INDEPENDENT Bookshop Week is set to be celebrated with a variety of events across Sussex.

After two years of virtual and hybrid celebrations due to the pandemic, Independent Bookshop Week will be back in full swing from today.

The line-up includes literary festivals, nationwide bookshop crawls, special podcast recordings, poetry showcases, exclusive releases, one-to-one bookshop clinics for aspiring illustrators and events in partnership with local schools.

Here are some of the events happening in Sussex:

  • Books Alive in Hove will be hosting an event on Saturday, June 18 with local writer Jocelyn-Anne Harvey, author of Not Knowing but Still Going, where she will talk about how she came to write this unusual book on how it might have felt for the women who would have been on Noah's Ark. 

Find out more here: booksalive.co.uk

  • Cookbookbake in Hove are inviting customers to “embark on a culinary journey along the ancient spice routes with Eleanor Ford, author of The Nutmeg Trail”, on Saturday, June 18. 

It will be hosting a discussion and cooking demonstration of authentic Indian cooking with Torie True, inspired by her cookbook Chilli and Mint. 

Find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-nutmeg-trail-exploring-spices-and-their-origins-with-eleanor-ford-tickets-349438839977

  • The Steyning Bookshop will be holding an evening with Sussex crime writers Graham Bartlett and Lesley Thomson on Friday, June 24. 

Graham Bartlett, ex-Brighton Police Chief and now advisor to crime writers, will introduce his debut novel Bad for Good, while crime novelist Lesley Thomson will introduce her new book The Companion.

Find out more here: https://www.steyningbookshop.co.uk/event/2-sussex-crime-writers-graham-bartlett-lesley-thomson/

  • Much Ado Books in Alfriston will be joined by historian and Oxford professor Emma Smith, author of Portable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers, to discuss her wide-ranging tour of human history viewed through the lens of the book and its development on Saturday, June 25. 

Find out more here: https://www.muchadobooks.com/eventsandhappenings/bonnie-garmus-speaking-live-2anlw

  • Afrori Books and The Feminist Bookshop in Brighton will be launching the first Brighton Book Festival on June 24 to 26.

Headline names including Guvna’B, Yvonne Bailey Smith, Dorothy Koomson, Leroy Logan, Sabba Khan and Alison Rumfitt discussing the myth of the mainstream, masculinities, feminist futures, queer books in Brighton and British culture in books.

There will also be a variety of workshops focussing on adapting books to film, pitching novels, and developing soundtracks for books. More info here.

Find out more here: https://www.brightonbookfestival.co.uk/