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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 23h

Tonight! Come along and hear Sam talk about women bookellers of the C20th in Grasmere village hall, 7.30pm. #BookSky #BookTalk #BooksellerLife

Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

Then ahead of #BookshopDay on Saturday, we have a visit this week from @profbookshops.bsky.social, who will be giving a talk on Women Booksellers in the Twentieth Century in Grasmere village hall on Weds 8th Oct, 7.30pm. #Booksky #BookshopLife #BookTalk

poster for talk, with picture of Prof Sam Rayner on left, black and white picture of Dillon's bookshop on right, and bookcover for Women Booksellers of the twentieth century in the centre. Below it reads: Sam Read Bookseller presents a talk by Prof. Sam Rayner on bookselling history. 'Hidden in the bookshelves: women booksellers'. Grasmere village hall, wed 8 oct 2025, 7.30pm. Free entry. All welcome.

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

Sue Wilkinson @suewilkinson.bsky.social · 1d

Great start to the 7th series of 'Cultural Landscapes' talks tonight: @pollyrowena.bsky.social on 'Companions of Nature' - launching the paperback edition of her book, 'The Company of Owls' @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

Penny Bradshaw introducing Polly Atkin, in front of title slide of her 'Companions of Nature' talk

Polly Atkin in front of an image of 3 owlets

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 2d

Tomorrow evening! Come along to uni if Cumbria at Ambleside and here me talk Dorothy, owls and more …

Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

We've got some busy event times this month, and this coming week. First, we'll be selling early copies of the paperback of @pollyrowena.bsky.social's #TheCompanyOfOwls at a talk on '‘Companions of nature: sickbed consolations & mimic hootings', Uni of Cumbria, Ambleside, Tue 7th Oct, 6.30pm.

www.ticketsource.co.uk

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

And we will round the month off a Cumbrian bonanza, with Rory Stewart and James Rebanks in conversation about Rory's new book #Middleland. Tues 28th Oct, 7pm, Westmorland Hall, Kendal Leisure Centre. Make sure you add book at checkout to ensure a signed copy. betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

Better Box Office

betterboxoffice.co.uk

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

Then ahead of #BookshopDay on Saturday, we have a visit this week from @profbookshops.bsky.social, who will be giving a talk on Women Booksellers in the Twentieth Century in Grasmere village hall on Weds 8th Oct, 7.30pm. #Booksky #BookshopLife #BookTalk

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 3d

We've got some busy event times this month, and this coming week. First, we'll be selling early copies of the paperback of @pollyrowena.bsky.social's #TheCompanyOfOwls at a talk on '‘Companions of nature: sickbed consolations & mimic hootings', Uni of Cumbria, Ambleside, Tue 7th Oct, 6.30pm.

www.ticketsource.co.uk

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

jay 💫 @jaymc.bsky.social · 10d

mission accomplished thank u @samreadbookseller.bsky.social 😃

Paperback copy of Old Soul by Susan Barker held up with the sign for Mathilde's cafe in Grasmere, and the lovely old slate building of Sam Read books in the background.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 11d

With the jackdaws staring you down for any food. As it should be.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 11d

This is our very slow reply to say yes. yes indeed. In fact it's now here, staring out from the bookshelves.

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

Richard Wells @slipperyjack.bsky.social · 20d

Stopped at my favourite bookshop in The Lakes, Sam Read in Grasmere (@samreadbookseller.bsky.social) and dropped off a box of signed & demon stamped copies of Spooky Book No. 2. So they're there if you want one, Lake Folk 🦇..!

Doofus holding up a copy of Tales Accursed: a Folk Horror Anthology.

Exterior shot of Sam Read Bookseller in Grasmere

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 18d

Daphne NU Maurier www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/daph...

Daphne Du Maurier, After Midnight: Thirteen Chilling Tales for the Dark Hours (Introduced by Stephen King) - Special indie edition with orange spredges, stood on the bookshop counter with bookshelves beyond.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 21d

Our upcoming event with Rory Stewart and James Rebanks is on the front page of the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald! Pieces in Rory's new book #Middleland first featured in the pages of the Herald. Join us Tues 28th Oct at 7pm at Westmorland Hall, Kendal.
betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

Front Cover of this week's Cumberland and Westmorland Herald with a header which reads "Rory Stewart Unveils New Cumbrian Book"

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 24d

Did you know our essential and iconic 555 bus route turns 100 this year? We didn't, until we heard the centenary was being marked today with a convoy of vintage buses restored by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust (RVPT), pictured here returning from Keswick through #Grasmere. #PublicTransport

vintage red double-decker 555 bus driving along A591 in Grasmere, with car-filled layby and cloud-capped fells behind it, with large poster reading 'it's best by bus' along the side of the bus

vintage 1 decker ribble bus in cream and red marked 555 Lancaster

vintage 555 double-decker buses going around tree-lined bend of road in Grasmere, all marked 555 Lancaster

vintage buses spread out driving down A591 south through Grasmere, with grey cloud above the browning fells

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

C.B. Bernard @cbbernard.com · Aug 29

Looking forward to this one. Sarah Hall is an astonishment of a writer.

Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 28

Happiest of publication days to Sarah hall and her magnificent new novel #Helm from @faberbooks.bsky.social. Incredibly grateful today's blustery wind blew in both Sarah and artist Jocelyn McGregor who made the beautiful Helm-themed panels for the shop window.

Jocelyn and Sarah leaning on windowsill in front of Jocelyn art and Helm books in the window smiling at the camera in light sun.

Sarah Hall standing in front of bookshop window showing the three panels of art. She is smiling slightly and has her hands in her pockets.

Sarah hall leaning on bookshop window holding her hardback novel helm and looking up at the art work

Jocelyn and Sarah with their backs to the camera, looking at the window and talking to each other, smiling, in a hint of sun

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

Stephen G. Rae @stephengrae.bsky.social · Sep 7

Delighted that my "Folklore of the Lake District" made it onto the list of August bestsellers at @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

If you are in the Lakes, do call for a browse; and also, it's #BuyABookDay

Link: samreadbooks.co.uk

#folklore #lakedistrict #booksky

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Sep 7

On Saturday 13th September, from 2pm, poet Kelly Davis is reading from The Lost Art of Ironing at Windermere Library. It's the first in a series of events hosted by the Lake District Holocaust Project entitled 'Memory / Place / Ghost'.

Kelly Davis, The Lost Art of Ironing (Hedgehog Poetry) with Grasmere Church in the background

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 28

It's so great to see a publisher supporting creativity in a writer's local area like this. Visit our fellow Cumbrian Indies @fredsbookshop.bsky.social, Verey Books, @bookendscarlisle.bsky.social and @westwoodbooks.bsky.social to see the other artists' work.
#ChooseBookshops #CumbriaCulture #BookSky

bookshop corner with Sarah and Jocelyn laughing and talking in front of the window with Jocelyn's art and many copies of Helm in, with drystone wall, trees, field and the wet road behind them.

Panel with green and pink-orange background, picture of cover of indie edition of Helm and text:
To celebrate the publication of the acclaimed Cumbrian author
Sarah Hall’s new novel, Helm, fi ve local artists have each been
paired with an independent bookshop to create an installation
that offers a unique interpretation of the Helm Wind.
The Helm Wind is a strong north-easterly wind hitting the
western slopes of Cross Fell in Cumbria and is the only named
wind in the UK. It features in weather warnings and local folklore
alike, and it is known for its wave-like form.
This is a partnership between the publisher Faber & Faber and the
art collective A Public House to celebrate the publication of Helm
by Sarah Hall. The fi ve independent bookshops displaying artists’
work are Bookends in Carlisle, Fred’s Bookshop in Ambleside,
Sam Read Bookseller in Grasmere, Westwood Books in Sedbergh
and Verey Books in Pooley Bridge.

Exclusive signed independent bookshop edition available now

Orange and green background with white text: Jocelyn McGregor has created a new series of illustration-style
paintings on paper for Sam Read Booksellers, depicting the
various stages of irritation at having long hair in the Helm Wind
that turn a pleasant walk into a battle with the elements.
The artwork plays with the possible origin of the name ‘Helm’
as a helmet or cap in Anglo-Saxon and the folklore surrounding
long hair as having semi-autonomous power, strength
and mystical abilities.

About the artist
Jocelyn McGregor is a multi-disciplinary artist based in
Cumbria. She holds a BFA in Fine Art from the Ruskin School of
Fine Art and an MFA in Sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art.
She was awarded a Henry Moore Foundation Grant (2023),
Sculpture in the City: Aldgate Square Commission 2022–3,
the British Council SWAP UK/Ukraine Residency 2019–20
and Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2018. Key exhibitions
include No Notion of Loving by Halves, God’s House Tower,
Southampton (UK); DREDGED, Windermere Jetty Museum,
Cumbria (2023–4); Lapsus Calami, Marlborough London
(2023–4); Trespassers Will be Detected?, Dnipro Centre for
Contemporary Culture, Ukraine (2020).

Sarah Hall standing in front of the centre panel of the window, holding a copy of Helm and smiling gently, with fells reflected in the glass in front of the art work, so one of the heads with long hair blown about their face is just above Sarah's short-haired head.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 28

We have not only signed indie bookshop specials of #Helm but also a limited number of special signed postcards with the wind scale on them so catch them while you can.

Sarah looked very at home behind the bookshop counter we thought! #HelmWind #BookSky #NewFiction

Sarah at the bookshop counter leaning on it next to a stack of Helm

Sarah leaning on hand on bookshop counter smiling, with Helm in front of her, Sarah in focus.

Same leaning on hand behind counter smiling and looking straight ahead, away from camera, Helm in focus in foreground.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 28

Happiest of publication days to Sarah hall and her magnificent new novel #Helm from @faberbooks.bsky.social. Incredibly grateful today's blustery wind blew in both Sarah and artist Jocelyn McGregor who made the beautiful Helm-themed panels for the shop window.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 27

The 5 artists are all working in different media. You can see their work in the windows of our fellow Cumbrian Indies @fredsbookshop.bsky.social in Ambleside, Verey Books in Pooley Bridge, @westwoodbooks.bsky.social in Sedbergh and @bookendscarlisle.bsky.social in Carlisle over the next few weeks.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 27

This evening artist Jocelyn McGregor hung her art in our windows as one of five Cumbrian artists commissioned by @faberbooks.bsky.social to create new work for Cumbria's indie bookshops to celebrate Sarah Hall's new novel #Helm, published tomorrow. Get your signed copy from tomorrow morning!

Jocelyn hanging her work in the window of Sam Read's, seen through the window from outside in late afternoon sunlight. Two panels fill two of three windows spaces, showing a figure will long hair blowing around.

The finished window at dusk, with three panels showing a figure with long brown hair flying around their face in the wind, hanging in the three panels of the main bookshop window. Under them, the window has a full row of the hardback of Helm by Sarah Hall, with other books behind. The fells are reflected in the window high up, half way across the artist's panels, so it looks like the figure is moving across the silhouetted fell.

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Reposted by Sam Read Bookseller

Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 22

We're delighted to announce Rory Stewart will be launching new book Middleland in conversation with James Rebanks at Westmorland Hall, Kendal on Tuesday 28th October, 7pm. Buy your ticket and pre-order signed copies of Middleland to collect on the night: betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

Photo of Rory Stewart on the left hand side, image of Rory's new book Middleland: Dispatches from the Borders (Jonathan Cape) in the centre, and on the right hand side, a photo of James Rebanks.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 22

We're delighted to announce Rory Stewart will be launching new book Middleland in conversation with James Rebanks at Westmorland Hall, Kendal on Tuesday 28th October, 7pm. Buy your ticket and pre-order signed copies of Middleland to collect on the night: betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 17

Evening sunshine on the bookshop.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · Aug 16

From stories of fae folk and the supernatural, to mythology and nature lore and much more... wonderful to see @stephengrae.bsky.social's Folklore of the Lake District is proving so popular on Grasmere's bookshelves! www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/step...

Stephen G. Rae, Folklore of the Lake District (The FolkLore Press) on a stone wall with Grasmere sport field and fells beyond

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