Blue Bicycle Books, Charleston, SC


Spring events!

Coming soon:

Matt and Ted Lee signing  Lee Bros. Simple, Fresh, Southern. BBB, Mar. 7, 2 - 4 pm.

Batt Humphreys and Nicole Seitz – BBB Author Luncheon Series, Mar. 13, 12 – 2 pm.

News anchor John Stossel discussion and signing. College of Charleston, Mar. 27.

Southern historian Doug Bostick signing Historic Photographs of South Carolina. BBB, Apr. 10, 1 – 3 pm.

SC Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth. BBB, Apr. 24.

Charleston native Katie Crouch signing her new book, Men and Dogs. BBB, May 21, 5 – 7 pm.

Hawk Hurst signing The Story of the First Flute. BBB, May 22, 11 – 1 pm.

Joseph Dabney signing The Food, Folklore, and Art of Lowcountry Cooking. BBB, May 27, 5 – 7 pm.

Louis Rubin and Ben Moise — BBB Author Luncheon Series, June 4, 12 pm.

Piccolo Spoleto Fiction Open reading and reception. BBB, June 5, 5 – 7 pm.

Sam Stephenson signing The Jazz Loft Project. BBB, June 10.

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Blue Bicycle Books Author Luncheon Series

The Blue Bicycle Books Author’s Luncheon Series continues Sat., March 13, noon to 2 pm, with local novelists Batt Humphreys and Nicole Seitz.

NicoleSeitzHead2009Mount Pleasant’s Nicole Seitz, author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass, Trouble the Water, and A Hundred Years of Happiness will discuss her newest novel. Saving Cicadas is the story of Priscilla Lynn Macy, the single mother of two daughters, Rainey Dae, 17, who has Down’s syndrome, and Janie Doe, a precocious eight-year-old. When Priscilla discovers she’s pregnant, she quits her job, packs up her famly and hits the road, eventually ending up at her ancestral home in Forest Pines, S.C.

Seitz, who also paints the watercolor covers of all of her books, lives in Mount Pleasant with her husband and two children.

Batt Humphreys promo photoBatt Humphreys’ first novel Dead Weight is set in 1910 Charleston, based on a true story about a murder of a Jewish merchant and the black man wrongly accused of the crime. A Georgia native, Humphreys began a career in television news in Charleston in the early eighties. As a senior producer for the CBS News in New York, he managed the coverage of the first hours of the morning of September 11, several wars, elections, and as a reporter covered hurricanes, executions and more murders than he cares to remember. Humphreys and his wife Laura currently live on a farm outside Charleston, along with horses, dogs and cats of varying populations.

The talk and luncheon will be at an Upper King area restaurant (to be announced), followed by a dessert-and-champagne book signing at the bookstore, 420 King St.

Saturday, Mar. 13, 2010, 12 – 2 pm, $35. Advance reservations required. For tickets please call 843.722.2666 or buy online here.

 

Can’t make the luncheon? Order signed copies of the books here.

signed copies will ship after March 14

 

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Matt and Ted Lee, Simple Fresh Southern, March 7

lee brosBlue Bicycle Books welcomes renowned food writers Matt and Ted Lee, signing copies of The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern, Sun., Mar. 7, 2 – 4 pm.


The local boys-made-good will close out the weekend of the Charleston Food and Wine Festival with a sidewalk peanut boil on King Street.


We first met Matt and Ted when they were fresh out of college, working for VH1 in New York and coming home regularly to run their mail-order business out of an office in the Confederate Home.


Fifteen years later they are still selling boiled peanuts, Duke’s Mayonnaise, and Piggly Wiggly t-shirts to exiled Southerners everywhere. They are also now frequent contributors to the New York Times dining section and have won two James Beard awards for The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook (Norton, 2007, hb., $35, 589 pp.).


Their second book explores recipes that indulge in the flavors of the Deep South through healthy and everyday ingredients. More than 100 accessible recipes add their own twist of sophistication: cherry tomato and soybean salad, easy ambrosia, caesar salad with catfish “croutons,” to name a few. Simple Fresh Southern (Clarkson Potter, 2009, hb., $35, 255 pp) also offers instructions on a variety of techniques, ranging from smoking to cheesemaking. (And it has a blurb from Amy Sedaris!)

Can’t make it? Buy a signed copy right here.

[Signed copies available March 8]

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Michael Kaiser, Art of the Turnaround, Feb. 23

http://portalwisconsin.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/kaiser.jpgMichael Kaiser, author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations.

Tues., Feb. 23, 9 am, College of Charleston Recital Hall in the Simons Center for the Arts

Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser, author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations, will speak about current challenges and opportunities for arts organizations as a part of the “Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative 50 State Tour.”  In his new book Kaiser shares with readers his ten basic rules for bringing financially distressed arts organizations back to life and keeping them strong.  Join us in hearing about Kaiser’s experiences at the College of Charleston Recital Hall in the Simons Center for the Arts.

ORDER HERE

Signed copies will ship after Feb. 23

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Slowcountry Food

Carlo_PetriniCarlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement and author of Terra Madre, reception and signing at McCrady’s Restaurant, 2 Unity Alley, Tues., Feb. 23, 4 – 6 pm.  $10, Slow Food Charleston members, $15 for non-members.

Join Blue Bicycle Books, Slow Food Charleston and McCrady’s as we welcome the face of Slow Food to the Slowcountry.  Chef Sean Brock will host a welcome reception with ingredients from his restaurant’s own slo-cal farm.

Petrini, named one of Time Magazine’s 2004 Heroes, founded the Slow Food Movement in his home country of Italy to combat the ill effects of fast food, to preserve a culture’s cuisine and its associated agriculture, and, let’s face it, to stick it to McDonald’s, who were trying to put up some golden arches in his neighborhood.

So check your McGriddles at the door and come give a big Charleston buongiorno to Carlo.

ORDER NOW

signed copies will ship after Feb. 24

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Blue Bike Books Partners with Charleston Stage

Blue Bicycle Books has partnered with Charleston Stage to offer you a $5 discount on tickets to Twelfth Night, Feb 25 – March 7 at the Sottile Theatre.  Purchase tickets here, and enter the promotional code ‘BBTN5′

Twelfth_voucher_bbb

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Southeastern Wildlife Exposition Booksignings

Tom Phillips

City of the Silent: The Charlestonians of Magnolia Cemetery, by the late Ted Ashton Phillips Jr.. Ted was a great scholar and brought joy to everyone he encountered. One of our favorite Charleston people writing about one of our favorite Charleston places. Thomas Brown, the book’s editor, will sign copies 11 am to 12:30 pm, Sat., Feb.13.

ORDER NOW

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Mike Creel and Lynn Kelley will sign The Boykin Spaniel: South Carolina’s Dog. 2 – 4 pm, Sat., Feb. 13.

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Katie Crouch, Men and Dogs, May 21

Katie Crouch -- Men and DogsBlue Bicycle Books is delighted to welcome author Katie Crouch back to the store, signing copies of her newest novel Men and Dogs, Fri., May 21, 5 – 7 pm.

Self-proclaimed southerner-in-exile Katie Crouch will be coming home and giving Blue Bicycle Books a visit Fri., May 21, 5 – 7 pm. Since her first book, Girls in Trucks, we have been anticipating both her second visit and her newest book, Men and Dogs, out April 12.

Though she always knew she wanted to be a writer, Crouch didn’t commit herself to writing until her late 20’s, leaving her advertising job for the MFA program at Columbia. Now living in San Francisco, Crouch’s work has been featured in the New York Observer, Glamour, Tin House, and McSweeney’s. While growing up in Charleston, Crouch attended Cotillion training, but was never a debutante, an important distinction. Although she has taken herself out of the south, it’s still brimming in her work. Her sophomore novel deftly follows a woman whose life has fallen apart back to Charleston decades after her father’s unsolved disappearance to learn not only about her father, but about herself. Maybe it’s true (in both Crouch and her characters); you can’t take the south out of the girl.

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New Online Store

What better way to announce our new online store than by listing our best-sellers of 2009. Here goes by author, with a link to buy their books directly from BBB.com:

  1. Pat Conroybuy
  2. James Scottbuy
  3. Sue Monk Kiddbuy
  4. Mary Alice Monroebuy
  5. Nicole Seitzbuy
  6. Jonathan Sanchezbuy
  7. Kurt Vonnegutbuy
  8. Ernest Hemingway - buy
  9. Marjory Wentworthbuy
  10. Jonathan Millerbuy

We will be updating the store frequently with books for our upcoming events, signed copies from past events, and local favorites.

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Jeff Mapes, Pedaling Revolution, Feb. 4

Pedaling Cover RevisedJeff Mapes, author of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities.

Thurs., Feb. 4, 7  pm,  Southend Brewery
Jeff Mapes, a senior political reporter for The Oregonian and longtime bike commuter, explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America.

Pedaling Revolution, traces the growth of bicycle advocacy among cyclists, or “transportation revolutionaries,” and explores the environmental, safety, and health aspects of bicycling.  Jeff shares his experience riding with bike advocates in New York City, the country’s largest Critical Mass in San Francisco, and more.

Join us to hear about Jeff’s experiences and his suggestions for creating our own bike-friendly city. The event is hosted by the Clemson Center for Architecture in Charleston and the Charleston Civic Design Center.

ORDER NOW

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