Blog

Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2017

24 Nov 2017

This week, in a ceremony hosted by BBC News presenter Mishal Husain, the annual Books Are My Bag Readers Awards were announced. From the incredible shortlist, book-lovers across the country have voted for their favourite. The Readers Choice Award went to Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctors, which also won the Non-Fiction award.  … Read more

The Novel Cure by Ella and Elderkin

The Surprising Power of Books

17 Nov 2017

Books are entertainment, information and stories. But how do they affect us? We’ve taken a look at the surprising power of books: Reading is Therapeutic You may have heard of the term ‘bibliotherapy’. If not, it is used to describe the use of books as a therapeutic tool. Now there may seem like some obvious examples of this: self-help books. … Read more

James Ravilious Photography

James Ravilious: A Life and The Recent Past

10 Nov 2017

CCB is excited to host ‘Recording Country Lives with Robin Ravilious’ on Thursday 30th November. She will be showing slides and talking about individual images and the engaging and gifted man behind the camera, James Ravilious. To find out more about this event, please visit our Events page. On 2nd November, Wilmington Square an imprint of Bitter Lemon Press published … Read more

Black and white photo of TS Eliot

T. S. Eliot Prize 2017 Shortlist

27 Oct 2017

From a record 154 submissions, the T. S. Eliot Prize judges have chosen this year’s shortlist. The T. S. Eliot Prize is an annual prize that goes to the best new poetry collection published in the UK or Ireland. It was inaugurated in 1993 to celebrate the Poetry Book Society’s 40th birthday and to honour its founding poet. This year, … Read more

Black History Month 2017 banner

Black History Month 2017

20 Oct 2017

CCB invited local educator, activist and Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow Malcolm Richards to curate a special selection of books celebrating Black History Month 2017. CCB are proud to have a wide selection of books in the shop all year round and are excited to see which books Malcolm has selected.

Photo of row of books

Man Booker Shortlist and Fiona Mozley’s Elmet

15 Oct 2017

Last month saw the announcement of the Man Booker Prize shortlist, and the winner will be revealed on October 17th. At the shop, our team have been reading our way through the shortlist, and have to say we are, with complete bias, rooting for the author who works part time in a bookshop. See below for the other shortlisted titles … Read more

National Poetry Day 28 September 2017

Anthony Wilson: Books for the Aspiring Poet

28 Sep 2017

Ahead of National Poetry day we asked Exeter based poet Anthony Wilson to recommend five books for the aspiring (or established!) poet to read.  Anthony and fellow poet Lawrence Wilson will be appearing at the bookshop on Friday 29th September, reading a mix of their own and others’ poems which they have chosen to explore this years theme, Freedom.  Writing … Read more

Collage with text - 28th September - Freedom = Poetry

Lawrence Sail: Five Poems for the Poetry-Shy to Try

22 Sep 2017

To celebrate National Poetry Day well known Exeter poets, Lawrence Sail and Anthony Wilson, will be reading their own and others’ poems which explore this year’s theme, Freedom. Find out more about the event here. Ahead of the event we asked Lawrence Sail for five poems for the poetry-shy to try, and being a generous man, he gave us six. … Read more

Interview: Jenny Balfour-Paul

19 Sep 2017

Jenny Balfour-Paul is a writer, artist, international lecturer and intrepid traveller, with a life-long love of India. On Thursday 5th October we’ve an event with Jenny entitled Independence Blues: Stories of India, Indigo and Gandhi. Our favourite question to ask authors is ‘What book changed your life?’ and Jenny Balfour-Paul had a cracking answer. Q: What book changed your life? … Read more