preaches

    Being a poet is a lifestyle. It is a commitment to being your rebellious, authentic self. I preach that poetry shouldn’t follow any rules! I hope to inspire others to find and use their voice to tell their own stories. Of course, it can be fun to write a haiku or a sonnet. It can also be worthwhile playing with rhymes schemes and alliteration. But do not let academic ideals hold you back. You do not need to write certain stanzas in a certain order for it to be a poem. You need only to bare your soul. A poem to […]

  • To read or not to read?

    Blog note:  Author Regina Lopez Puerta’s first language is Spanish, not English. This is why we have retained the American spelling of realised   Incidentally, Regina will be hosting Spanish classes at Red Lion Books. Please email us@redlionbooks.co.uk for more information.   There’s a piece of advice my Dad gave me when I was little and it’s stuck with me ever since “If you’re not enjoying the book you’re reading, drop it. Life is too short to read bad books.” I’ve lived by those words ever since, and 40 pages into a very popular novel whose name shall not be named, […]

  • Back to School

    I’ve just had a conversation with Jo, the manager here at Red Lion, where the C word was mentioned. How is it not even the end of Summer and we’re talking about Christmas? But that’s how the pages turn in a bookshop, we’re always looking ahead. Whether it’s the new Kate Atkinson (Shrines of Gaiety), Stephen King (Fairy Tale), or, as she is known here in the shop, Queen Maggie (The Marriage Portrait), we’re always trying to second guess what is going to be on our customers’ must buy lists. For now, though, I’m still very much in Summer mode writing this […]

  • Eyes on the Prize

    At this  time of year, we have a gaggle of students popping into the shop, each clutching one of our tokens, which they’ve been awarded as a school prize.  We like to play a little game here at Red Lion Books by trying to guess what subject the student won their prize for, based on the book they’ve chosen. Occasionally we get it right and feel very smug about ourselves, but the most interesting occasions are when the book is a proper leftfield choice. One that appears to be getting a lot of traction at the moment, and here’s where the politics bit comes […]

  • Eye of Boudica Event at Red Lion Books

      The Eye is all-seeing, all-consuming, always being watched and judged for good or bad actions. Big Brother is Watching you, as Orwell said. People correct themselves when they’re aware an eye is on them. Crime decreases, and people clean up their acts, behaving themselves as the ever-present Eye observes them closely. It makes sense why the Eye of Boudica is named such and why their symbol is a fiery eye watching you. The Eye of Boudica came to Red Lion Books in May to give a Standing up to Harassment Course. The Colchester-based movement and organisation wanted to provide women […]