Leakey's Bookshop

01/02/2025

What next for the OLD HIGH? Having sat empty for several years the Old High is back on the market! It is now time for the local community to get together to save this wonderful building that has witnessed so much. Can we give it a new life and keep it open for us all? Some of us think we should at least explore the idea, so we have called a Public Meeting at the Town House in Inverness on 11th February at 7:30 pm. Councillor Alex Graham, a former Provost, will chair the meeting where we will share the work that has already been done and what could be our next steps.
Please come along and share your thoughts, ideas, and memories. Perhaps we can work together to build a sustainable future for our old friend at the other end of Church Street.

10/12/2022

Please excuse the marketing but we thought you ought to know that gift vouchers are for sale in the shop and on our website.

22/11/2022

Only a few weeks until Act 2 of Wagner's magnificent opera Tristan und Isolde comes to Inverness!

Performed by critically-acclaimed chamber orchestra The Mahler Players, who will be joined by a cast of world-renowned soloists, such as would rarely be seen anywhere in the UK outside of London.

Don't miss what is sure to be a special and memorable concert! Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th December, tickets range from £9 to £38 🎟 https://mahlerplayers.co.uk/wagner-tristan-und-isolde-3rd-4th-december-2022/

Supported by HRI Munro Architecture

09/11/2022

There’s a very special opportunity coming up for people in the Highlands to hear the legendary Sir John Tomlinson sing King Marke in Tristan und Isolde Act 2 with the Mahler Players.

🌟 Soloist spotlight - Sir John Tomlinson CBE 🌟

We are delighted to be joined by legendary British bass Sir John Tomlinson for our concert performances of Tristan und Isolde at Inverness Cathedral and Strathpeffer Pavilion!

Sir John Tomlinson will be singing King Marke, a role he grew very familiar with through his regular appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, a pilgrimage for dedicated Wagnerians. He appeared there for 18 consecutive seasons, also taking on the Wagner roles of Wotan and Hagen in the Ring, Titurel and Gurnemanz in Parsifal and the title-role in Der fliegende Holländer. He has become one of the world’s greatest exponents of Wagnerian roles.

Don't miss these special performances on 3rd & 4th December. Visit our website to book tickets 🎟 https://mahlerplayers.co.uk/wagner-tristan-und-isolde-3rd-4th-december-2022/

26/07/2022

Typically when customers ask for Agatha Christie we explain she’s so popular that we’re lucky to have even one or two of her books on the shelves. After this recent acquisition we’re looking forward to telling the next person who asks - yes, we have everything she ever published!

10/05/2022

Inverness Library are inviting you to pledge to read six minutes (only!) tomorrow on Wednesday 11th May as part of Keep the Heid and Read 2022. Find out more here: https://keeptheheid.scot

Keep the Heid and Read! 📚
⭐️ 'READING MOMENT' PHOTO COMPETITION TIME ⭐️

Read 📖 for 6 minutes (at least) on 11th May 2022. You can enter your pledge to read on the Keep the Heid and Read website:
https://www.keeptheheid.scot/

📸🤳TAKE A PHOTO OF YOU READING AND/ OR WHAT YOU’RE READING ON THE 11th MAY 📖
Send the photo to your local library, in our case Inverness Library, our email is: [email protected]
(make sure you add a phone number to be contacted by as well, just in case we can't get hold of you by email)

Be creative with your photo! THERE ARE PRIZES INVOLVED 🤩 The judging criteria topics are calm, whacky, cool, funny, happy.

❗️IMPORTANT❗️Pictures should be taken on 11th May and emailed to your local library service by 5.00pm on 18th May 2022.

Prizes
Each Library Service will have an overall winner and a 2nd and 3rd prize. Prizes will consist of £50, £30, £20 book tokens. Prizes will be provided by SLIC (Scottish Library and Information Council)

Terms and Conditions
By emailing a photo the sender confirms
a) that it is your own work and
b) that SLIC and/or the library service can publish your photo and name on the Reading Moment website if your entry makes it into a library service winner.

SLIC and Library Services cannot be responsible for any entry that is not received.

Entries can be submitted from 11th May and closing date is 5.00pm on 18th May 2022. Winners will be emailed as soon as the library service is able and announced on the Reading Moment website once all winners notified.

Only one entry per person is permitted

Entries may be received from children however they must be submitted through a responsible adults email account.
For those without access to email, library staff can assist with making a submission
Winners will be expected to attend a small handover event to receive their book token
The Judges decision will be final

Eligibility and judging criteria

Eligibility
The competition is open to everyone living in Scotland. Entrants will select their local library service
Entries will be made by email account
The photograph may be of a book, book title, person or group of people and/or all of these items
Local libraries will assist people who have no access to email and wish to enter their photograph for the competition

Judging
Each Library Service will appoint a panel of 3 judges. In our case they will be:
Author Helen Forbes, Sam Leakey from Leakey's Bookshop in Church Street Inverness and Toby Ritty manager of Waterstones Inverness.
Judging will be fair and unbiased: judges will declare any potential conflict of interest e.g. family relationship with entrants
Judges will use the criteria (calm, whacky, cool, funny, happy) to determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes
Winners will be invited to their local library to receive their prize from a judge.
Library services will arrange local media press releases for the winners.
Judges are unable to comment on individual entries.
Entries will be judged on the impact of the photograph and engagement with the theme.
The judges' decision is final, and no individual correspondence can be entered into.

06/05/2022

More great music (Beethoven's 4th and 7th Symphonies) being brought to the Highlands this weekend by the Mahler Players, conducted by our own Tomas Leakey!

Tickets for the Inverness and Strathpeffer concerts are available to purchase here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mahlerplayers or take a look at their page for more information.

25/02/2022

A wee bit of bookshop and local history for you this afternoon...

Back in 1983 when we were trading from a (very) small shop on Grant's Close, we republished "Reminiscences of Inverness, Its People and Places" by John Fraser.

Originally published in 1905, it gives a fascinating account of the town as it was in 1845. The book takes the form of a narrated walk through the city, stopping frequently to comment on its buildings, history and inhabitants.

We printed 1500 copies and, although these are now long-since sold out, from time to time they turn up amongst books people bring in to sell.

If you'd like to know more just send us a message or ask at the desk the next time you're in!

09/02/2022

We were lucky to recently have local Highland musician Stevie Macleod visit the shop after hours to record a live session with songs from his new EP, Lighthouse. A great way to spend an evening - maybe we should invite an audience next time!

If you like what you hear the EP is available to buy here: https://steviemacleod1.bandcamp.com and it’s streaming in all the usual places.

29/01/2022

Fantastic to see the bookshop included in this clip from VisitScotland - still can't believe we had a drone flying around inside the shop for it!