Minister For High Streets Visits Smallest Bookshop

You can celebrate Small Business Saturday by visiting us this Saturday when there will be FREE PARKING for 3 hours at all Havant Council Car Parks including the car parks near our Bookshop in Mengham Village on Hayling Island. We still have a good selection of books on sale signed by authors from our 2014 events programme including books signed by Michael Palin, Alan Titchmarsh, Stephen Fry (preprinted commemorative book plates), crime writers MC Beaton, Graham Hurley, Hilary Bonner, Jessie Keane, children’s authors Chris Bradford, Jacqueline Wilson, Charlie Higson, Angie Sage, Michael Grant and many many more. You can meet local MP David Willetts who will be popping in around late morning and we are expecting to be joined by The Minister For High Streets, Penny Mordaunt at around 2pm on her whistle stop tour of High Streets in the area. Join us for a sherry (or orange juice!) and mince pie and take advantage of our special offers of 10% off books and 20% off selected toys. We also have a range of CD’s and DVD’s at internet matching prices. While stocks last, for purchases over £20 we will be giving away “James Patterson” canvas school bags to children and for adults, limited edition “Books Are My Bag” canvas bags designed by Tracey Emin.  

Come up with a festive spinechiller and win £50

The Hayling Island Bookshop is sponsoring the annual Portsmouth News Christmas Ghost Story Writing Competition. Entering our Christmas ghost story contest couldn’t be easier. All you need to do is write a ghost story with a Christmas theme. It must be no more than 1,000 words long and it must be all your own work. But apart from that the content is entirely up to you. You can e-mail your story to features@thenews.co.uk; send it via the Share Your Story link on the home page of portsmouth.co.uk or post it to: Christmas Ghost Story Competition, Features Department, The News, 1000 Lakeside, North Harbour, Portsmouth PO6 3EN. Please ensure you include your full name, address, age and a daytime phone number.

The winners in each age group will receive £50 in Hayling Island Bookshop tokens and have their winning stories printed in The News.

Books Are My Bag 11th October 2014

The Hayling Island Bookshop is once again taking part in the Books Are My Bag national campaign with the news that award-winning British artist Tracey Emin is to design the 2014 collector’s edition Books are My Bag bag. The bags will be exclusively sold from The Hayling Island Bookshop and other chain and independent bookshops nationwide, offering book lovers a unique platform to express their support for their local stores.

On Saturday 11th October The Hayling Island Bookshop will welcome two authors to help celebrate Books Are My Bag day. In the morning crime writer Pauline Rowson will be with us from about 11am. Pauline is the creator of the very popular Andy Horton crime novels set in the local area, she is also the organiser of CSI Portsmouth which is one of the annual highlights of Portsmouth BookFest.

Around lunchtime we hope to welcome Abbie Headon an Editor at Summersdale Publishers who is visiting us during her Books Are My Bag Bike Tour, visiting her favourite local bookshops around the area. Summersdale is a great local publishing house based in Chichester and can be found at www.summersdale.com/

In the afternoon children’s author Miriam Halahmy will be in the bookshop. She has recently published the final book for teens in the Hayling Trilogy – Stuffed. Miriam will be appearing at Hayling Library in the morning — you can book tickets from them on 023 9246 1534

Stephen Fry – Live Streamed Event & Limited Edition

Actor, comedian and raconteur Stephen Fry launches his new volume of memoirs with a brilliant one man comic show on Friday October 1st. Broadcast live in HD from the Royal Festival Hall to cinema’s in the UK and around the world, this unique streamed event offers Stephen talking about the book in his own inimitable style.

The Hayling Island Bookshop will be at Vue Cinema Portsmouth Gunwharf Quays on October 1st selling copies of the book with the special limited edition book plates which will only be available when buying a copy of the new book at participating Cinemas and at their designated Bookshops. There are only 2000 of these limited edition book plates printed with a handwritten message from Stephen making them highly collectable by his fans.

To book tickets for the live streaming on Friday October 1st you can go to Vue Portsmouth on 0871 224 0240 or www.myvue.com/home/cinema/portsmouth

An Evening with….. Alan Titchmarsh

One of our most popular television presenters, Alan Titchmarsh, is to give an evening talk at Portsmouth Cathedral about his latest book The Queen’s Houses which is a tour of the royal residences from personal reflections, interviews with royal staff and meticulous historical research. Event organiser Marie Telford, Owner of The Hayling Island Bookshop, says

“We have worked with Alan twice before and we are delighted to be running one of only two events he will be holding this autumn about his new book, the other being Cheltenham Literary Festival! The soaring ceilings and stunning interior of Portsmouth Cathedral will be an absolutely perfect place for Alan to talk about the magnificent royal residences. We have put together a great value package for the evening and we are sure that tickets will be in great demand especially as audience members can meet Alan after the talk and have their books signed and dedicated. ”

The event is on Friday October 10th at 7.30pm in Portsmouth Cathedral.  Admission is by ticket bought in advance only from The Hayling Island Bookshop 02392 466 620 or in The Cathedral Shop within the Cathedral.

The £20 ticket for the evening includes

  • the new book The Queen’s Houses, rrp £20
  • an hours talk and Q&A with Alan
  • and meeting him afterwards for the book signing.

For couples, a second ‘partner’ ticket is available at £8 which includes Alan’s £7.99 paperback Elizabeth: Her Life Our Times A Diamond Jubilee Celebration.

 

Fantastic Family Fun Day During School Holidays

Parents might be interested to hear that Stansted Park is teaming up with Canine Partners and The Hayling Island Bookshop to present a dog themed fun filled family day out in the wonderful surroundings of Stansted House, Rowlands Castle on Sunday August 10th 2014.

The day will be packed with family friendly amusements including a fun dog show and demonstrations by Canine Partner Assistance dogs, vintage cars, craft stalls, children’s activities and the Author tent where you’ll be able to relax and listen to a lively show full of inspiration and fun for children of all ages.

In the Author Tent, The Hayling Island Bookshop will run events throughout the day featuring Roald Dahl Funny Prize winner Peter Bently with The Great Dog Bottom Swop for younger readers and the very energetic Two Steve’s (Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow) with Action Dogs for older primary school readers. Entry to the author events is included in the entry ticket along with all the other fantastic activities taking part during the day. Books can be bought at the event for signing by the authors.

Tickets will also give free access to Stansted Maze, and discounted access to Stansted Light Railway and Stansted House. There will be plenty of free parking!

Dogs are welcome on the day and there will be a chance to visit local vet Ben Trimmer, Director of Downland Veterinary Group in Emsworth, with any questions you may have about your four legged friend and to take advantage of the free microchipping service available on the day.

Tickets are available at the Gate on the day at Stansted Park and are £3 per child £5 per adult and £12.50 for a family ticket of up to five.  A 10% discount is offered for tickets bought online www.stanstedpark.co.uk. Tickets can also be bought in advance from The Hayling Island Bookshop 02392 466 620.

 

The Hayling Island Bookshop to Support Michael Palin Tour Date at The Kings

TV presenter and author Michael Palin has come out in support of independent bookshops, saying that they are “a way of bringing people together” and represent “the heart of community life”.

The Monty Python star announced that the latest volume of his diaries, Travelling to Work: Diaries 1988–1998, would be promoted with his first one-man tour across the country and he will be appearing at The Kings Theatre, Southsea on Friday 19th September.

At each of the 21 venues of the tour, a local bookshop will be selling signed copies of Palin’s books in the foyer of the theatre. Palin said: “The link up is to give them [local bookshops] a little more coverage and visibility. I think there is something that the bookshop represents which is the heart of community life,” he continued.

“Bookshops are a way of bringing people together. There is a feeling when you go into one, an idea that this is a good place to be. People talk to each other more. They take their time.

“I love bookshops because they allow you to browse much more easily than online. I love physical books, the look, the colour,” he added.

 

Marie Telford from The Hayling Island Bookshop said “Michael’s publishers contacted us a few weeks ago and we are delighted to be working with The Kings Theatre, when they host him in September. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear Michael speak about this very busy period of his life, and I’m sure that the tickets for his show and the signed copies of his book will be in great demand.”

Travelling to Work will cover the period when Palin first ventured into travel presenting with “Around the World in 80 Days”.

To book tickets for his show at The Kings go to www.kings-southsea.com or call the Box Office on 02392 828 282.

 

Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Higson and Ann Widdecombe

We are supporting three events over the next few weeks with very well known authors

On Thursday March 27th Alan Titchmarsh is appearing at The New Forest Arts Centre, New Milton to talk about his new novel Bring Me Home  there may be a few tickets still available – contact them at www3.hants.gov.uk/forest. Hayling Island Bookshop customers can reserve a signed copy (subject to availability) which we will arrange for Alan to dedicate if required. To place an order for a signed book call us at the Bookshop on 02392 466620 by 5pm on Wednesday 26th March .

For teen readers, on Monday 31st March we are with Charlie Higson from TV’s Fast Show, when he visits Portsmouth and Winchester as part of his national tour with the latest in the Enemy series – Fallen. Charlie’s events aren’t open to members of the public but involve invited schools audiences however, Higson fans can order signed copies of Fallen at £7.00 and collect them on April 1st  which is two days before the official release date – even on the internet!!!!  Call us at The Bookshop on 02392 466620 to reserve a copy.

To complete our trio, we are delighted to say that we will be with Ann Widdecombe again when she visits the area as the guest of Havant Conservative Association Supper Club at their fund raising event on the evening of Friday April 4th. This event is a dinner followed by an after dinner talk by Ann then meeting her for a book signing. If you would like to book for this dinner you can contact Ted Gale at Havant Conservatives 02392 475066 as they may have a few seats available. If you would like to reserve a signed and dedicated copy of Ann’s autobiography Strictly Ann or one of her novels then call us at The Bookshop on 02392 466620.

We have a very full programme of events in schools at the moment with children’s authors and have lots of signed books in stock covering all age groups so please do pop in and see us.

Jacqueline Wilson & Michael Morpurgo Signed Books Now Available

We have some great signed book offers from our autumn events programme

Jacqueline Wilson & Nick SharrattRare Double Signed Books

Jacqueline signed books for our Bookshop at the event we held with her on October 19th. Luckily for us we then had an event with her illustrator Nick Sharratt three days later and he agreed to signed them as well! This means we have some very rare books indeed on sale – hardback copies of Diamond and Queenie signed by both the author Jacqueline Wilson and the illustrator Nick Sharratt. We also have a number of other books signed by just Jacqueline in stock including – My Secret Diary, Totally Jacqueline Wilson, Jacky Daydream, Emerald Star.

Michael Morpurgowith pre printed signed book plates

November is Michael Morpurgo Month with all of his UK publishers coming together to celebrate his books. We were lucky enough to hold an event with Michael ourselves on September 28th and as a result we have a very small number of books, personally signed by him in the Bookshop and we can supply his other titles for you with his signature on a preprinted book plate. Featured is a first edition Of Lions And Unicorns which we have in stock.

We also hold stocks of signed books by a range of authors including Anne Widdecombe, Peter Lovesey, Kate Mosse and many otherspop into the Bookshop or call us to buy over the telephone on 02392 466 620

Jacqueline Wilson at Portsmouth BookFest 2013

Portsmouth BookFest 2013’s main programme opens with Dame Jacqueline Wilson in an event at The David Russell Theatre in Portsmouth High Street to talk about her latest book Diamond.

Portsmouth BookFest is jointly organised each autumn by The Hayling Island Bookshop and Portsmouth City Library Service and Dame Jacqueline is a strong and consistent supporter of both Independent Bookshops and Library Services so we are delighted that she has agreed to support us with this event. Call us at the Bookshop to book tickets.

This year, BookFest will feature 40 authors in 27 events at 15 different locations across the city. There is an associated schools programme organised by Portsmouth School Library Service in city schools.

To find out more details about the BookFest Programme and how to Book Tickets click on the Portsmouth BookFest 2013 logo on the right of this page.