Friday 13 September 2013

Big Green Bookswap. With Melissa Harrison, Keith Ridgway and JW Ironmonger.

Sunday October 13th. 3.30pm at The Great Northern Railway Tavern

We're putting on a very very special Bookswap for the Literary Festival. It features three of The Big Green Bookshop's favourite authors. 

Ever been to a bookswap before?
It's fun, it's irreverent, its enlightening and it's all about books!
Here's what you have to do. 


1. Buy a ticket
2. Bring along a book with you that you like enough to recommend but are happy to part with.
3. Think of a question for the authors that has NOTHING to do with books (you don't have to ask it, it gets written down and put in the "question bucket".
4. Sit back with a drink and enjoy a pleasant afternoon in the company of 3 delightful authors. 

Here's a little more about the authors.


 Melissa Harrison is a writer and photographer who won the John Muir Trust's 'Wild Writing' award for 2010. Her beautiful first novel, Clay, centres around an urban park, and follows the interweaving stories of four people, each of them lonely in one way or another, and how their lives evolve and change through four seasons in the park. Not only does the book focus on the lives of these fascinating characters but it also captures the beauty of nature that, although we rarely see it, is often right in front of us. It's a very special book.

J W Ironmonger came to my attention, when his novel The Notable Brain of Maximillian Ponder was shortlisted for the Not The Booker Prize in 2012. Not only was the title intriguing, but the subject of the book was too. It's about one man's attempt to record every memory he has ever has. Maximillian locks himself away aged 21 to start on this experiment, thinking it will take 3 years. How wrong he is. A wonderful, ambitious novel that I adored.
And now his new novel The Coincidence Authority has just been published. And once again, it is magnificent. It centres around one person, Azalea Lewis who is convinced that the many coincidences that occur during her lifetime suggests that her life is already predestined. Perhaps there's one person who can make sense of it all. Enter Thomas Post, The Coincidence Authority…

Keith Ridgway. I arrived late to Keith Ridgway's writing and am now furiously playing catch up. His latest novel Hawthorn and Child is a one of those books that completely draws you in. Hawthorn and Child are two police detectives and in the book we follow them and the people they encounter. But it's so much more than this. There are stories within the stories, there are hints of otherwordliness about it, although it is set very firmly in North London. There's no way you can predict where the plot is going, but don't let that put you off in any way. It's a book that can be read in a single sitting and you won't realise where the time's gone.  
What else is so special about this book is the dialogue. So subtle but, like the best film script, no word is wasted. This could be a series of short stories each chapter taking on a different scene and perspective, but the novel holds together perfectly. 

Simon Key, Literary Festival organiser, writes;
 "It's always a joy when you find a book that you can completely escape into. Over the last twelve months Melissa, Jon and Keith's books have allowed me to do just that. I am absolutely delighted they're going to be here at the Wood Green Literary Festival and especially at the Book Swap, where I get to ask them all sorts of questions!"

 Hope to see you there. 

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