One of our favourite books, Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book turns 50 this year. The story follows a grandmother and granddaughter spending their summer swimming in icy waters, smoking and living life on a tiny island in the Finnish archipelago. Hear Sophia Jansson – the inspiration for six year old Sophia in the book – sharing her memories with Fleur Sinclair on 1 September. The event hosted by Bookshop.org is free to stream for anyone who buys a copy of the book from a participating independent bookshop. Full details here.
Fans of Barbara Kingsolver will be excited to hear she has a new book on the way. Demon Copperhead is a reimagining of David Copperfield for the modern age. Hear her in conversation with writer, Ruth Ozeki discussing the inspiration for the book, the American opioid crisis and why Dickens provided the link. Book tickets to the virtual event that will livestream on 18th October here. It’s just one of the great talks coming up from FANE Productions – whose autumn line up also includes Dolly Alderton taking her Sunday Times agony aunt column, Dear Dolly to live audiences and women’s football star, Alex Scott talking about her career and memoir.
And it’s time to get tickets for Queen’s Park Book Festival which has to be our favourite London literary festival. Not only is it great value (a £20 ticket gets you into as many talks as you like) but it somehow manages to feel low key and local whilst pulling in some big names. This year’s line up includes Robert Harris revealing his new novel, Colin Thubron on travel writing and Susie Boys and Gwendoline Riley discussing mothers and daughters. The festival runs 17 – 18 September, find the full program and tickets here.
A Little Bird Loves
