Thursday 19 October 2017

Halloween Events 2017



The nights are getting darker, the wind is getting chillier, and Halloween is just around the corner. Undoubtedly busy pulling together your costume for the big night, you’re probably wondering what book events you can attend to get into the scary spirit. Luckily, we’ve put together this spooky selection to send a shiver down your spine…



Andrew Michael Hurley’s debut book, The Loney, took the literary world by storm and won the Costa Novel of the Year. His new novel, Devil’s Day, is set to be just as successful and perfectly timed for an eerie Halloween read. Devil’s Day is a dark exploration of myth, tribes and folk horror in the gothic North. There are plenty of opportunities to meet Andrew somewhere local to you, hear about his writing process, and get a signed copy of the book.








If you’re craving some gothic mystery, allow us to introduce Laura Purcell’s The Silent Companions. A crumbling country mansion, a 200 year-old diary, an unsettling painted wooden figure… don’t read this one alone in the dark! Chat to Laura about her ghostly inspirations and get a signed copy to take home.

If you can't make this date you can see Laura along with Neil Spring and Elodie Harper at this evening of ghostly stories on 9th Nov. 








Wondering where Laura takes her inspiration? Discuss iconic Gothic author Shirley Jackson at these book clubs: Forgotten Fiction Book Club in Bloomsbury will be travelling back in time to the literary lost gems of the 20th Century Gothic era: Shirley Jackson and Barbara Comyns; Northcote’s monthly book club is going spooky for Halloween, reading Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, widely considered to be one of the best ghost stories of all time. Come prepared with questions, opinions, and maybe a pillow to hide behind!







We all have our favourite Halloween character: witch, mummy, goblin… If you’re Team Ghostie then then make sure your BOOk your ticket for this ghost story salon! Join a panel of four fantastic debut authors and explore what makes the perfect spine-tingling gothic tale. Chat all things ghostly horror while enjoying wine and spooky treats. “Eat, drink, and be scary!”





Joanne Harris may have written the scrumptious Chocolat, but A Pocketful of Crows is not quite so sweet, and perfectly timed for Halloween. Atmospheric, enchanting, and mysterious, Joanne’s novella is a short but powerful folk fairy tale to curl up with next to a warm fire while the wild winds howl. Meet the author and get a signed copy of her new spooktacular book at any of these four events.







For the little vampire in your life there’s the chance to meet Harriet Muncaster, the creator of the magical Isadora Moon series! Harriet has two fangtastic events featuring storytime and interactive activities – don’t forget to wear your best fancy dress!







Halloween Half Term! | Dates from 21st Oct UK wide



Waterstones shops across the country are hosting spooky events for a Halloween themed half-term. Expect ghastly treasure hunts, creepy colouring, and lots of dressed up little monsters









Wednesday 11 October 2017

Happy Birthday BookGig!


Today is a big day here at BookGig HQ as we are officially celebrating our first birthday –  we can’t believe it’s come around so fast (just like our personal birthdays in fact 😒 😒). But it’s true! BookGig was launched on 11th October 2016 as a unique platform designed to help you book loving folk discover the best literary events across the UK, covering a whole spectrum of different genres and events of all shapes and sizes.
  
From crime to celebrity memoir, cookery, children’s, poetry, to sci-fi and fantasy – BookGig has something for everyone.

A lot has happened in a year – we have featured more than 8,000 events across the UK, helping more authors reach their fans and more book lovers to find events they’ll enjoy.

BookGig’s new Facebook community might even have been partially to blame for some events selling out – there have been a few events we’ve promoted which reached over a half a million fans in under 24 hours!

And we’re only really just getting started! We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes on some new and exciting features that we think you’ll love even more.

We’re soon launching our new user recommendation engine – by generating a profile we can tailor the events you see on BookGig to make your experience unique to you. Hopefully, this means that you’ll have more free time to attend all the events that tickle your fancy. And that’s not all, we’re also going to be refreshing our website’s design to make looking for your next author talk or book signing even more easy and fun.



To our wonderful community and all of the venues, booksellers and publishers that have worked with us to bring bigger audiences together – THANK YOU! We appreciate your help and so do your attendees. Please keep letting us know about exciting events you have coming up, as we would love to help promote more amazing events around the country.

Keep watching this site and following us on social media for all the best of book based events near you.

Love,

Team BookGig