We have a unique, very special evening of music and literature lined up for you.

The event will feature a conversation with the much loved multi-award winning writer, Jonathan Coe, and a live performance from two of Bristol’s most accomplished classical musicians, Marian Givens and Juliet McCarthy

Jonathan is the author of a host of modern classics such as Middle England, The Rotter’s Club, The Proof of My Innocence and What a Carve Up! His new book, Lessons in Harmony, is a stunning, heartfelt novel about the exhilarating beauty and power of music. Set between Britain and Belle Epoque Paris, it is a fictional account of the unlikely friendship between composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Maurice Ravel, during the turbulent years leading up to and following the First World War.

This is a unique, one-off opportunity to hear from one of the UK’s leading fiction writers of the last several decades, and to experience the work of one of the 20th century’s most influential composers.

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‘Please God … if there is a next life, let me write as well as Jonathan Coe.’
Anthony Bourdain

‘A novelist who gains in range and reputation with every book.’ Pat Barker

‘Lessons In Harmony … is as witty, lapidary and elegant as a Ravel miniature and as rich and deep as Vaughan Williams at his most lyrical. With his love of music, European culture and the foibles of Britishness, Jonathan Coe is uniquely equipped to craft this story of male friendship, art, love and nationhood.’ Stuart Maconie

‘The writing has all the subtlety and wit that is customary for Jonathan Coe, but rare, and there is so much wisdom in it – about the sacrifices demanded of the friends and partners in the orbit of a musical genius, about rivalry, disappointment, and the convulsions of world politics.’ Clare Chambers

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Jonathan Coe is the award-winning, bestselling author of fifteen novels, including What a Carve Up!, The Rotters’ Club, Middle England and, most recently, The Proof of My Innocence. He has won the Costa Novel Award, the Prix du Livre Européen, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Prix Médicis Étranger and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, among many others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work has been translated into twenty-two languages.

Marian Givens studied at Royal Holloway University and the Royal Academy of Music. She currently enjoys a varied career, combining her love of both pop and classical music with session and West End work. She has toured with Beverley Knight, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Giorgio Moroder, and is co principal second violin of the Essential Orchestra, touring regularly with Pete Tong and making TV appearances. She also plays in orchestras such as the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Mozart Players, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and leads string sections for Leo Green and Benjamin Clementine in live shows. She deps on touring shows and recent productions have been Moulin Rouge, Annie, Greatest Showman, Book of Mormon, and Dear Evan Hansen. Marian is a core member the Bristol Ensemble.

Juliet McCarthy played in musical theatre productions on tour and in the West End for 15 years, including two years in London playing on West Side Story. She has played principal cello with Bristol Ensemble, the National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de Cymru, Swansea City Opera, the British Sinfonietta, and the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra among many others. As a session cellist Juliet has worked with former Massive Attack producer, Neil Davidge, on Britannia, In the Dark, Black Mirror,The Fear Index and Criminal Record. She also recently played on two Aardman animations productions, As a soloist she can be heard on many productions, including the RTE documentary North Atlantic, the film Ben is Back starring Julia Roberts, The Third Day, an HBO series starring Jude Law and Naomie Harris, and most recently on a short film, Dadio, with Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. Juliet also teaches at several Bristol schools.

The book sets out, in a very personal way, to honour the individuals who dared to reimagine how humans might care for one another. Benoît also recounts his own related experiences and describes the huge influence of his mother, a dedicated health worker, with the book featuring several moving ‘epistles’ written directly to her.

We can’t wait to hear from Benoît and we expect tickets to go swiftly for this event, so don’t wait too long before booking!

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‘Divergent and elaborate in the pursuit of its enthusiasms, balancing the personal and the intellectual, The Death of the Clinic is a book of hope and affirmation as well as of pain and grief.’ – Gavin Francis, author of The Unfragile Mind

‘Intimate and erudite, breathtaking in its historical analysis and philosophical range, The Death of the Clinic illuminates bold experiments in non-hierarchical medicine, offering expansive possibilities for solidarity, self-determination and communal care.’ – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of Terry Dactyl

‘The Death of the Clinic is an inspiring, essential book.’ – Chris Kraus, author of The Four Spent the Day Together

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Benoît Loiseau is a Belgian-born, Franco-British writer, critic and scholar based in Brooklyn and Paris. A founding editor of queer anthology The BitterSweet Review, he has written for ArtReview, frieze, The Guardian, The New York Times and The White Review. He read philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure (PSL) and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in French and Comparative Literature at New York University and Paris 8 University.

Claire Carroll is a writer, editor and academic researcher whose writing has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and published in journals and anthologies including The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Prototype and Best of British Short Stories. Her debut collection of short stories, The Unreliable Nature Writer, was released in 2024 with Scratch Books. Her latest publication, TREATMENT, a book-length poem co-authored with Andrew Hykel Mears, was released in September 2026 with Dialect Press. She is currently editor of short fiction for Ambient Receiver Journal.

Benoît Loiseau Photo credit: Gioncarlo Valentine

We are thrilled to say that we will be joined by artist, curator and writer, Paul Coldwell next month, who will be discussing his fascinating new book, Ink Paper Chisel Grain: A Remarkable History of Woodcuts.

Paul has studied and worked with woodcuts for several decades, so brings an enormous wealth of knowledge and insight to this riveting subject.

Here’s more on the book from its publisher – Penguin imprint, Michael Joseph:

Ink Paper Chisel Grain is a book about why the woodcut matters and why its power to shock, thrill and inspire has never diminished. From third-century China through to the present day, celebrated printmaker Paul Coldwell explores how we have used the medium to visualise ideas, capture key moments in history and help shape the society around us, telling the story of the art form itself in all its historical and intellectual significance.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, Ink Paper Chisel Grain is an ode to craft and care, conveying the marvel and excitement of seeing a woodcut for the first time – and what makes these encounters so unforgettable.

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‘A fascinating account of the hidden history of the humble woodcut.’ Sunday Times

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Paul Coldwell is an artist, curator, researcher and writer who has worked with and studied woodcuts for more than fifty years. His work has been exhibited in numerous public collections, including the Tate, the V&A, the British Museum, the Musee d’art et d’histoire (Geneva) and MoMA (New York), and since 2001 he has been a Professor in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of the Arts London. He has been a regular contributor to publications including Art in Print, Printmaking Today and Print Quarterly, and he is the author of several books, including Printmaking: A Contemporary Perspective.

This is the time of year that has us scratching our heads and staring off into the middle distance as we try to work out how to shoehorn in yet more stacks of new books that we blithley ordered back in the summer when we didn’t have to think about where they would actually go. We tessellate and retessellate, and give thanks that at least they are roughly all the same shape.

A firm favourite in the shop, and a master of surreal humour, wit and invention, Juan Pablo Villalobos is joining us in October to discuss his superb novel, The Past Pursues Us Like Detectives, Debt Collectors, Thieves. The Mexican author will be in conversation with the poet, translator and academic, Rebecca Kosick.

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‘A rambunctious picaresque of contemporary Mexican life, rendered into English by [Daniel] Hahn with appropriate energy.’ Kit Maude, Times Literary Supplement

‘Juan Pablo Villalobos … demonstrates his classic wit and penchant for the absurd, blurring the lines of genre and protagonist with its author.’ Andrés Ordorica, The Skinny

‘The Past Pursues Us is a masterful example of how to push autobiography to the extremes of fiction, allowing the imagination to explore themes rooted in the author’s life. Themes that, when taken to their limits, reveal a sharp glimpse of an inexorable truth.’ Nicolás Giacobone, screenwriter of Birdman

‘Vividly drawn, darkly amusing and never dull.’ Chris Allnutt, Financial Times

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Juan Pablo Villalobos was born in Mexico in 1973. He’s the author of the novels Down the Rabbit Hole (shortlisted for The Guardian First Book Award), Quesadillas, I’ll Sell You a Dog, I Won’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me and The Invasion of the Spirit People, and of the non-fiction book The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Who Dream of Crossing the Border. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages. Down the Rabbit Hole and I Won’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me were adapted for film and premiered on Netflix. He lives in Barcelona, where he teaches writing.

Rebecca Kosick is a poet, translator, and Associate Professor of Comparative Poetry and Poetics at the University of Bristol, where she also codirects the Bristol Poetry Institute. She has published four books, most recently Dispatches from the Avant-Garage: The Alternative Press.