Event announcement
Come and hear the Booker-shortlisted author of Mayflies and The Illuminations talk about his epic state of the nation novel, Caledonian Road. Set over the course of a year and one man's spiralling downfall, Andrew O’Hagan’s latest paints a compelling (and blistering) portrait of modern Britain, drawing characters so vividly you'll think you're spotting them on the streets of London.
Upcoming events
Backstory summer sessions — the return of our popular music nights at the bookshop. Book your £5 ticket now to secure your spot:
20th June: James Or SEVEN TICKETS LEFT
REFUGEE TALES in aid of Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees — 19th June, 7.30pm — SOLD OUT
CONOR NILAND, The Racket — 26th June, 7.30pm TWO TICKETS LEFT
The week before Wimbledon kicks off, ex tennis pro Conor Niland is coming to Backstory to talk to us about his new book The Racket: On Tour with Tennis’s Golden Generation - and the other 99%. I love the idea of a book all about the almost-famous, the players who are brilliant but not quite brilliant enough, who roam the globe in the tours but can only ever dream of just about squeaking into the first round or two of a Grand Slam.
ALICE WINN introduces YAEL VAN DER WOUDEN, The Safekeep — 28th June, 7.30pm
One of Backstory's favourite authors introduces a new favourite, Yael van der Wouden. Her debut novel, The Safekeep, is set in the conservative Dutch countryside in the early 1960s. A young woman still tends the family home — keeping rigorous inventories of all its contents — years after her mother has died and her siblings have moved out. She is left to keep standards, and her own company. Until, that is, one of her brothers is called away on business and he imposes his new girlfriend on the house. And so the stage is set for a beguiling, claustrophobic and very fresh summer read. Trust us, you’ll be wanting to talk about it when you put it down.
HENRY JEFFREYS, Vines in a Cold Climate — 10th July, 7.30pm
Summer is finally here and what better time to look at the remarkable rise and rise of the English wine scene. Henry Jeffreys will take us through the quirky characters behind what is now a multi-million-pound industry with quality to rival Champagne.
Fiction book club on Zoom, 18th June: Katherine Heiny, Games and Rituals
Non-fiction book club on Zoom, 25th June: Cara McGoogan, The Poison Line
Your summer reads
Download our 16-page guide, packed with suggestions for summer reading from literary fiction and thrillers to non-fiction and kids books
Calling authors and journalists
We are now accepting pitches for issue 3 of Backstory, our colourful, irreverent magazine about all things books and bookshops. We’d love to hear great ideas for columns or reported features.
THE FIRST TIME we held a live event at Backstory, I was very grateful to be the proprietor of a bar as well as a bookshop. The author, Craig Brown, said yes to a glass of wine so I poured a large one for myself too — and my god, I needed it.
Long before that day arrived, I’d been fretting about whether we’d sell enough tickets to justify Craig’s trip from Suffolk (in those first days, when we had no reputation to secure authors for events, I relied on cajoling favours from friends of friends, most of whom — like Craig — were kind enough to say yes.)
On the day itself, I worried about whether anybody would actually turn up… including the author. Once our conversation began, and Craig had the audience chuckling away at extracts from his Private Eye diaries, I relaxed. Big mistake. The greatest terror was yet to come, as Craig announced that he had decided — “sorry, Tom, I forgot to tell you” — that he and I would perform one of the diaries as a closing act. Yikes.
Well, I survived.
Since then, we’ve hosted 54 different authors in just a year and a half. We’ve had big names to the shop like David Nicholls, Jeremy Bowen, Anna Funder and Ella Risbridger. Oh, and Jonathan Coe, Marina Hyde, Isabel Hardman and Stephen Bush.
It’s been a sort of rolling literary festival, only with blue shelves instead of tents — and a lot less fuss about sponsorship. We’ve covered everything from Manchester United to porn; prisons to whales; waste to, well, Brexit.
From the ‘cosy’ atmosphere of the sold-out shop, we’ve travelled via our speakers to Africa, Spain, the Middle East — and even the North. Best of all has been the chance to hear live from Backstory favourites like Jessica Andrews, Alice Winn and Claire Fuller.
In the name of equal opportunities, I’ve given the whole team the chance to experience the sheer terror I had on that first night. Everyone has done at least one interview; it’s a joy to see booksellers asking questions of their favourite authors — and, after the first couple of goes, relaxing into it.
Readers who don’t live near the shop often drop me an infuriated email after one of our event announcements, complaining that they can’t make it to see such-and-such talk about sexism in Hollywood or the uses and abuses of data or the art of political cartoons.
Now you can.
Starting with our events the week after next (with Conor Niland on tennis and with Backstory favourite Alice Winn and Yael van der Wouden), we are going to livestream every in-shop author event. So you can drop into the shop wherever you are, anywhere in the world, and join the conversation. You can even have us ask your question to your favourite author.
All you have to do is subscribe to Backstory magazine or take out one of our book subscriptions, and you’ll be invited to every livestream for the duration of your subscription. Which means you can attend livestreams of dozens of author events every year for as little as £9 and receive two issues of our lovely bookish magazine and one of our gorgeous totes. I know I’m biased, but I think it’s a bit of a steal. (If you already have a book or magazine subscription, read the PS at the end of this email for info on how to come along.)
Of course, there will still be nothing quite like attending one of our author events in person. It’s a huge privilege to be one of only a few dozen people in the room where it happens — and our events will continue to be as engaging and intimate as ever.
For those of you reading this from down the road, I look forward to seeing you in person at one of our events very soon — especially if you haven’t been before. Everyone tends to have a glass of wine or a soft drink, it’s all very relaxed and we do our best to make it as unintimidating an atmosphere as possible. Please pop along and see for yourself.
However you choose to join us, I’ll be back in that hotseat for our event with Conor Niland on June 26th. Me, Conor — and my large glass of red.
Tom
PS If you’re already a magazine subscriber, you’ll get a monthly email with the latest livestream links, unless you’ve opted out. You should have received the first email — let us know if you haven’t, at books@backstory.london.
If you’re an existing book subscriber, you’ll receive a QR code to scan with your July book to opt in to our monthly emails with livestream links. If you want to attend a livestream before then, just email us at books@backstory.london.