Ely Events and Reading Groups
In this atmospheric medieval city, just over an hour from London by train, author events range from reading groups and intimate events in the bookshop to the drama of performances under the world-renowned Octagon of Ely Cathedral. We hold events all year round, but in the autumn there is a special focus on the Ely Literary Festival.
Jill Dawson
Tuesday 17th March, 7pm
"Pixie". I like it. "Pixie Pamela". It's a good name for me: sometimes tiny and invisible. Other times bouncing up to the ceiling to look down …
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Queer Reading Group - Heated Rivalry
Tuesday 24th March, 7pm
Nothing interferes with pro hockey star Shane Hollander's game.Now that he's captain of the Montreal Voyageurs, he won't let anything jeopardize that-definitely not the sexy rival …
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Jim Kelly
Wednesday 8th April, 7pm
October, 1942. Thousands of American GIs are stationed across eastern England building airfields to bomb Nazi Germany and Cambridge's dance halls and pubs are a hot …
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Antonia Senior
Thursday 9th April, 7pm
STALIN'S APOSTLES is a radical new look at the way five people allowed their obsession with Communist ideology to overshadow any sense of morality or decency …
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Reading Group - My Friends
Tuesday 14th April, 7.30pm
You have to take life for granted, the artist thinks, the whole thing: sunrises and slow Sunday mornings andwater balloons and another person's breath against your …
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Reading Group - The Trumpet Major
Tuesday 14th April, 7.30pm
Hardy's only historical novel, The Trumpet Major is a shrewd and bittersweet, tale of a dignified and intelligent young woman's pursuit by three contrasting men, set …
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Christopher de Hamel
Wednesday 15th April, 7pm
A brilliant memoir from the bestselling author of Meetings With Remarkable ManuscriptsChristopher de Hamel is one of the world's best-known scholars and writers on illuminated manuscripts. …
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Mary Beard
Friday 17th April, 7.30pm
What's exciting about a piece of bread 4,000 years old? Or some pots of paint abandoned in the eruption at Pompeii? Why should we be bothered …
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Swallows Reading Group
Sunday 19th April, 10.30am
Rediscover the A Puffin Book series and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this 25th anniversary edition of Chinese Cinderella, complete with …
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Tim Parks
Friday 24th April, 7pm
We're delighted welcome Tim Parks for Across Sicily with the Thousand. Tim is a friend of the bookshop and an icon of travel writing. We hope …
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Queer Reading Group - Mere
Tuesday 28th April, 7pm
Norfolk, AD 990. Deep in the Fens, an order of holy sisters lives in quiet isolation, cut off from the outside world by a treacherous marsh …
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Andrey Kurkov
Wednesday 29th April, 7pm
Fresh from case of the stolen heart, one that shattered his belief in the regime he works for, Samson Kolechko is confronted with a mystery that …
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Jeremy Vine
Tuesday 5th May, 7pm
Sidmouth is gearing up for summer - but murder is all year round...When a doctor is found dead in the woods, shot through the heart with …
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Simon Barnes
Wednesday 6th May, 7pm
A unique and all-encompassing exploration of the wonders of flight and the way different species have evolved different solutions to the problem of defying gravity - …
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Melissa Harrison
Monday 11th May, 7pm
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND OBSERVER BOOK TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026April brings spring surging with it, giving rise, among many in the village, to a …
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Reading Group - Loitering with Intent
Tuesday 12th May, 7pm
A funny and clever novel about art and reality and the way they imitate each other, from the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. …
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Reading Group - Fictions & The Invention
Tuesday 12th May, 7.30pm
Creating awe-inspiring dream-like worlds of puzzlement and mystery within a tiny space, the short fictions of Borges are amongst the most original and intriguing writings of …
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Robert Macfarlane
Tuesday 19th May, 7pm
From the creators of the internationally bestselling, award-winning, multi-adapted phenomenon The Lost Words: a dazzling celebration of birdlife in Britain, re-imagining the classic field guide for …
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Peter Jones
Wednesday 20th May, 7pm
What can a twelfth-century monk teach us about burnout, envy, or despair? Far more than we might imagine. In Self-Help from the Middle Ages, historian Peter …
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Minette Batters
Tuesday 26th May, 7pm
The first female president of the National Farmers' Union in its 109-year history tells the story of how she fought tooth and nail for British farms …
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Olly Smith
Thursday 25th June, 7pm
In an idyllic Sussex town, murder is fermenting..Barclay Flint is the charmingly eccentric proprietor of The Bottle Bank wine shop, nestled in a picturesque Sussex town …
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David Baldacci
Friday 31st July, 7pm
REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . .After turning informant for the FBI against a global criminal empire, Walter Nash has lost everything he …
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Yotam Ottolenghi
Monday 14th September, 7.30pm
It's a noisy world out there, so stop, take a minute or two, listen to the soup bubble or the egg crackle... and let simple cooking …
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Robert Harris
Wednesday 21st October, 7pm
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, BBC CULTURE, THE MIRROR AND RADIO TIMES.From the bestselling author of Conclave comes a new …
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