It was lovely to have Jen Campbell in the store on Wednesday 10 June 2013 to share more funny stories from her latest book 'More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops.' Jen's prequel 'Weird Things Customers Say...' is a bestseller and we were really chuffed to hear that it's been translated to several languages, including Swedish and Chinese (if I remember correctly). Congrats again, Jen!
        Jen works at Ripping Yarns, an antiquarian bookshop located at Highgate, so if you're around the area, do drop in. A passionate advocate for independent bookshops, Jen's been doing the rounds to share more funny stories collected from bookshops around the world, from as far afield as Hong Kong to South Africa. Signed copies in store :) To read Jen's blog and more about her adventures in bookshops (and other stuff too), visit her blog here.

Louisa B. Waugh spent a considerable amount of time in Gaza, where she absorbed the culture and came to love and admire its people's resilience, dark humour and drive to make a better world for themselves. She was at W&T last night to share her insight into the Gaza strip, including sides not often seen or heard in news reports. She shared vignettes of life in the Gaza strip -- stories about Christian celebrations during Ramadan, Gazans love for the sea, and the challenges faced by this indomitable people amidst the continued conflict between the Israel-Palestinian states. It was a moving event, and there was even a touching moment between Palestinian author Rabai al-Madhoun and Louisa. Thank you to Louisa, Rabai, and Saqi Books, and all who joined us for a memorable evening.

W&T hosted a Platform65 open mic poetry and music session on 1 June 2013, with special guest, the Paris-based zheng harpist, writer and literary translator, Fiona Sze-Lorrain. It was an intimate afternoon with wondeful poetry, beautiful music and awesome talent. Thank you to all who joined in. Watch this space for more acoustic sessions and literary events - coming soon! You can register for events updates here, so you don't miss out! http://www.woolfsonandtay.com/register-for-updates.html

If you could reimagine a future without the threat of climate change, what would it be like? If you could imagine a present where nothing changes, what would the future hold? A group of award-winning British authors were commissioned to devise original responses to one of the greatest challenges of our time - climate crisis. The result is Beacons: Stories for our Not too Distant Future. On hand to share what inspired them to contribute to this anthology were Gregory Norminton, Toby Litt and James Miller at W&T on the evening of 22 May 2013. This sparked a lively debate that ranged from environmental to socio-political issues, consumerism/capitalism to spirituality. Thank you to the fabulous authors for sharing their ideas and vision with us, and many thanks to those who joined us and contributed towards a thought-provoking evening.

Dr Joseph Hanlon, visiting senior fellow at LSE, and Teresa Smart, visiting fellow at University of London, were on hand on 15 May 2013 to share the findings from their most recent book, Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land. Their research indicates that - beyond the headlines - real lives have been changed by the land reform of year 2000; with many families and women now empowered to make a livelihood, and how their efforts have contributed to higher employment and lower rates of poverty. Their findings provide much food for thought on the upheavals of the postcolonial world and how people, in displaying immense resilience, overcome these. Thank you for a thought-provoking evening!

It was an honour to have author, playwright and poet Maureen Duffy at W&T yesterday. A campaigner and activist for writers' rights, Maureen has been a literary trailblazer since her debut novel was published in 1962. To date, she has published 31 works of fiction and non-fiction, including six collections of poetry, and 16 plays for stage, screen and radio. A prolific writer, Maureen's latest work, Environmental Studies, is both a reflection and meditation of her past and the present, including works which have inspired her. As she reminded us last night, having grown up in the shadow of the Great War and lived through the Second World War, she has seen, heard and experienced much -- Environmental Studies is a journey into the varied cultural worlds she conjures.

As always, it was an honour and a pleasure to have author Clare Mulley come to speak. She had come to speak at W&T in 2010 (when we were still located in Bermondsey) about Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, and her thorough research and fascinating presentation was truly insightful.
    Her latest book, The Spy Who Loved, is about Christine Granville, the first female British spy of WWII. Clare brought Christine to life during the presentation, and the photographs, archival documents and stories she shared were fascinating. Christine's story was bigger than fiction in every sense of the word, and her life, a testament to a woman's courage and determination to succeed in a world where so few dared to tread. Get your signed copies in store!

New Yorker Vanessa Hidary a.k.a. Hebrew Mamita performed an awesome set of poetry and short stories from her book The Last Kaiser Roll In The Bodega at W&T on 19 December 2012. We were very fortunate to have Vanessa at our venue for her only London performance during this trip. (Her next stop is Limmud 2012 at Coventry.) It was a spellbinding performance - a mixture of humour and heart that captivated everyone in the room. Thank you Vanessa for dropping by and mesmerising us. Thank you to the North London Yiddish choir led by Robin Rubenstein for kicking off the night with a wonderful medley.

If you missed tonight's performance or would like to check out Vanessa's work, visit her YouTube channel below:

What if oil -- like wine, chocolate or even coffee -- had identifiable provenance; would it change how we think about black gold and its many uses in our daily life?
    Author James Marriott has spent a decade studying this energy industry. Together with co-author Mika Minio-Paluello and fellow team member of Platform, an arts activism organisation based in London, The Oil Road: Journeys from the Caspian Sea to the City of London took three years to write.
    At the event on 1 November at W&T, James shared stories seldom heard: from families in Azerbaijan dealing with the consequences of an oil tunnel below their home, the massive and highly coordinated military infrastructure which protects oil tankers in Somalia to the role of BP in inadvertently propping up military juntas. Thank you James for an insightful, informative and throughtful evening. If you want to learn more about how this commodity changes lives, the environment and economies across the globe, pick up a copy of The Oil Road. Or check out Platform London's website.

"If you want to know why oil matters, read this book.” - Time Out.
”An elegantly written travel book…will make you think the next time you fill the tank.” -    Financial Times
“The Oil Road is an inspiring act of political cartography. It makes chastisingly visible the means by which we blithely consume ‘the geology of elsewhere.’”  – Robert Macfarlane, author of The Wild Places and The Old Ways

Jasia Reichardt spoke of her motivations in publishing her memoir, Fifteen Journeys: Warsaw to London, at W&T on 19 October 2012 through an illustrated talk, featuring images of artwork and texts that most influenced her as a child in prewar Warsaw. This included artwork and illustrations created by her aunt (Franciszka Themerson) and mother (Maryla Weinles-Chaykin), who was a children's illustrator. It is befitting that Jasia is now the custodian of the Themerson Archive, as her career has also spanned the art world. She was Assistant Director of the ICA in London, 1963-71, and Director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1974-76. Since 1995, with her partner, the artist Nick Wadley, she has catalogued and curated the Themerson Archive. Last night, Jasia brought to life the creative influences which have shaped her journey by sharing Polish children's songs she grew up with, as well as the beautiful artworks that surrounded her as a child. Her poignant memoir is a record of that tumultous 6-year period in her life, accented by the letters, postcards and illustrations from that time.