Pavilion

Come and meet renowned pastry chef, author and Junior Bake Off Judge Ravneet Gill at Cafe Murano’s Book Club evening, talking about all things sweet and her new book Sugar, I Love You.

Cafe Murano Book Club is a series of engaging, inspiring, creative evenings dedicated to the best in food writing. On the last Sunday of the month, you’ll be able to meet outstanding writers in the intimate, relaxed setting of the Bermondsey restaurant. Here, you will be brought big names, introduced you to rising stars and new talents, and served up a diverse mix of writers and cooks to share culinary perspectives from around the world.

Hosted by food writer Mark Diacono, Cafe Murano’s Book Club evenings include an interview in which Mark hopes to find out what brought the guest to this point it their career, what inspired their latest book, and more. There’s also a Q&A, giving you the opportunity to ask Ravneet questions, and to buy her latest book and have it signed and dedicated.

Tickets are £85 and a two-course meal, wine, cocktail and nibbles on arrival is included in the price.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ravneet Gill grew up LOVING sugar. For as long as she can remember it’s been her friend and constant companion – from dairy milk fruit & nut bars, to kitkats, cornettos, treacle sponges, profiteroles and more (she really could go on). It’s little wonder that she grew up to become a pastry chef working in some of London’s most respected food institutions such as London St. John and Llewellyn’s.

With more photographs and detailed recipes from beginning to end, Sugar, I Love You takes homemade patisserie to the next level with Rav’s signature style, wit and easy-to-follow approach. Interspersed with anecdotes and essays on ‘How not to be a sugar snob’ and ‘What to do when your dinner guest doesn’t eat sugar?’ , this book is bursting with colour, flavour and personality. Are you ready to take it to the next level? Rav thinks so…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author of the bestselling A Pastry Chef’s Guide, Ravneet Gill studied at Le Cordon Bleu before taking over the pastry sections at St John, Llewelyn’s, and Wild by Tart. Now a freelance chef, she set up industry networking forum Countertalk in May 2018 as well the hugely successful PUFF bakery school and pop-up in 2019.

In 2020, she was announced as the new judge of Channel 4’s Junior Bake Off starring alongside Liam Charles.

As well as column contributions as a pastry specialist for the Telegraph and Guardian Feast, Ravneet was also winner in the ‘Best Breakthrough’ category at the 2021 GQ magazine Food & Drink Awards.  In June 2021, she launched a new online cookery school The Damson Jelly Academy.

Cafe Murano Book Club

When: Sunday, 24th April, 6-9pm 
Where: Cafe Murano Bermondsey, 184 Bermondsey St, London, SE1 3TQ
Tickets: £85

Join world leading wine expert Oz Clarke for an intimate hour of wine tasting tips, chat and opinion, and, of course, wine. Part of Stroud Festival of Food & Drink, this event is in association with Portabar.

Infinitely knowledgeable and always entertaining, Oz Clarke will help you beat a path through the often confusing minefield of wine appreciation. So if you want to learn more about this rather lovely subject, there is no better person to take you on this journey.

Oz Clarke is one of the world’s leading wine experts, whose formidable reputation is based on his extensive wine knowledge and accessible, no-nonsense approach. His passion for the subject dates from his student days at Oxford University, where he won tasting competitions at a precociously early age. Since then his tasting skills have won him an international reputation and he is acknowledged as having one of the finest palates of anyone writing about wine today. He brings a refreshingly unorthodox wit and directness to the subject and has won all the major wine writing awards both in the UK and the USA.

‘Clarke has a remarkably acute palate, a refreshingly unpretentious attitude about wine and the writing talent to bring it all to life on the printed page.’ Wine Spectat.

His book English Wine: From Still to sparking is out now.

Tickets for this exclusive event include drinks and nibbles.

ABOUT THE BOOK

One of the great pleasures of wine is to drink it where it is grown and made. Both wine handbook and armchair companion, English Wine is an essential book for all lovers of wine. The opportunity to meet growers, winemakers and winery owners is what draws people to visit wineries and ‘have an experience in the vineyard’.The book is split into sections:
Exciting Times – How it used to be; The Nyetimber effect; Climate: is it almost perfect now?; Location is key; Planting like made; A question of style: sparkling or still; and Grape varieties: a race to the top.
British Bubbles – What is needed to make good fizz; Champagne, the original fizz; Bubbles and how they’re created.
A Tour Of the Regions – covers personal experiences and reflections from Oz’s many years of visiting talented and passionate producers up and down the country. From Yorkshire to the far west of Cornwall and across to Wales, a small but dynamic part of the UK’s wine movement, Oz recommends wines he has enjoyed and found interesting and encourages you to try for yourself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Oz Clarke is one of the world’s leading wine experts, known for his phenomenal palate, irreverent style, accurate predictions, and enthusiasm for life in general and wine in particular. He is the author of many award-winning books on wine. Before wine took over his life in 1984, Oz was a full-time actor and singer, appearing in West End hit shows and touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Alongside his entertaining television and radio broadcasts, including ‘Food and Drink’, ‘Oz and James’ with James May and James Martin’s Saturday Morning, he presents a series of concerts, Drink to Music! with the acclaimed Armonico Consort. Oz is also sports mad. He was awarded an OBE in 2020.

Oz Clarke – Masterclass

When: Saturday 21st May, 4.15pm
Where: The Subscription Rooms, George St, Stroud, GL5 1AE
Tickets: £46.50

HarperCollins UK has, as of 1st December 2021, completed the acquisition of Pavilion Books and its imprints Collins & Brown, Pavilion, Portico, Robson, National Trust and Pavilion Children’s.

Pavilion’s adult non-fiction publishing joins the HQ and Mills & Boon division as Pavilion, National Trust publishing has joined Collins Learning, while the Pavilion children’s list is now part of Farshore.

The Batsford and Pitkin imprints have been retained by owner and publisher Polly Powell as B.T. Batsford, which remains a stand-alone privately-owned business. For more information on Batsford, visit their new website www.batsfordbooks.com

This lift-the-flap fun and joyous story celebrates all things silly. This is the perfect way to teach children their first ten numbers, whilst also allowing for some fun along the way. After the storytelling, Jon will be doing a drawing activity.  A brilliant way to start a Saturday!

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book has been specially designed for parents to read to their children so that they may learn how to sit quietly, eat their peas and respect their elders. The previous statement was a lie.

The children are behaving sensibly – painting peacefully, helping with the washing, brushing their teeth and more. But what is under the flap? Are they making a mess? Dressing up a lion? Brushing the teeth of a crocodile? How silly! Close that flap quick!

This book will engage young children, holding their attention through its interactive flap-out page design, the minimal use of illustration and the use of repetitive and simple phrases. Lander’s highly skilled and original illustrative style feels spontaneous and freehand which complements the ‘silly’ subject matter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jon Lander is a UK-based author and illustrator. His critically acclaimed illustrations are made lovingly free-hand using watercolours and inks, giving them a pleasing sense of spontaneity and originality. In 2018 he completed the hugely prestigious MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University.

STORYTIME WITH JON LANDER

When: Saturday 20th November, 11am
Where: Bags of Books Bookshop, 1 South St, Lewes East Sussex BN7 2BT
Tickets: The reading is free to attend

There will also be other events linked to this exhibition. On Saturday 6th November at 6.30pm there will be a talk and discussion on craftivism and on Friday, 26th November at 7.30pm an evening of words and music.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Illustrated by award-winner Emily Haworth-Booth, and written by Emily and her sister Alice, this book is a timely history of peaceful protests from around the world – from 1170 BCE to the present day.

Protest has changed the planet – from Roman times to today, ordinary people have stood up for what they believe in and made the world a better place. Children are more likely now than ever before to make a peaceful stand against what they believe is wrong in the world. The time is right for a book that sets out the history of protest and how it has changed our society.

This book covers the global history of protest from 1170 BCE, when workers on the pyramids in Egypt went on strike for more food, to the present day, with the school strikes for climate. From the women’s march in Rome, through the peasants’ revolt, the abolitionist movement and the suffragette movement right through to Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter.

Also included are the Native American Ghost Dance, the Abolitionist Movement, Women’s Suffrage Movement, anti-nuclear movement, the Stonewall riots, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Arab Spring, Hong Kong umbrella protests and much more. The book covers civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, anti-apartheid, environmental campaigns and more.

It also looks at creative ways of protesting – theatrical interventions, singing protests, guerrilla gardening, tree-sitting, noisy protests and surreal happenings.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alice Haworth-Booth is a graphic designer and writer. She has spent over a decade creating bold and colourful visuals for campaigns and activist groups and has won awards for her short stories. Protest! is her first book.

Emily Haworth-Booth is an award-winning author, illustrator and educator who teaches at the Royal Drawing School in London, England. Alongside her children’s picture books, Emily is currently working on a long-form graphic memoir for adults. Her short comics have previously appeared in print in the Observer and Vogue. Along with her sister, Alice Haworth-Booth, she is an activist with Extinction Rebellion.

When: Friday November 5th until Saturday November 27th
Where: The Plough Arts Centre Limited, 9–11 Fore Street, Great Torrington, Devon, EX38 8HQ
Tickets: The exhibition is free to attend

Join Pam Smy and Vivian French as they discuss Pam’s highly anticipated new book, The Hideaway, at Blackwell’s of Edinburgh.

Chaired by talented bestselling author and MBE recipient, Vivian French. Come along to what will undoubtedly be a truly inspiring evening, discussing The Hideaway, the sketchbook-to-published-book journey and Pam’s remarkable career to date. This is the perfect event for graphic novel readers, book lovers and anyone who thinks actually they might have a book in them and wants to know where to begin.

The bookshop has level access, events are seated and speakers use microphones. If you have any concerns about accessibility, please do get in touch and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Covid 19 Precautions will be adhered to ensure the safety of our attendees, authors and booksellers. Please do not attend the event if you are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19 or if you have been advised to self-isolate. Blackwell asks that all ticket holders wear a face mask whilst in the shop, medical exemptions will continue to apply. For more information or if you would like a signed copy because you can’t make it to the event, please contact the Blackwell’s events team on 0131 622 8222 or matthew.land@blackwell.co.uk

ABOUT THE BOOK

The wonderful long-awaited second novel from Pam Smy, celebrated author and illustrator of Thornhill.

The Hideaway tells the story of a boy, Billy McKenna, who runs away from a difficult situation at home and takes refuge in an overgrown graveyard. While hiding there he meets an elderly man who is tending the graves in preparation for a day in November when something magical is set to happen.

The book is written in two alternating narratives, both different aspects of the same story. One thread tells of Billy’s experience of hiding away in the graveyard, his mixed-up feelings and emotions, and the supernatural events he eventually witnesses. The other tells of his mother’s situation at home and the police search for Billy. Covering themes of family, childhood, separation and reunion, domestic violence and doing the right thing, this is an important and beautiful book for middle grade readers right up to adults.

Billy’s story is illustrated throughout with tonal and textured black and white drawings, until the event on All Souls’ Eve, when the text gives way to a series of double-page images of the supernatural happening.

The Hideaway is a compelling, exciting and emotional story that will stay with you long after you finish the last page.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pam Smy studied Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, where she now lectures part-time. Pam has illustrated books by Conan Doyle (The Hound of the Baskervilles), Julia Donaldson (Follow the Swallow) and Kathy Henderson (Hush, Baby, Hush!), among others. She lives in Cambridge. Her first novel, Thornhill was a critical and commercial success, shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the UKLA Book Awards, and the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018 and winning the 2018 British Book Design & Production Award for Graphic Novels.

When: Saturday September 11th, 6pm
Where: Blackwell’s Bookshop, 53-62 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1YS
Tickets: Registration for this event is free

ABOUT THE BOOK

The owner of Tiddles and Monty has the most marvellous thing to show them.  

A cake, with extra chocolate and bonbons too!  Delicious!

She knows she can trust her dear little cats to look after it for a moment… but when she returns the cake is GONE!

Just WHO could the culprit be?  Surely it couldn’t be her own darling sweet little Monty?

Find out in Oh Monty!, a story packed with mischievous humour and plenty of drama!  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susannah Lloyd is the author of The Terribly Friendly Fox, illustrated by Ellie Snowdon, and This Book Can Read Your Mind, illustrated by Jacob Grant. She loves reading stories to her two sons above all things, and picture book sections in libraries and book shops are her happy place. Twitter & Instagram: @susannah_lloyd

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Nici Gregory started illustrating whilst still in primary school, drawing in the margins of her exercise books.  After studying graphic design in Hamburg, Germany, she went on to work as an in-house illustrator for a marketing firm. She now works on creating animal characters for children full-time. Twitter & Instagram: @NiciGregory.

When: Saturday 18th September, 11am
Where: Online. The launch will be streamed on Chicken And Frog Bookshop’s Facebook page
Tickets: The session is free to watch

Join historian Jennie Batchelor and practising embroiderer and lecturer Alison Larkin at an in-person talk at The Mission Theatre, as they discuss embroidery in the era of Jane Austen and their recent collaboration on Jane Austen Embroidery.

We know that Jane Austen was as skillful with a needle as she was with a pen. She was a keen amateur embroiderer who was praised for being so ‘excellent in satin stitch’ that she would have put ‘a sewing machine to shame’. Jane’s letters document her embellishing caps and gowns while trying and failing to guard the patterns so that her friends couldn’t mimic her style. But where she did get her patterns from? The most likely source is the Lady’s Magazine (1770-1832), a hugely successful women’s magazine that Jane Austen read and that for 50 years provided readers with monthly embroidery patterns. 

The event is part of the Jane Austen Festival and takes place at The Mission Theatre in Bath on September 16th. Tickets can be purchased here.

About the authors

Jennie Batchelor is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of Kent and the author of five books and many articles and book chapters. Jennie has co-hosted embroidery workshops and given various talks about embroidery, Jane Austen and Regency fashion for many events, including Lucy Worsley’s BBC documentary Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors. Jennie is also Patron of the Kent branch of the Jane Austen Society

As a practicing embroiderer, Alison Larkin lectures on various aspects of needlework. She regularly runs classes and workshops. She has won many awards and written for the journals Costume and The Journal of Dress History.

Jennie and Alison co-authored Jane Austen Embroidery, a book featuring 15 beautiful embroidery projects from the era of Jane Austen. Find out more about the book.

When: Thursday 16 September, 2-3pm
Where: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street, BA1 1UF
Tickets: Tickets are £12 and can be purchased here

Join Kate Watson-Smyth, award-winning journalist and one-woman powerhouse behind the UK’s top interiors site madaboutthehouse.com at Cheltenham Literature Festival, as she and Paula Sutton (author of Hill House Living and design guru @hillhousevintage) speak to design, interiors and lifestyle writer Becky Sunshine. Here, Watson-Smyth and Sutton will share their wealth of experience plus hints and tips on how to harness interior design to create a stylish and joyful home.

Living in a beautiful home that you’re proud of is something we all strive for and finding joy in where we live has a huge impact on our wellbeing. Does your heart sing when you open your front door?

ABOUT THE BOOK

Interiors expert Kate Watson-Smyth brings you the Mad About the House Planner for everything you need to know when renovating your home. With more and more of us working from home and spending more time in the house, it’s more important than ever that our homes are adaptable and welcoming. Packed with Kate’s knowledge and enthusiasm, this journal offers you ways to renovate your home room by room, with a focus on sustainability and money-saving tips.

Also included in this handy planner are accounts pages to note down what you’re spending money on – and when – as you renovate. It also contains an address book for useful contacts and tradesmen, checklists for all the essentials in each room, grid pages to draw your own floorplans and space to jot down your favourite shops, inspiration and websites.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kate Watson-Smyth is an award-winning journalist who has written extensively on interiors and design for publications including the Financial Times, The Independent, and the Sunday Telegraph and she has a monthly interiors column in Red. Her home has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, la Repubblica, Elle Decoration, Livingetc and Remodelista.

Kate’s acclaimed website, madaboutthehouse.com, founded in 2012, is officially the UK’s No. 1 interiors blog. The Great Indoors – which she co-hosts with Sophie Robinson – is the nation’s most popular interiors podcast. Kate has written two other bestselling books, Mad About the House: How to Decorate Your Home with Style (2018) and Mad About the House: 101 Interior Design Answers (2020).

When: Thursday 14 October, 2-3pm
Where: Hotel du Vin, Cheltenham
Tickets: Tickets are £20 plus booking fee. The ticket includes fizz and nibbles. CLF members get 10% discount. Ticket sale starts for members September 3rd at 10am, and September 10th at 10am for non-members. Booking link to follow.

ABOUT THE BOOK

How do the everyday choices you make affect animals and the environment? This book looks at all the things you can do to live cruelty-free. 

It’s a guide for older children and teenagers concerned about animals, wildlife and the planet we live on. Packed with information on how to live a cruelty-free life, it includes sections on:

Using your spending power. The choices we make – what to eat, what to buy, what to wear – and how these affect animals. Asking questions and reading labels. Cruelty-free fashion and beauty. What’s on your plate? Being vegetarian or vegan, or just eating less meat? What impact can your diet have on cruelty and on the environment? Should you have a pet? If so, would your pet choose you as its owner? Points to consider before bringing an animal into your home. Animals on show. Do zoos and animal parks look after animals or exploit them? Good zoos and their important conservation work. Watching wild animals. Watching and learning about wildlife – building an appreciation of nature and helping your mental wellbeing. Love those bugs! Many people are squeamish about insects, but these creatures are vital to ecosystems. Don’t throw it away – there is no away.

Simple things everyone can do to avoid waste: recycling, re-using, choosing plastic-free. Resist the throwaway culture. Where do you draw your line? What can you realistically achieve? Some of the difficulties, especially if family/friends don’t agree with you. What are the best (and worst) ways of influencing others? How to feel confident with your decisions. How to handle everyday situations and counterarguments. Campaigning – anti-cruelty organisations to support. The power of protest.

This book will help you to live as cruelty-free as possible and to examine all of the areas in your life where you can help animals and the environment.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Linda Newbery has published books for children of all ages and for adults. She has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and won the Costa Children’s Book Prize in 2006. Newbery had been vegetarian since her early twenties and recently became vegan. She is a long-term supporter of various welfare and environmental organisations and is a member of the campaign groups Authors4Oceans, Wild Justice and Extinction Rebellion. Twitter @lindanewbery

Gill Lewis is a multi-award-winning children’s author and activist for environmental justice and change. Her books explore our human relationship with the natural world. She lives on the edge of the Somerset Levels and writes from a treehouse in the company of squirrels. Twitter @gill__lewis

When: Sunday 8th August, 3pm
Where: Online. The session is posted on YALC’s YouTube channel so will be available after this day
Tickets: The session is free to watch