July Highlights
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this month
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this July
Vegan Bristol:
Bristol’s best places for plant-based food
Ben McCabe & Helena Murphy
Now available to order online and from bookshops in Bristol.
Bristol Books have published this fantastic guide that features a curated selection of the best vegan and vegan-friendly establishment's across a range of cuisines and culture – from restaurants and cafes to pubs and pop-ups.
More than 40 locations have been carefully researched and described by former journalist Ben McCabe and illustrated with mouth-watering photographs by Helena Murphy. Whether you are a full-time vegan or enjoy plant-based fare when you can this is a great guide for eating out in Bristol.
Photo: Clara Hillyer
A Child of Science
Have you been to see A Child of Science, which is currently running at the Bristol Old Vic?
For Bristol-based Louise Brown it was a strange experience as she is the baby portrayed at the end of the play.
Tom Felton (known globally as Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter) played scientist Bob Edwards, who won the Nobel Prize for bringing Louise into the world and inventing In Vitro Fertilisation.
If you want to know more about the story of IVF and its Bristol connections you can read it in Louise’s paperback biography 40 Years of IVF – My Life as The World’s First Test-tube baby.
Are you a Children’s Book Illustrator?
Bristol Museums are producing a children’s picture book based on the fossil of a pliosaurus (a marine reptile from the Jurassic period) in the museum’s collection. A reconstructed model of the Pliosaur is on display at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, suspended from the ceiling above the museum café. The model was named Doris following public consultation.
Bristol Museums want to commission an illustrator to bring Doris and the other animals ‘to life’ in a colourful and accurate series of images. The aims of this storybook is to provide an attractive, engaging and informative book for children aged around 4-7 years. Bristol Books will be the publisher of the book on behalf of Bristol Museums.
New nature publications
Bristol Books have recently helped design and arrange the printing of two nature themed publications. The State of Nature In the West of England 2024 on behalf of Bristol Regional and Environmental Record Centre and A Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles on behalf of the British Entomological & Natural History Society.
Get in touch with us to discuss any publishing, design or printing requirements if you have a book that you’d like Bristol Books to help produce.
Children’s Book Illustrator required for museum learning project
Children’s Book Illustrator required for museum learning project.
Children’s Book Illustrator required for museum learning project.
The Learning Team at Bristol Museums is producing a children’s picture book based on the fossil of a pliosaurus (a marine reptile from the Jurassic period) in the museum’s collection. A reconstructed model of the Pliosaur is on display at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, suspended from the ceiling above the museum café. The model was named Doris following public consultation.
The aims of this storybook is to provide an attractive, engaging and informative book for children aged around 4-7 years. The content is intended to showcase some of the features of animals living in the Jurassic period, in a way that is factually correct yet fun and accessible.
Bristol Museums want to commission an illustrator to bring Doris and the other animals ‘to life’ in a colourful and accurate series of images. Bristol Books will be the publisher of the book on behalf of Bristol Museums.
Download the brief here.
June Highlights
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this month
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this June
Vegan Bristol:
Bristol’s best places for plant-based food
Ben McCabe & Helena Murphy
Vegan Bristol is a guide to the most tantalising spots to discover amazing vegan food in Bristol. Featuring a curated selection of the best vegan and vegan-friendly establishments across a range of cuisines and cultures – from restaurants and cafés to pubs and pop-ups – this guide is the sure-fire way to find your next delicious plant-based meal in the South West’s cultural capital, regardless of your budget and desires.
Pre-order now: Books will be posted Tuesday 18th June.
Left Handed Giant Taproom Vegan Fest
Bristol Books will be selling copies of Vegan Bristol at the Left Handed Giant Taproom Vegan Fest on Saturday 15 June from 1pm.
Photo: Jon Craig
Louise story prompts dramas
Our biography of Louise Brown, the world’s first IVF baby is to form the basis of a new film called Superbabe, that is being produced by BBC Films and the Benedict Cumberbatch production company SunnyMarch.
The book tells the story of how Lesley and John Brown from Bristol came to be the first couple in the world to successfully under-go IVF was written in conjunction with Louise and her family by Martin Powell. It also looks at the impact of the world-changing event on the family.
The story of the invention of IVF is also the subject of a play at Bristol Old Vic in June called A Child of Science. The play, written by Gareth Farr, stars Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.
Signed copies of the Louise biography will be on sale at Bristol Old Vic throughout the run and Louise will also be giving a stage talk at the theatre on Wednesday June 26.
Later in the year Netflix has announced it is releasing a film called Joy, also about the IVF pioneers that stars Bill Nighy and James Norton.
Adge Cutler in verse and song
Sun 2nd June, 3-6 pm | Free entry | Knowle Constitutional Club, 162 Wells Road, BS4 2AG
Join Richard Jones, publisher of Adge King Of The Wurzels, alongside local poets and musicians, who will be performing a special tribute to Adge Cutler in verse and song.
Bristol Books fund-raiser
The Bristol Books mini-van took part in a Vintage Transport Rally and we had a book stall at Yatton Railway Station, helping to raise funds for the Strawberry Line Cafe.
We donated 20% of book sales to the Strawberry Line Cafe, which, like us is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. The Cafe exists to give real paid jobs to adults with learning disabilities. The cafe also offers short term work experience.
There was an exciting array of vintage buses, motorcycles, sports cars and the Allard Classic Car Club. It was a fun day and a chance to talk about and sell our books while helping a good cause. We urge anyone in the area to pop into the cafe for a drink and a bite to eat!
May Highlights
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this month
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this May
The West’s Greatest Rock Shows
Were you there when a flour bomb exploded on Ringo Starr's drums as The Beatles rocked the Colston Hall? Neither was local rock reviewer and critic Robin Askew!
But his exciting new book The West’s Greatest Rock Shows 1963-1978 is a must-read for the West Country music lover, who has ever enjoyed a gig at The Granary, The Colston Hall, The Corn Exchange, The Pavilion Bath or the Pilton Pop Festival – before it became the global phenomena that is Glastonbury!
This anecdote-rich book whisks you through 15 eventful years of rock with some of the biggest names in music appearing in our region.
Launch event: Waterstones, The Galleries on Thursday May 2, 7pm
Tickets are still available now for the official launch event of The West’s Greatest Rock Shows 1963-1978. Hear from author, Robin Askew, in a Q&A session at Waterstones, The Galleries on Thursday May 2 at 7pm.
Bristol Ideas 1992 –2024
We were delighted to produce a special commemorative book entitled Our Project Was The City to celebrate the history, some of the projects that took place and the impact of the Bristol Ideas, which has played an important part in the cultural life of Bristol since 1992.
Bristol Ideas played a leading role in the renewal of Harbourside and creation of We The Curious, major festivals with Encounters, Festival of Ideas, Festival of Economics and Festival of the Future City and projects such as the annual Great Reading Adventure and Brunel2000.
Bristol Books are proud to have worked with Bristol Ideas as a publishing partner. Copies of Bristol 650 – Essays on the Future of Bristol, which mark the 650th anniversary of Bristol, are still available. The essays from over 30 contributors look at the challenges facing Bristol in the future.
Our Project Was The City is available to read online:
Adge Cutler: The Bard Of Somerset
Fri 17th May, 6:00 pm | Tickets £6 | The Princess Theatre, The Pizey Room
As part of the Burnham Book festival Richard Jones, publisher of Adge King Of The Wurzels (Bristol Books) pays tribute to The Bard Of Somerset.
Strawberry Line Cafe - Fundraiser
Sun 26th May, 10:00 am – 4pm | Yatton Station Café Car Park
Bristol Books will be at the Vintage Transport Rally helping to raise funds towards another great social enterprise, the Strawberry Line Café, which offers employment and training to people with learning disabilities. Come and buy a local book at our stand and we'll make a donation for every book sold. There will also be FREE bus rides available on the day.
April Highlights
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this month
News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this April
Remembering Bristol’s greatest gigs
It is time to step back in time and remember the golden age of rock with an exciting new book The West’s Greatest Rock Shows 1963-1978.
You can now pre-order this brand-new book written by local reviewer and critic Robin Askew, so that you can be among the first to read it. We expect to be posting out pre-orders on Monday April 15.
If you ever went to a gig at The Granary or the Colston Hall this is a book for you as it tells lost, forgotten and previously untold eye-opening tales from the gigs you will wish you’d seen.
The West Country might not have a place in rock history to match that of London or Liverpool, but some incredible shows took place here, including the UK’s first outdoor pop riots and key performances by many of the greats.
Launch event: Waterstones, The Galleries on Thursday May 2, 7pm
Tickets are available now for the official launch event of The West’s Greatest Rock Shows 1963-1978. Hear from author, Robin Askew, in a Q&A session at Waterstones, The Galleries on Thursday May 2 at 7pm.
An Easter selection box of Bristol Miscellany
If you bought Manson’s Bristol Miscellany but haven’t yet got volume two then Easter is the perfect time to dip into this box of treats – and it is less fattening than chocolate!
Volume Two of Manson’s Bristol Miscellany includes:
Getting around: roads, ferries, trams, trains, planes and bridges.
Webs of communication: newspapers and telecommunications.
Earth, wind and flood: weather extremes, floods and earthquakes.
Realists and romantics: a new poetic movement, literary and cultural connections.
A roof over your head: almshouses, workhouses, orphanages and social housing.
Buildings of Bristol: bricks and stones, grand houses, town squares, windmills and post war reconstruction.
And so much more…
Another round of Thatchers
Due to demand we are re-printing the fabulous hardback book on the history of Thatcher’s Cider so pop into the Thatcher’s Cider Shop at Myrtle Farm, Sandford to pick up a copy – or order through our website here.
Written by James Russell and superbly illustrated with photographs by Neil Phillips, Thatchers: Then & Now is the official history of Thatcher’s Cider.
There have been Thatchers in northern Somerset since at least 1806 and we know that by 1878 Benjamin Thatcher of Upper Langford was advertising his Prime new cider at 30 shillings per hogshead.
James Russell traces the history of Thatchers cidermaking from those beginnings to the present day. The modern generation of Thatchers have established themselves as leading family cidermakers with a reputation for producing a wide range of ciders of the highest quality and for breaking new ground in the development of orchards while caring for the land that produces the finest cider apples in the world.