Book-ish

Upcoming events at Book-ish

Community

An evening with ... Robin Ince

We are excited to welcome Robin Ince back to Book-ish with his brand new book! About Robin Ince For over thirty years, award-winning broadcaster and comedian Robin Ince has entertained thousands in person and on air. But underneath the surface, a whirlwind was at play – a struggle with sadness, concentration, self-doubt and near-constant anxiety. But then he discovered he had all the hallmarks of ADHD, and his stumbling blocks became stepping stones. About Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity What if being a bit weird is actually entirely normal? What if sharing our internal struggles wasn’t a sign of weakness, but of strength? In Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, Robin uses his own life to explore the neurodivergent experience and to ask what the point of ‘being normal’ really is. Packed with personal insights, intimate anecdotes and interviews with psychologists, neuroscientists and many neurodivergent people he has met along the way, this is a quirky and witty dive into the world of human behaviour. ‘This is a comforting hug of a book. Insightful, warm, funny and compassionate, it will make readers, whether neurotypical or neurodivergent, feel less alone’ – Laura Bates, bestselling author of Everyday Sexism‘Weirdness is inescapable, and no one does it better than Robin Ince. A superb book, celebrating the needed weirdness in us all’ – Chris Hadfield, astronaut and five-time bestselling author Event Format: Author talk followed by audience...

Mon 8 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Book-ish Writing Group - June

A monthly meeting in Book-ish for writers of all levels to write, develop, and share their work in an informal and supportive setting. Members will write something new in every session and should feel free to bring their own writing to share with the group. We usually meet on the second Tuesday of each month. Any questions at all, please

Tue 9 Jun20:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Don't miss the next one

What's on near Crughywel, in your inbox

One email a week with the local stuff worth knowing — before it's already happened.

Sign up for Crughywel

Free. Unsubscribe whenever you like.

Community

An evening with ... Ben Giles

Perfect for fans of true crime and unusual professional confessionals! About Ben Giles Ben Giles has spent thirty years cleaning what most people can’t bear to imagine. Dead bodies decomposing for weeks. Kitchen floors painted with blood. Hoarders’ homes where the filth tells stories of unimaginable loneliness. A whale carcass lodged on a cargo ship. This is the Britain you never see – until someone needs to make it disappear. Starting with nothing but a bucket of Dettol and a can-do attitude, Giles built the UK’s leading biohazard cleaning network. From industrial spillages to animal remains, he’s faced horrors that would break most people – and taught hundreds of people to do the same, in full hazmat gear. Yet threaded through the gore and dark humour is something unexpected: profound compassion for the lives interrupted, the families destroyed, and the deaths that society prefers to forget. About The Specialist – How to clean a crime scene and other messes Ben shares firsthand accounts of his most harrowing and bizarre experiences, offering readers an insider’s look at a profession that few understand. Blending dark humour with poignant reflections, Ben’s relatable anecdotes and candid confessions provide a refreshing take on the true crime genre. Beyond the gruesome details, Ben imparts valuable lessons on resilience, entrepreneurship, and the importance of tackling life’s messes, both literal and metaphorical.

Wed 10 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

An evening with ... Rachel Joyce

The Homemade God is a sharp, emotionally charged family drama set in sun-soaked Italy. Four siblings reunite after their father’s death and long-buried secrets rise to the surface. Beautifully written and full of tension, it’s a story about family, grief, and the lies we tell ourselves. About Rachel Joyce Rachel Joyce  is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and more. Rachel’s books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The critically acclaimed film of the novel, for which Rachel also wrote the screenplay, was released in 2023. More about The Handmade God. Family is everything, even when it falls apart. There is a heatwave across Europe. Goose and his three sisters gather at the family’s house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece.

Wed 10 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Talks & Lectures

A Tea Talk with Tea From The Manor

What goes better together than books and tea! James Green, Tea Merchant and Proprietor of Tea From The Manor joins us to give a tea talk! Hear all about how to make the perfect brew, how tea is made and stories about different types of tea. About Tea From The Manor The beginnings of Tea from The Manor is a delightfully simple story. James Green was a Military man, starting his army career in the Royal Horse Artillery before spending many years in active service in Northern Ireland, Hong Kong and Cyprus. Tea is central to a life of soldiering in good times and times of conflict. This interest in tea stayed with James in “civvy street” and became a passion that sparked the founding of Tea from The Manor. Today, Tea from The Manor brings the finest full leaf teas from the best tea gardens around the world to delight the palates of its customers. Our loose and bagged teas are of the finest grade and taken by those seeking a first class tea experience – passionate about tea! Tea From The Manor’s Website

Mon 15 Jun16:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Around £12.

Lgbtq+ Book Club Launch

You are invited to the launch of our brand new LGBTQ+ Book Club! Celebrate Pride Month and come and have a drink (soft or otherwise!) with us and meet new friends for your new book club! We will have a very special appearance from the author of our first book choice to announce what we will be reading! A paperback is included in ticket, up to the price of £9.99. Event Format: Late night bookshop opening to choose your book, mingling and announcement of our first book for the book club! Tickets: £12. This includes a glass of wine or soft drink and a paperback up to the value of £9.99 Venue: The Loft at Bookish (access by stairs) is located in our flagship store in Crickhowell. Please use the front door entrance from 6.45pm. The bookshop will be open before the event and for a limited time after the event. Any books purchased on the night will be 10% off. *10% off offer can not be used in conjunction with any other offer including the paper back in the ticket price Please let us know if you have an accessibility/mobility requirements. Refunds: It is our general policy not to refund event tickets unless an event has sold out. In the case of sold out events where we have a waiting list for tickets, we will attempt to sell on your tickets at face value, if notified 7 days prior to the event. If sold, you will receive a refund for the ticket value.

Mon 15 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Sports & Fitness

Yoga in the bookshop

A one off special event for Independent Bookshop Week! Join us for yoga in our beautiful, light, loft space, surrounded by books. This morning class will include some relaxing breathing techniques, movement and gentle stretches. All welcome. Please note the room is upstairs. Bring a mat, cushion and a blanket. If you don’t have a mat one can be provided.

Tue 16 Jun08:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Sports & Fitness

Crickhowell Coven does Yoga in the bookshop

Part of our Crickhowell Coven series. These events centre around the magical and the mythical, and bring together a community of likeminded people. A one off special event for Independent Bookshop Week! Join us for yoga in our beautiful, light, loft space, surrounded by books. This morning class will include some relaxing breathing techniques, movement and gentle stretches. All welcome. Please note the room is upstairs. Bring a mat, cushion and a blanket. If you don’t have a mat one can be provided.

Tue 16 Jun08:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Talks & Lectures

Around £300

A walk and talk with ... Paul Harris - The Warrior Walker

‘An epic and inspirational journey that everyone should read’ JASON FOX, SAS: WHO DARES WINS We’re doing something a little bit different with Paul! We are meeting outside Book-ish in Crickhowell at 3pm to walk up Table Mountain (weather permitting) together. Then come back at 7.30pm to hear Paul talk about his book in our usual evening event style. About Paul Harris and The Warrior Walker In 2020, Paul Harris aka ‘The Warrior Walker’ set off on a walking pilgrimage around the UK that would change his life and the way he saw the world forever. Weighed down by a traumatic military past in the marines, a brief but surreal moment as a reality TV contestant (on Channel 4’s Shipwrecked) and a temporary teaching career in Thailand, Paul was forced home when a visa mix-up tipped his life over. With no real family to speak of, very few friends, and a collapsing, long distance relationship to grieve, he seriously contemplated taking his own life at the age of 36. Then a random text from a friend delivered a route map to emotional safety during what were possibly his final few hours. Paul, why don’t you walk the British coast path? With only £300 in his pocket and a 30-kilo rucksack on his back, Paul decided to leave his life as he knew it and took up wild camping, slept rough, struggled along the coast paths of Devon, Cornwall and Wales in the sideways rain, and wading through knee-high snowdrifts around the Scottish islands and the burning summer sun on England’s east coast. Walking...

Tue 16 Jun16:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

SPECIAL EVENT! Writing Wednesday

A one off special event for Independent Bookshop Week! Join us for a special writing session run by our wonderful bookseller and writer Hannah.

Wed 17 Jun20:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

An evening with ... Kim Willis

No Fair Maidens is part memoir, part exploration of the powerful, often forgotten, ancient goddesses and matriarchs of Britain. In this beautifully written and lyrical work, Kim Willis uses ancient stories and mythologies to question what it means to be a woman today… About Kim Willis In her late thirties, Kim Willis was told by a doctor that she’d never be able to conceive children, a conversation that made her question the very course of her life. Living in a warehouse in East London, her life a whirlwind of BBQs and baby showers, Kim felt herself drifting from the traditional path of marriage and motherhood, and yearning for a new set of stories to light her way.Kim Willis is a narrative strategist and journalist based between London and South Wales. She has designed storytelling strategies for Number 10 and the UN, written about wild places for the Guardian and was the founder of ‘Heroine’s Journey’ speaker series. About No Fair Maidens Returning to her native Wales, Kim Willis immersed herself in stories of ancient goddesses and matriarchs: shape-shifting enchantresses, scaly nymphs and goddesses who once commanded our lands.

Thu 18 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Crickhowell Coven evening with ... Kim Willis

Part of our Crickhowell Coven series. These events centre around the magical and the mythical, and bring together a community of likeminded people. No Fair Maidens is part memoir, part exploration of the powerful, often forgotten, ancient goddesses and matriarchs of Britain. In this beautifully written and lyrical work, Kim Willis uses ancient stories and mythologies to question what it means to be a woman today… About Kim Willis In her late thirties, Kim Willis was told by a doctor that she’d never be able to conceive children, a conversation that made her question the very course of her life. Living in a warehouse in East London, her life a whirlwind of BBQs and baby showers, Kim felt herself drifting from the traditional path of marriage and motherhood, and yearning for a new set of stories to light her way.Kim Willis is a narrative strategist and journalist based between London and South Wales. She has designed storytelling strategies for Number 10 and the UN, written about wild places for the Guardian and was the founder of ‘Heroine’s Journey’ speaker series. About No Fair Maidens Returning to her native Wales, Kim Willis immersed herself in stories of ancient goddesses and matriarchs: shape-shifting enchantresses, scaly nymphs and goddesses who once commanded our lands.

Thu 18 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

An evening with ... Rachel Joyce

The Homemade God is a sharp, emotionally charged family drama set in sun-soaked Italy. Four siblings reunite after their father’s death and long-buried secrets rise to the surface. Beautifully written and full of tension, it’s a story about family, grief, and the lies we tell ourselves. About Rachel Joyce Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and more. Rachel’s books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The critically acclaimed film of the novel, for which Rachel also wrote the screenplay, was released in 2023. More about The Handmade God. Family is everything, even when it falls apart. There is a heatwave across Europe. Goose and his three sisters gather at the family’s house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece.

Fri 19 Jun20:30Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Signing with Terry Green

Join us for a signing with Terry Green at our shop in Abergavenny. Entry is free and there will be books available to buy.

Sat 20 Jun14:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

SPECIAL EVENT! Summer Solstice Vision Boarding

Join us for a special event to celebrate the Summer Solstice during Independent Bookshop Week. Where better to create a vision for the next half of the year than surrounded by inspirational books! Charlotte, our Events Manager and certified Life Coach, will take the group through various exercises focusing on, and getting clear on, your values and what you want to bring into your life before getting creative, cutting and sticking to create a vision board for the second half of 2026 and beyond! All paper and crafts will be provided. If you have anything specific you’d like to put on your vision board please bring it along.

Sun 21 Jun16:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Crickhowell Coven Summer Solstice Vision Boarding

Part of our Crickhowell Coven series. These events centre around the magical and the mythical, and bring together a community of likeminded people. Join us for a special event to celebrate the Summer Solstice during Independent Bookshop Week. Where better to create a vision for the next half of the year than surrounded by inspirational books! Charlotte, our Events Manager and certified Life Coach, will take the group through various exercises focusing on, and getting clear on, your values and what you want to bring into your life before getting creative, cutting and sticking to create a vision board for the second half of 2026 and beyond! All paper and crafts will be provided. If you have anything specific you’d like to put on your vision board please bring it along.

Sun 21 Jun16:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Community

Around £10

An evening with...Geraint Anderson

Geraint Anderson is the former banker who blew the whistle on high finance with his bestselling memoir ‘Cityboy’. Now he is back with his new book ‘How to Con Friends and Manipulate People’ Geraint Anderson is a best-selling author, journalist, speaker and filmmaker. In 1996, Geraint’s brother tricked him into trying out a job as an equity analyst at an investment bank and, ten years later, despite his best efforts to self-destruct, he found himself heading one of the highest-ranked teams in London. After a decade of watching the Square Mile degenerate into a Wild West casino, Geraint suffered a crisis of conscience and began exposing the dubious behaviour he witnessed via an anonymous newspaper column read by a million Londoners every Friday. In early 2008, after a near-fatal motorbike accident, he left banking to publish an account of the madness he had witnessed; Cityboy went on to sell over 400,000 copies and was translated into six languages. Geraint became a regular commentor on the financial world and regularly writes for British newspapers and magazines. Geraint also wrote two City-based novels before writing and producing the award-winning feature film Trick or Treat. Geraint now lives in Monmouthshire with his wife and two children. Event Format: Author talk ‘in conversation’ with fellow author Rob Penn, followed by audience Q&A and book signing. Tickets: £10 without book or £15 with book Venue: The Loft at Bookish is located in our flagship store in Crickhowell.

Wed 24 Jun20:00Book-ish

via Book-ish

Event details on Near Here are aggregated from third-party sources and may change. Always verify times, location, availability, and any price directly with the organiser before travelling. See Terms.