Wivenhoe Bookshop

18/06/2026

We were very kindly invited to answer some questions for today’s episode of BBC Upload, by wonderful host , all in promotion of Independent Bookshop Week!!! It was a great opportunity to talk a bit about the shop, especially with all of the very recent changes we have experienced…

The show airs tonight at 1800, on BBC Sounds, but will be available ‘on demand’ after that. Thank you Rob + BBC Upload!

09/05/2026

Please make sure to join us at The Nottage Maritime Institute, in a couple weeks’ time, to celebrate the launch of the ‘superb’ and ‘innovative’ new book ‘The Future in Our Past: The General Strike, 1926-2026’, written by authors Callum Cant and Matthew Lee () and published by Verso Books!

The book tells the remarkable story of the 1926 General Strike, 100 years later, and is an ‘on-the-ground’ account of how the country was brought to a standstill for nine fraught and extraordinary days. The authors then revisit the communities where the struggle was most pronounced and reflect on the lessons that the General Strike holds for labour movements in our present.

We will have the privilege of being able to discuss the book with the authors and there will be time for a brief Q+A, as well as book signings.

Tickets are available online (from our bio + website) or you can get them from the bookshop or ‘on the door’…we do hope to see many of you there, supporting this fantastic book!

15/04/2026

This month, we introduce our new ‘book(s) of the month’ series, with one or two titles selected across various genres. This being our first month, however, we have only chosen one title…

Ahead of our event with the author tomorrow, we are very happy to announce Owen Hatherley’s ‘The Alienation Effect’ as April’s book of the month!!! This ‘monumental’ and ‘arresting’ work reveals how Central Europeans ‘influenced, and continue to influence, the everyday apparatus of British cultural life’. The book covers the innovations, discoveries and movements that Central Europeans brought with them to (and initiated in) the UK, when they fled the threat of fascism and various forms of bigotry and discrimination in the early 20th century.

The book is now available at a discount, for the rest of the month, and we will have signed copies available after our event with Owen tomorrow!

*Our Isokon piece in the photo was designed by Ernest Race, as the ‘Penguin Donkey Mk II’, but the original ‘Donkey’ was designed by Egon Riss, a Viennese architect-designer who fled to the UK from Germany in 1938. Isokon and Egon both feature in the book!

03/04/2026

*TOMORROW* Our not-so-grand reopening (under new ownership) is happening TOMORROW, 04th April, 2026 - around 50 years after the shop first opened!

How fortunate to have had three very grand owners before us, who kept the bookshop alive and prospering! Help us continue that tradition by visiting us tomorrow (and pretty much every day after that) to see what books have arrived in all of these mysterious boxes 📦 📦 📦???

Soft drinks and Easter eggs/treats will be available (while supplies last) and we will have plenty of surprises available for our new customers (also while supplies last). See you soon, at the bookshop!

03/04/2026

02/04/2026

02/04/2026

Do give a warm welcome to the new Mr & Ms Bookshop, Ricardo and Kasia 📚🤗

02/04/2026

I’ll be signing off here shortly, just some final thoughts…📚

I’d like to thank everyone who organised and joined my splendid farewell party at the Wivenhoe Bookshop.
Special thanks to the lovely Julia Payne ‘Queen of Cakes’ for a wonderfully memorable cake 🙏

Thanks to David Clark for the excellent video, Ella for a fine invite, and to all for your kind words, cards & gifts.

Hats off to the new Mr and Ms Bookshop, Ricardo and Kasia - do give them a very warm Wivenhoe welcome for their re-opening on Saturday 4th April. 📚

28/03/2026

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Delighted to be welcoming Owen Hatherley back to Wivenhoe, on Thursday, 16th April, for the launch of the paperback edition of his much lauded and most recent book ‘The Alienation Effect’ (published by )!

This ‘arresting’ and ‘monumental’ work covers many of the innovations, discoveries and movements that many Central Europeans brought with them to (and initiated in) the UK, when they fled the threat and rise of fascism and various forms of bigotry and discrimination in the early 20th century. It is, as The Observer put it, ‘acute, informative, passionate and witty…a sometimes moving tribute to achievement in the face of diversity, and an essential antidote to crude theories of national identity.’

The discussion, being a continuation of our last event with Owen, will focus more on the architectural and artistic innovations and movements mentioned in the book and will be followed by a brief Q&A, as well as some time for book signings, but start and end times will be fairly strict, so please do try to arrive punctually!

Tickets are, as usual, available in the bio and from the bookshop…really looking forward to seeing you all there!