Tues., Sept. 8 — Jenna Bush Hager, Everything Beautiful in its Time — THIS IS NOW A VIRTUAL EVENT
Wed., Sept. 16 — Friends and Fiction with Mary Kay Andrews, Patti Callahan Henry, Mary Alice Monroe, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Kristin Harmel, with special guest Signe Pike.
Thurs., Oct. 8 — Sue Monk Kidd, The Book of Longings — virtual event sponsored by The Sophia Institute
TBD — Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Fri. and Sat., Nov. 13 & 14 — YALLWrite — a craft-themed virtual festival for readers, writers, illustrators and storytellers, brought to you by YALLFest Charleston
Friday, September 4, 2020
Thurs., Oct. 8, 6:30 pm, The Sophia Institute presents a special online talk with author Sue Monk Kidd: Longings, Largeness, and Thunder in The Book of Longings.
Sue will be discussing her new novel and instant New York Times bestseller, The Book of Longings (Viking, hb., 432 pp, $28). The online conversation will be moderated by Sophia Institute founder and director, Carolyn Rivers.
Click here to register for this free online event.
About the book: In her fourth novel, Kidd takes an audacious approach to history, telling the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus of Nazareth changes everything.
To order a signed copy click here.
Friday, September 4, 2020
Join us Wed., Sept 16, 7 pm for Friends & Fiction on Facebook Live!
Five Bestselling Authors. Endless Stories. The Friends & Fiction team is Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, Patti Callahan Henry, Kristy Woodson Harvey, and Kristin Harmel. The quintet started Friends and Fiction back in April with the mission of helping support independent booksellers affected by the pandemic. Each week they feature a different independent bookseller and invite a special guest author to join them.
This week’s is Charleston’s own Signe Pike, who’ll be discussing The Forgotten Kingdom (Atria Books, Sept. 15) the second book in her Lost Queen fantasy series.
To join them online and post your questions go right here.
To purchase their books go to our online store and use promo code FRIENDS to receive 10% off your order!
Rare-ly Here
For some crazy reason folks have felt cooped up lately and are cleaning out their bookshelves like mad. Upshot is we’ve got some nice things to share…
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Little, Brown, 1951), early book club edition in good dust jacket with full b/w author photo on rear panel. $400
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Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou (Random House, 1974). First edition, first printing, VG in VG dust jacket. Second book in the author’s series of seven autobiographies. $195
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The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway (Scribner, 1972). First edition. VG in VG dust jacket. Posthumously published, these autobiographical stories of a young man from rural Michigan showcase Hemingway’s genius for detail and rich knowledge of geography and natural history. $195
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The Tales and Poems, Edgar Allan Poe (London, John C. Nimmo, 1884). Limited edition, number 15 of 150 printed. 4 volumes in green half leather, green marbled boards, top edge gilt, we’re talking MUSCLE. $750
Join us and Spartanburg-based bookshop and publisher Hub City on Thurs., July 9, 5 pm, for a virtual event with author Rachel Beanland to celebrate her debut novel, Florence Adler Swims Forever (Simon & Schuster, hb., 320 pp, $26).
Over the course of one summer that begins with a shocking tragedy, three generations of the Adler family grapple with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets in this stunning debut novel that’s perfect for fans of Manhattan Beach and The Dollhouse.
Rachel Beanland writes fiction and essays. Her essays have appeared in Creative Nonfiction and Broad Street, among other places.
She has an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University and holds bachelor’s degrees in art history and journalism from the University of South Carolina. Before turning to writing full-time, Rachel worked in public relations and nonprofit management.
To register for the event with or without a signed copy of the book, go here.
Against the odds, our writing camps are off and running this year. Session 1, for grades 3 – 6, was in the airy and spacious sanctuary of Bright City Church — thank you to Nick and Jess Connolly for generously donating use of this space.
This week’s session (and the two following) are Write of Zoom-er Virtual Camps, led by Sara Peck. Each student gets this killer care package (above) delivered to their doorstep Sunday night, with t-shirts, snacks and special secret envelopes to be opened each day.
Thanks to author Brendan Reichs — who joined Session 2 via zoom and donated copies of his and Ally Condie’s awesome middle grade series The Darkdeep.
Margaret Stohl — video game and comic book writer / YALLFest co-founder / author of many books including the recent Jo and Laurie — will join this week!
Space available in most sessions. For more information see writeofsummer.com, and please call Jonathan any time at 843-323-2834, he’s always happy to talk about camp!
We are happy to announce we’re back open to the public, but with some health-minded caveats.
To keep both our employees and our customers safe, we’re taking all of the necessary precautions and enacting the following policies:
- Regular hours: 10 – 7: 30 Monday – Saturday and 1 – 6 Sunday.
- Store is capacity is 6, limited to two small groups at a time.
- All of our employees will be wearing masks.
- Please help us keep social distancing practices throughout the store.
- We’re accepting contactless payments — Venmo or chip cards.
- Our bathroom is for employee use only.
In addition to visiting us, here’s how you can support Charleston’s local bookstore since 1995:
1. Buy a gift certificate
2. Order a book. If you want it we will get it for you. Call 843-722-2666, email [email protected], or DM @bluebicyclebooks on instagram.
3. You can also order any book for direct shipment through bookshop.org/shop/bluebicyclebooks.
Bookshop is a a B-Corp that supports local bookstores. As long as you see our emblem in the top left, you can search for any book and the purchase will benefit Blue Bicycle Books
4. Find Inky Phoenix Book Club Picks and other signed books, summer camp registration, exclusive BBB merch, and select titles on our website store.
We have partnered with local restaurant Verde and renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, better known as Dr. B, to share his new book Fiber Fueled (Avery, hb., 400 pp., $27). Dr. B’s groundbreaking book offers a plant-based gut health program for losing weight, restoring health, and optimizing your microbiome.
Including a 28-day jumpstart program with menus and more than 65 unique recipes, along with essential advice on food sensitivities, Fiber Fueled offers the blueprint to start resetting your gut for lifelong health today.
Verde has brought Dr. B’s rules to life with their new Somewhere Over the Rainbowl, a salad packed with vibrant colors, nutrients, and a diversity of plants available at all Verde locations. Plus, each bowl comes with a bookmark with a special link for an exclusive signed copy. Additionally, you can order signed copies right here.
YALLWEST, the Santa Monica sister to YALLFest, will not be in the flesh in 2020, but has been resurrected as YALLSTAYHOME, a zoomapalooza–make that, yallapazooma–coming up Friday, April 24 – Sunday, April 26.
There will be virtual panels: “teanotes,” “PJ cosplay,” and “Creativity in the Time of Corona,” plus special events like Doodling with Marie Lu, TikTok Time with Soman Chainani, and Basement Woodshop Adventures with Veronica Roth.
And there will be signed books signed by BBB!
Here’s the deal:
- Order them here.
- Be super patient.
- Your books arrive directly from our distributor!
- For any SIGNED orders — your signed, limited edition YALLSTAYHOME bookplate (see above) will arrive in a separate envelope.
What could go wrong, amirite? (Again, see step 2.)
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Join us Tues., Feb 25, 5 pm for Jane Kleeb, chair of the Democratic Party of Nebraska, as she talks about her new book Harvest the Vote (Ecco, hb, 224 pp., $26.99) before the SC Democratic debate.
The Democratic Party has lost an entire generation of rural voters. By focusing the majority of their message and resources on urban and coastal voters, Democrats have sacrificed entire regions of the country where there is more common ground and shared values than what appears on the surface.
In Harvest the Vote, Jane Kleeb brings us a lively and sweeping argument for why the Democrats shouldn’t turn away from rural America. As a party leader and longtime activist, Kleeb speaks from experience. She’s been fighting the national party for more resources and building a grassroots movement to flex the power of a voting bloc that has long been ignored and forgotten.
Jane Kleeb is an American political activist. She is the founder and president of Bold Alliance, Chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and a board member of Our Revolution and Matriarch PAC. She lives in Hastings, Nebraska with her husband Scott Kleeb and their three daughters.
