Event Musings

  • The Marmalade Diaries author event

    I’m writing this post with a bit of a fuzzy head – although the marmalade is helping.  There were a lot of inspiring things that came out of Ben Aitken’s talk last night, one of which was reminding me of the restorative effects of a good old-fashioned piece of toast with marmalade on it.  The […]

  • Keir Starmer visit

    I Photo credit: Colchester Gazette Blog post by Louise Prior (newest and youngest Red Lion Books Team member).   He arrived around fifteen minutes past eleven. I wasn’t on the top floor when Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, came into Red Lion Books but downstairs organising the TikTok Book Recommendation display. Since our […]

  • What brings you here?

    Is it Lemn Sissay saying ‘Hourglass will stay with me for a long time?’ Did he tempt you? Or perhaps it’s Hollie McNish? ‘A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken. So that’s everyone‘. Maybe it is Max Porter saying, ‘This book glows in the heart of the reader‘. Or is […]

  • Say it with books

    There’s something rather lovely leaving the shop when it’s still light. I’ll probably say the same thing when it starts to get dark, come November, when there’s the first signs of the orange street-light glow. But for now, Spring is on its way and love is very much in the air. There’s always a lot of […]

  • A Terrible Kindness

    FACT: Warm, generous, wise authors can take you to terrible places; talented authors ensure you return home.   A TERRIBLE KINDNESS proves it. Pre-publication, our wonderful Indie Alliance rep, Rosy, brought a proof copy to Red Lion Books saying, “This. You need to read this and you need to take my word for it because I […]

  • The Insatiable Queen B

    Red Lion Books met Daisy Buchanan at the EA Festival last year https://www.eafestival.com/ and instantly hit it off – finding a mutual love of bookshops, Margate and Jilly Cooper. Let me clarify, this wasn’t F.Scott Fitzgerald’s Daisy incarnate.  No, this was the very much alive Daisy: award winning writer, columnist, broadcaster, and author of non-fiction […]

  • Nicholas Jubber returns to Red Lion Books

    Never underestimate the gratitude that an author has for their readership (and the booksellers) who champion their work. On a cold January evening, Nicholas (Nick) Jubber travelled all the way from Dorset to speak with Red Lion Books – here in Essex – about his new book; THE FAIRY TELLERS (Published 20th January, Hachette).   He […]

  • Robin Ince at Red Lion Books

    Is he a stand-up comic, actor or radio presenter; a writer, or explorer of the human condition, is he a science communicator or a poet? Well, this is Robin Ince and he is all of these things and more. This afternoon he arrived at Red Lion Books to talk to our customers about his new […]

  • An Event to celebrate ‘The Testaments’ launch

    This was a truly memorable event for us and also for those who attended.   Two indie bookshops were chosen by her publishers, Vintage (with input from Margaret Atwood herself)  to launch The Testaments in the UK.   We were chosen on the strength of our idea for customers to have their anonymous testaments read by an […]