Thursday evenings at seven, about sixty a year, £6 redeemed against the book, thirty-five seats among the shelves
Author events
An author in the shop most Thursday evenings: a reading, a conversation, questions, a glass of wine and a signing, in thirty-five mismatched chairs between the shelves. Tickets £6, taken off the price of the book on the night; launches for Welsh authors usually free. The events page has the next two months and the seats left.
Thirty-five chairs between the shelves, a lamp on a lectern, a box of wine and a writer who has come from Cardiff or London or the next street: that is an evening here, and we have done about four hundred of them. Big names when the publishers send them, Welsh writers we champion, poets, crime, nature, history, a children's author on a Saturday morning twice a term.
Thursday is the night: the shop closes at six, opens again at half past, the author reads or talks at seven for forty minutes, there are questions, and the signing runs until everyone who wants a book has one. Tickets are £6 and the £6 comes off the author's book if you buy it on the night, which almost everyone does. Launches for Welsh authors are usually free and usually busier.
The events page lists the next two months with the seats left, and you can book there or at the counter. We hold two seats back for members of the book clubs and release them on the Monday. If an event sells out we run a waiting list and, for the big ones, move to the church hall round the corner with a hundred and twenty seats.
What is included
- Thursday evenings at seven, doors half past six
- Thirty-five seats among the shelves
- £6 redeemed against the book; launches usually free
- A glass of wine or a soft drink included
- A signing afterwards, and signed stock on the shelf
- The next two months listed with seats left
What it costs
£6 a ticket, redeemed against the author's book on the night; launches usually free. Doors 6:30, the author at 7, the signing by 8:15. Thirty-five seats, booked on the events page. The staff picks shelf says what we are reading this month; the order page gets you any book in print by the next working day.
Questions about events
Can I come without buying the book?
Yes; the ticket is the ticket. Most people buy the book because the author is right there with a pen, but nobody is counting.
Do you host events for local authors?
Yes, about a dozen launches a year, usually free. Email with the book and the month you have in mind; we read it first and we say honestly if it is not for the shop.
Any book in print, by tomorrow. Tell us the title.
Title, author or ISBN on the order page, at the counter, by phone or by email: we order it this afternoon, text you when it is in and hold it a fortnight. Nothing to pay until you collect; posted anywhere in Britain for £2.95, free over £25.