Check out our first year of events below!
Monday 29th April
The Price of Life: Jenny Kleeman in conversation
We say that life is priceless. Yet the cost of saving a life, creating a life or compensating for a life taken is routinely calculated and put into practice. What do we lose and what do we gain by leaving the judgments that really matter up to cold, hard logic?
Above the Bookshop
6:30pm
£8 + Poly fund
Tuesday 30th April
Blue Machine with Helen Czerski
Earth is home to a huge story that is rarely told – that of our ocean. Not the fish or the dolphins, but the massive ocean engine itself: what it does, why it works, and the many ways it has influenced animals, weather and human history & culture.
The Poly, Falmouth
6:30pm
£8 + Poly fund
Wednesday 1st May
Witchcraft: Marion Gibson in conversation
The world of witch-hunts and witch trials sounds archaic and fanciful, these terms relics of an unenlightened, brutal age. However, we often hear ‘witch-hunt’ in today’s media, and the misogyny that shaped witch trials is all too familiar.
The Poly, Falmouth
6:30pm
£8 + Poly fund
Thursday 2nd May
Botanical Short Stories
Join us in the shop for the launch of Botanical Short Stories, a curated celebration of contemporary writing about plants and flowers.
We’ll be welcoming both editor Emma Timpany and illustrator Sarah Jane Humphrey to talk about the collection and how it came to fruition.
Falmouth Bookseller
6pm
Free entry
Wayward Pub Quiz
How’s your general knowledge? Niche facts? Maybe some bookish trivia?
Join us for the Wayward Pub Quiz – a not-entirely-bookish quiz hosted by Above the Bookshop.
Tickets are per person with a maximum of 6 per team – each table will also be joined by one of our fabulous local authors. Bring your a-game and a punny team name!
Everyone on the winning team of the night will win a £10 book token to be redeemed at Falmouth Bookseller!
Above the Bookshop
7:30pm
£4+ Poly fund
Saturday 4th May
Save Me from the Waves with Jessica Hepburn
Save Me from the Waves is an inspirational story of physical and mental endurance which starts on the streets of London and culminates on top of the world, fuelled by song. It explores the redemptive power of music and mountains, how family and friends can be lost and found in the most unusual places, and encourages everyone to live big and bravely when life doesn’t go to plan – because sometimes we all need saving from the waves.
The Poly, Falmouth
1pm
£8 + Poly fund
Weathering: Ruth Allen in conversation
Rocks and mountains have withstood aeons of life on our planet – gradually eroding, shifting, solidifying, and weathering. We might spend a little less time on earth, but humans are also weathering: evolving and changing as we’re transformed by the shifting climates of our lives and experiences. So, what might these ancient natural forms have to teach us about resilience and change?
In a world shaken by physical, political, and medical disasters, Weathering argues for a deeper understanding of the ground beneath our feet to better serve ourselves and the world we live in.
Weathering
Rocks and mountains have withstood aeons of life on our planet – gradually eroding, shifting, solidifying, and weathering. We might spend a little less time on earth, but humans are also weathering: evolving and changing as we’re transformed by the shifting climates of our lives and experiences. So, what might these ancient natural forms have to teach us about resilience and change?
In a stunning exploration of our own connection to these enduring forms, outdoor psychotherapist and geologist Ruth Allen takes us on a journey through deep time and ancient landscapes, showing how geology – which has formed the bedrock of her own adult life and approach to therapy – can offer us a new way of thinking about our own grief, change and boundaries.
In a world shaken by physical, political, and medical disasters, Weathering argues for a deeper understanding of the ground beneath our feet to better serve ourselves and the world we live in.
Above the Bookshop
3:30pm
£8 + Poly fund
The Walnut Tree: Kate Morgan in conversation
Exploring the 19th- and early 20th Century legal history that influenced the modern-day stances on issues such as domestic abuse, sexual violence and divorce, The Walnut Tree lifts the lid on the shocking history of women under British law – and what it means for women today.
The Walnut Tree: Women, Violence and the Law – a Hidden History
‘A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more they are beaten, the better they’ll be.’
So went the proverb quoted by a prominent MP in the Houses of Parliament in 1853. His words – intended ironically in a debate about a rise in attacks on women – summed up the prevailing attitude of the day, in which violence against women was waved away as a part and parcel of modern living – a chilling seam of misogyny that had polluted both parliament and the law. But were things about to change?
In this vivid and essential work of historical non-fiction, Kate Morgan explores the legal campaigns, test cases and individual injustices of the Victorian and Edwardian eras which fundamentally re-shaped the status of women under British law. These are seen through the untold stories of women whose cases became cornerstones of our modern legal system and shine a light on the historical inequalities of the law.
We hear of the uniquely abusive marriage which culminated in the dramatic story of the ‘Clitheroe wife abduction’; of the domestic tragedies which changed the law on domestic violence; the controversies surrounding the Contagious Diseases Act and the women who campaigned to abolish it; and the real courtroom stories behind notorious murder cases such as the ‘Camden Town Murder’.
Exploring the 19th- and early 20th Century legal history that influenced the modern-day stances on issues such as domestic abuse, sexual violence and divorce, The Walnut Treelifts the lid on the shocking history of women under British law – and what it means for women today.
Above the Bookshop
6pm
£8 + Poly fund