Features

As a social enterprise, The Bookery actively seeks to help people within our community. Many of our projects focus on health and wellbeing including reading to residents in care homes and dementia cafes, promoting national campaigns about books on health, community engagement activities and supporting individuals through employment and volunteering activities. Loneliness is seen by…

The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best sci-fi novel published during the previous year. Since celebrated author Arthur C. Clarke gave a grant to establish the award in 1987, notable past winners have included Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, Colson Whitehead and Emily St. John Mandel. Always interesting and diverse,…

With the country once more in the grips of football fever thanks to the Euros, now is the perfect time to seek out some of the more interesting and possible overlooked books which show the economic, social and psychological angles of our most beloved national sport.   Africa United: How Football Explains Africa by Steve…

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most important and divisive literary figures of the twentieth century – ahead of a major TV documentary series on his life, Cliff looks at his works and influence: Around fifteen years ago, I decided I would spend an entire month devoted to Ernest Hemingway. I’ve always enjoyed setting myself…

Robert Burns (1759-1796), a well-known Scottish poet and lyricist, has given us many much-loved texts: ‘Auld Lang Syne’, ‘A Red, Red Rose’ and ‘A Man’s A Man for A’ That’ to name but a few. Writing in both Scots and English, his poetry and songs are read and studied around the world. He became a…

There are hundreds of Christmas stories, that have recorded traditions and started them. In preparation for Christmas, we thought we’d share a few literary Christmas facts about the stories we love and the people who wrote them: Christina Rossetti wrote the words to the Christmas carol ‘In the Bleak Midwinter.’ T. S. Eliot’s poem ‘Journey…