READING COURSES

Reading Courses:

Next course starts on June 4th at 4 o'clock in the bookshop.  We will be reading from the Oxford Book of American Short Stories, edited by Joyce Carol Oates and published by Oxford University Press, .  The book is available from Wenlock Books at £12.99.

Pre-booking is essential please as we limit numbers to this group.  You can pay on-line, just email us and ask for an electronic invoice to be sent to your email address.  If you miss any sessions, you will be given credit notes to spend in the shop - use them to buy the book for the next short course!
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Previous courses:

1. Stop What You're Doing and Read This, Vintage Books
2. Jubilee Lines edited by Carol Ann Duffy, Faber & Faber
3. Penguin Book of English Short Stories, edited by Christopher Dolley
4. Twelve Poems of Christmas, edited by Carol Ann Duffy, Candlestick Press
5. Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, Penguin
6. The Trouble I've Seen, Martha Gellhorn, Eland Books 

  

Poetry and Arts Summer Club

Poetry and Arts Summer Club for Children

Our annual children's poetry club (well, OK last year it was a summer school - but hey, we've lightened up!!) starts on July 23rd and runs until July 27th.  The club will take place in the Methodist Hall, King Street, Much Wenlock and costs £15 per day OR a very special price of £50 for the week.  The club is for children aged 8 - 11 years old.

Children will need to bring wellies, cagoules (or similar), lunches, and oodles of curiosity, enthusiasm and be ready for anything!  We will provide drinks and biscuits, all art and craft materials, writing materials, and lots of poets and helpers!

Activities will include ~

• going for a town/country walk and making a choral poem based on what is seen and experienced
• exploring music and art from around the world
• going on a voyage of the imagination
• making rap poems
• travelling the world in poetry
• and the mystery ingredient of responding to whatever happens creatively and inspirationally!

Children will work with poets, musicians and artists to create their own and shared poems and their own art work. They will have the opportunity to play with musical instruments and to create their own rhythm poems.

They will spend time in small groups working closely with our poets and volunteers to enjoy the magic of poetry in ways that are new and exciting.

We are all looking forward to having lots of fun as we find wordless ways to enjoy the beauty of words!!

For more information and to book your place please contact Anna Dreda at Wenlock Books 01952 727877 or annadreda@wenlockpoetryfestival.org

(Places are limited to twelve children to ensure they have a wonderful time: book now to avoid missing out!)

TEA TIME TALES

Tea TimeTales  every  FRIDAY at 4 o'clock  -  do come and join us!  No need to book in advance, just come when you can and treat yourself to the luxury of being read to, and the pleasure of afternoon tea and delicious biscuits!  £5.  All welcome.

NO MEETINGS:
March 22nd (I'm launching Kate Atkinson's new book)
March 27th - Good Friday
April 5th - Wenlock Poetry Festival

April 12th - normal service is resumed!

This week's story (15.3.13) will be taken from Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman

Last week we read a Tove Jansson story, though it was a change from the advertised story as I read The Spinster instead of The Iceberg, and the week before that it was  Strong Enough to Help by David Constantine, taken from Tea at the Midland.

ARCHIVE
 
Oh dear, I haven't been very careful about keeping note of the stories we have read (help!) - just too busy in the run up to Christmas to keep track - sorry!

I do know that in Christmas week we read The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen

One of our group described it as  'a story about life', and it is certainly has a moral in it about living in the present moment!

We also read before that Mr Loveday's Little Outing by Eveylyn Waugh - one with a real twist in the tail!
 

Tea Time Tales: 9.11.12

We read Extinctions by Barbara Kingsolver today, taken from her book of short stories Homeland ~

This story is a complicated weave of family involvement. On the surface, a mother takes her two boys on a rather long car journey to her childhood home, to attend Easter services with her aged relatives. There are dark overtones of Southern fundamentalist mystery and guilt, and closeted insanity.

Barabara Kingsolver is one of my favourite authors, much-loved since I was introduced to her via her first novel The Bean Trees in 1987.  This is what she has to say about the characters in the Homeland stories:

"I write about people who may not automatically command respect because of their positions in life. They aren't people who are normally thought to be the stuff of literature. They're not heroes. They're the single mom who lives next door to you and runs over to ask if you'll watch her baby while she takes her cat to the vet because it just swallowed mothballs. They're two women in a kitchen, not the three muskateers. Beginning with the understanding that they are not automatically invested with greatness, I want them to tell their own stories, in their own words. I want your sympathy -- I want you to listen to these people and to believe them and to understand the value of their lives. That's why I rely so heavily on the first-person narrative. Even if hese characters don't have flashy vocabularies, they still have poetic thoughts. And there's no way you, the reader, will ever know that unless I let you inside their minds."

 

Tea Time Tales: 2.11.12

This afternoon's story will be Passing the Hat by Jennifer Egan, taken from her first volume of short stories - Emerald City.  Do join us!  4 o'clock for tea, cake and the luxury of being read to ...

Tea Time Tales: 26.10.12

Our short story on Friday afternoon will be the title story from Persephone Books' Good Evening Mrs Craven. We will meet at four o'clock, I will read this lovely and moving story to you, and then we will enjoy a pot of tea and a generous slice of the Copper Kettle's famous Coffee and Walnut cake. No need to book ahead - just come and relax with us if you can: the perfect way to start the weekend! 

Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes

 ‘What a wonderful book. Good Evening, Mrs Craven conjures up a compelling glimpse of the lives of middle-class women left at home during the war years. Men appear, but are not central to the themes of love, longing and loss. There is a lot to think about and certainly a great deal to talk about in these skilfully crafted stories. Although brief, they really do draw brilliant pictures of the time.’ New Books Mag
‘Good Evening, Mrs Craven is a funny, poignant book indeed. Mollie Panter-Downes has the sharpest of eyes for irony and manners, and she loves to poke affectionate fun at overly stiff characters. Her greatest grace, though, is her ability to capture, in quick flashes, the immediacy of life during the war. Her characters are petty and noble, hungry and brave, solid and silly and true.’ Watermark Books
‘Throughout the war Mollie Panter-Downes sent The New Yorker semi-autobiographical stories collected as Good Evening, Mrs Craven, about evacuees, the Home Guard and Red Cross sewing evenings. Here they are splendidly read by Lucy Scott. This funny, intelligent, deceptively low-key Persephone Audiobook about the Home Counties under siege is long overdue. What Clovis is to Saki, Mrs Ramsay is to Mollie Panter-Downes. Behind her watchful eyes and bright hostess smile she suffers fools venomously.’ Sue Arnold in the Guardian
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, of The Independent, wrote: ‘The revelation of 1999 for me was boldly published, beautifully designed, dazzlingly written… Mollie Panter-Downes is as profound as Katherine Mansfield, restrained as Jane Austen, sharp as Dorothy Parker.’

Tea Time Tales: 19.10.12

This week, on Friday at four, I shall be reading an exciting short story by Ali Smith: Writ.  Back in the 2006 Oundle Festival of Literature, Helen Simpson and Toby Litt talked about the genre of short story writing and introduced the Festival's new fine press publishing venture: a specially commissioned short story by Man Booker and Whitbread short-listed author Ali Smith.



The Oundle Festival of Literature is now in its tenth year, you can read about it here.

I am lucky to have one of the two hundred limted edition signed copies of this lovely book, given to me, signed and dedicated, by Ali Smith when she visited Much Wenlock six years ago. You can read about that visit here  Photos of the event follow below.

Writ is a wonderfully written story about a woman in her early forties who experiences a powerful and unexpected kiss on a busy street in London in broad daylight.  When she gets home that night, her fourteen year old self is 

... roaming about in my house knocking into things, wild-eyed and unpredictable as a blunt-nosed foal in a house would be.

What follows is a tender, funny and moving exploration of what the older woman can tell her younger self, and a lovely, lovely telling of these two women getting to know each other across the gap of years and experience.  It is gorgeous.  No matter how many times I read it, the ending moves me to tingles and I find something new to think about with each reading.

I am looking forward to reading it at this Friday's reading - do join me: Friday 19th October, 4pm for tea and cake, a story and chat!  No need to book,  just turn up.

Ali Smith signs a book for Jackie, 2006

Judith, Sally, Judy and Martin, 2006

Anikou, Juliet, Paul and Rosie, 2006

Harriet, Clare and Mollie, 2006

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Tea Time Tales: 12.10.12

The first Tea Time Tales took place upstairs at Wenlock Books, around the table with a big pot of tea and delicious Copper Kettle Coffee cake.  I read A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin - an old favourite of mine that was enjoyed by those present.  The afternoon was a lovely mix of book talk and general discussion and it was really lovely to welcome new faces to the bookshop -  as well as old friends.

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 Tea Time Tales 12.10.12

On Friday  October 12th I shall be starting a weekly group for grown ups who love to be read to! We shall meet at 4 o’clock every Friday and I shall read a short story to you, after which we will enjoy tea, cake and chat.  It’s not a discussion group, you don’t need to buy a book, and there will occasionally be Guest Readers!  As this group is going to be all about indulgence, I shall start by reading from my much loved copy of The Awakening by Kate Chopin, but after that - who knows!  No need to book.  Drop in as you feel like it, we can always move the furniture if it gets too big!  Come and join me.  £5.

STORY TIME

Every Friday at 11 o'clock, coffee for Mums, Dads, Grand-Parents, and a great story for your little ones.
We are currently reading Penguin by Polly Dunbar and My Busy Being Bella Day by Rebecca Patterson

 
Ben is given a penguin as a present. Try as he might, however, he cannot get a reaction from his inscrutable companion.

He pokes him, sings for him and eventually fires him into outer space but to no avail – Penguin still ignores him. Ben loses his temper with Penguin, so a big blue lion gobbles him up.

Ben's saviour appears in an unlikely form causing him to realise that penguin loves him after all, in his own special way.

Polly Dunbar's illustrations are gorgeous and her palette stylish - from the endearing Ben's rosy cheeks to the magnificent turquoise lion who eats him up. A delightful book.

How many of us as parents have read the same bed-tine story over and over again until we know it off by heart (and so do our children!)?  This is what children want - so let them have it.  At Wenlock Book's Story Time sessions, we will read the same book over and over again for at least one half term before moving on to something new.

 

There are lots of different ways of offering stories to children - all of them have value, and so long as we're getting children excited about books (and bookshops!) it doesn't really matter how we do it.   So my approach is to go with what the children love - which as we all know, is repetition, tradition, familiarity. 

 This enables the children to build a relationship with the book.  They will get to know the story, and don't they love knowing what comes next, and the pictures, and as their familiarity with it grows, they will slowly begin to understand the stories they are listening to.

Do bring your little ones along to join in the fun - no need to book; just come as and when you can.

 My Busy Being Bella Day is the follow up to My Big Shouting Day which was a HUGE success with my grand-children!

In this lovely story, Bella is worried that her baby brother Bob might be having more fun at home with Mummy while Bella is at nursery.  It's  a gorgeous, gentle story with a lovely ending and the illustrations are FAB - I have to say that I adore Bella!

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January 2013

Our Story-Time Session restarts after the Christmas break on 

FRIDAY JANUARY 11th  at 11 o'clock

There will be coffee for grown-ups, squash and biscuits for the little ones.  The story will be read by Anna, or by one of our specially invited Guest Readers.  After the story there will be a song-sharing, and then time for Mums anbd children to chat and enjoy the bookshop.

This is a very relaxed and informal group - you don't need to pre-book, just come when you can: it's £2 per asdult.  Any questions?  Give Anna a ring on 01952 727877.

This term we will start by reading The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson is the Children's Laureate until June of this year, and you can read more about her Laureateship here

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.

A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.

Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when the quick-thinking mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake and a hungry gruffalo . . .

"a modern classic"  The Observer

The Gruffalo won the Smarties prize, the Blue Peter prize for Best Book to Read Aloud and the Experian Big Three award. The audio version (which also includes The Gruffalo song) won the Spoken Book Award for Best Children’s Audio. 

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Archive

Michael Rosen's wonderful We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

We regularly have guest readers - this week it's local artist Beverley Fry.  Do get in touch if you'd like to join our guest list!  Fave song of the moment is "Five little monkies sitting in a tree ..." introduced to us by an earlier guest, Jill Grainger - who came with her own monkies and was delighted to find we had our own Enormous Crocodile ready to join in! 

This is our really friendly crocodile!  In stock, £15.99

Beverley Fry reads to Masie

Abbie &Masie

Joe Joe and Anna are listening!

Beverley & Anna enjoy the story!

Joe gets a little closer ...

Abbie & Masie decide it's much more fun to get all the books off the shelves

Feel free to join us any Friday morning at 11 o'clock for a fun story-time session with songs.  Coffee for the Mums, drinks and biscuits for the little ones.  We welcome babies and toddlers and children up to five.   £2 per adult.

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Mr Gumpy's Outing by John Burningham.  I used to love reading this to my children and am now looking forward to reading it to my grand-children!!   Story-Time is every Friday morning at 11 o'clock and lasts for half an hour or so.  We read a story, sing a song or two, and let the children enjoy and get used to the bookshop: it's a great introduction to what Julian Barnes describes as "A Life with Books" in his recent Guardian essay, and I am determined that Wenlock children shall have lives with books: it's too important not to!  £2 per family to include tea or coffee from the deli for the grown ups, biscuits and drinks for the children.

THE BRITISH OLYMPICS

MARTIN POLLEY - author of The British Olympics, will be in Wenlock Books from 2pm on Saturday 14th July to sign copies of his book.

Whilst London is filled with the hype of the modern Olympics, Much Wenlock takes you back to the birth of the modern Olympics with a FREE Victorian themed one day event on Saturday 14th July 2012.

The town will be filled with entertainment, shopping and one-off experiences which celebrate the importance of Much Wenlock and Dr William Penny Brookes in the modern day Olympics.
Jumping back to 1830, Brooke’s message began to emerge as he took over his father’s practice in Much Wenlock. Brookes’ aim was to “promote moral, physical and intellectual improvement of the inhabitants of the town of Wenlock” and this led to the founding of the first Wenlock Olympian Class in 1851, which was created with the objective of starting an annual Games event within the town.
Thanks to the Wenlock Olympian Society, today in Much Wenlock these games are still present and, like in the 1800’s, are run annually. This year, Much Wenlock Events group are offering the opportunity for visitors to take part in some of the original games during the approaching Olympian Street Festival.
Brookes persistence for good health has acted as a stepping-stone to the success of the modern Olympics and the global appreciation of sport. His life and achievements will be re-enacted at the Street Festival by performers from Broads, as they follow the journey of the Games to Athens and show the partnership between Dr Brookes and Pierre de Coubertin. Coubertin’s curiosity of England’s growing idea of Physical Education led to the pair’s hard work to create and maintain the Olympics that we know today.

With promises of music, puppetry and dance choreography the nationally renowned production ‘Much Ado About Wenlock” takes to the stage on Much Wenlock’s church green as actors follow Brookes’ mission to get the locals away from the pubs and outside living an active lifestyle. A comical take on the well-known story of the founding of the Olympics allows those off all ages to enjoy and appreciate the home of it all.
As well as Brookes persistence in improving the health of his neighbours, in 1841 he became a Justice of the. To commemorate Brookes’ impact, a re-enactment of a Victorian trial will take place in the Guild Hall - someone’s destined for the stocks so this isn’t to be missed!
The Street Festival wants to celebrate the life of William Penny Brookes and the successful journey the Olympics made from the small town to way across the globe. But in addition to this, the festival wants to bring the community of Much Wenlock and the many tourists to the streets to admire the history and enjoy current talent: a range of folk, soul and jazz bands will perform; a Bird of Prey display is on offer; locally produced foods and handmade crafts will be spread across the town and the popular Ironmen and Severn Gilder’s Morris Dancers will show a number of performances. Children’s activities will keep the whole family entertained for the entirety of the day: face painting, ‘the animal man’, Punch and Judy and balloon modeling will all be on offer. July 14th is set to be an exciting and significant calendar date as part of Britain’s Olympic Celebrations.
The event is free entry for all. For more information visit www.wenlockevents2012.co.uk
To find out more about William Penny Brookes and the Wenlock Olympian Games visit www.wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk
By Faye Hudson

This article taken from http://www.muchwenlockguide.info/news/wenlock-olympian-celebration.shtml

Guardian Best Bookshops

Literary Shropshire - video

In the first of a series of films about landscape and literature produced in association with National Book Tokens, Anna Dreda of Wenlock Books and writers Katherine Swift, Paul Evans and William Cash reflect on the resonance of Shropshire's landscape in their lives and work

• Lindsay Poulton, Felix Clay, Graham Hadfield and Michael Tait
• guardian.co.uk,
• Monday 2 July 2012