York Explore Library : Thu 30 Jun : 6.30pm – 7.30pm : £3 (£2 with a York Card)

Don will speak about and read from his entertaining and varied collection of short stories, Bugs in Amber. The settings range from a Victorian workhouse to post-war Yorkshire, from pre-war Transylvania to present-day Prague. The protagonists are also diverse, featuring a newborn baby, a Roma girl, a German prisoner of war, a dead English king and a spiteful pit-pony called “Buster”.

The opening and closing stories are set in York, one describing an amusingly alternative outcome to the recent battle between York and Leicester over the reburial of Richard III, the other exploring the impact of folk memory on an important decision by a 94 year old York resident.

“Best for me was The Secret Burial for its topicality, humour and sheer exuberant use of our beautiful English language.”

“Brief Encounters gave me a fascinating insight into life on the other side of the begging bowl.”

“The Funeral Director was a passionate story….Realistically chilling.”

Whimsical, sad and funny, often all at the same time, this collection will appeal to those interested in people and the strange and marvellous things they get up to.

DON RHODES previously worked in community care and the NHS after studying English at Lancaster University and working abroad for some years. He has had several stories published in magazines. Bugs in Amber is his first book.

Tickets cost £3 (£2 with a York Card) and there are a maximum of 50 tickets.

Tickets can be bought online at www.feelinginspired.co.uk or at any York library.

For more information about the event please call York Explore Library on (01904) 552828 or york@exploreyork.org.uk.

York Explore Library : Wed 29 Jun : 6.00pm – 7.45pm : Free

AL Kennedy is the author of a growing number of books. So far these include 6 literary novels, 7 short story collections, 1 science fiction and 3 works of non-fiction. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Literature. She was twice included in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

She has won awards including 2007 Costa Book Award for “Day” and the Austrian State Prize for International Literature. She is a dramatist for stage, radio, TV and film. She regularly reads her work on BBC Radio, performs a one person show and writes for a number of UK and overseas publications and The Guardian online. She is also a part time lecturer in Creative Writing.

For more information about the author visit www.a-l-kennedy.co.uk.

This is a free event with drinks reception. Places are limited.  There are a maximum of 60 tickets.
Book via any Explore York Library or via www.eventbrite.co.uk.

Explore York Library : Sat 25 Jun : 3.00pm – 4.00pm : Tickets cost £4 (£3 with a York Card)

Radhika is joining us to talk about her debut historical novel Where the River Parts.

Blood had begun to trickle down Asha’s starched cotton salwar, and once more she tried to will herself to stay calm. It was nothing. These things happened.

But these things haven’t happened before. It’s August 1947, the night before India’s independence. It is also the night before Pakistan’s creation and the brutal Partition of the two countries. Asha, a Hindu in a newly Muslim land, must flee to safety. She carries with her a secret she has kept even from Firoze, her Muslim lover, but Firoze must remain in Pakistan, and increasing tensions between the two countries mean the couple can never reunite. Fifty years later in New York, Asha’s Indian granddaughter falls in love with a Pakistani, and Asha and Firoze, meeting again at last, are faced with one more – final – choice

Spanning continents and generations, Where the River Parts is an epic tale of love, loss and longing.

‘A chapter of South Asian history that has often been deemed too painful to be explored fully.’ -Nayomi Munaweera, Island of 1000 Mirrors

For more information about the author please visit sandstonepress.com/books; twitter.com/rdswarup orradhikaswarup.com

Tickets can be bought online at www.feelinginspired.co.uk or at any York library.

There are a maximum of 50 tickets. For more information please call York Explore Library on (01904) 552828 (answerphone) or york@exploreyork.org.uk

York Explore Library : Mon 20 Jun : 6.30pm – 7.30pm : Tickets cost £5 (£4 with a York Card)

Author Ali Shaw will be speaking about his new novel, The Trees, taking you into a world where nature truly does run wild. Ali has been shortlisted and won awards for his previous two novels and his latest book is definitely one to watch out for this year.

They arrive in the night: thundering up through the ground, transforming streets and towns into shadowy forest. Everything is destroyed. Broken bodies, still wrapped in tattered bed linen, hang among the twitching leaves.

Adrien Thomas has never been much of a hero. But when he realises that no help is coming, he ventures out into this unrecognisable world. Michelle, his wife, is across the sea in Ireland. He has no way of knowing whether the trees have come for her too.

Then Adrien meets green-fingered Hannah and her teenage son Seb. Together, they set out to find Hannah’s forester brother, to reunite Adrien with his wife – and to discover just how deep the forest really goes.

Their journey will take them to a place of terrible beauty and violence, the dark heart of nature and the darkness inside themselves.

For more information about Ali w www.alishaw.co.uk f www.facebook.com/ali.shaw.351 t twitter.com/Ali_Shaw

Tickets can be bought online at www.feelinginspired.co.uk or at any York library.

There are a maximum of 60 tickets. For more information please call  York Explore Library (01904) 552828 (answerphone) or york@exploreyork.org.uk.