'Today South London, Tomorrow South London' - Deserter book launch

Since it started in 2014, South London site Deserter has been a refreshing slacker 'voice of degeneration... an aspirational lifestyle website for those with a predilection for doing f**k all'. Most recently this has included a guide to all of SE London Wetherspoon pubs.

Now they have book coming out- Today South London, Tomorrow South London by Andrew Grumbridge and Vincent Raison, published by Unbound:

'The authors, under their noms de plume, Dulwich Raider and Dirty South, record offbeat days out and half-remembered urban adventures featuring pubs, cemeteries, galleries, hospitals and pubs again, often in the company of their volatile dealer, Half-life, and the much nicer Roxy. Part guide, part travelogue, this book is a collection of these tales with the addition of new material that their publisher absolutely insisted upon. South London, that maligned wasteland where cabbies once feared to drive, can no longer be ignored. The South is risen!'

The book is being launched at Dulwich Beer Dispensary on Nov 1st at 7.30. Deserter IPA (yes they have their own beer, brewed in Penge,) will be served.

Lewisham Pensioners Forum Big Book Sale

Lewisham Pensioners Forum is holding another Big Book Sale fundraiser later this month - in fact the last it will be holding in its present location of the Saville Centre by Lewisham Hospital.

The Big Book Sale takes place over three days:

- Tues. 26 April: 12noon to 8pm

- Wed. 27 April: 10am to 8pm

- Thurs. 28 April:10am to 6pm

 

Admission is free and prices low - hardbacks: (mostly) 50p to £2;  paperbacks: 25p or five for £1

The final day will be a clearance sale - everything just £1 a box.  There will also be a Yard Sale/ Give-away cellar clearance of bric-à-brac and bits & pieces.

Venue is the Forum's current base:  The Saville Centre,  436 Lewisham High Street, SE13 6LJ (a couple of blocks south of the hospital and on lots of bus routes from Catford or Lewisham—street parking after 7pm).  Lewisham Council is planning to close this community centre, so the Forum will be moving elsewhere. For more information phone 020 8690 5213, www.lewishampensionersforum.org

 

 

 

London Radical Bookfair 2016 in New Cross

Last year's London Radical Bookfair, held at a warehouse in Tanner Street SE1, was a great success. The 2016 event is even closer to home (for me at least), taking place at Goldsmiths  in New Cross on 7 May 2016:

'Radical booksellers, publishers, artists and activists of all stripes are setting up in teh Great Hall at Goldsmiths University to host the 4th London Radical Bookfair.  With over 130 exhibitors and 20 guest speakers, this will be a unique gathering of progressive readers, thinkers and doers, in a celebration of radical publishing and politics. 
 

The free event is organised by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB),  which formed in 2011 to raise awareness of the radical book trade. The fair provides an annual opportunity to bring Britain’s radical booksellers together to meet in person with publishers and the reading public. And it’s also an opportunity for us to host award ceremonies for the ARB’s two annual book prizes — the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing and the Little Rebels Children’s Book Award. Shortlisted authors from the two awards will give talks and participate in panel discussions throughout the day'.

Further details here: https://londonradicalbookfair.wordpress.com/

London Radical Bookfair 2016 poster, spotted under railway bridge in Brockley

Crisis Book Sale at Telegraph Hill Centre

There's a book sale this Saturday 10 January, 2 pm to 5 pm, at the Telegraph Hill Centre, Kitto Road SE14 5TY. Lots of books at bargain prices in aid of homeless charity Crisis

Two Book Sales

A sign of a good secondhand booksale is when you come home with as many books as you can carry but still finding yourself thinking about a book that  you wish you had bought. In my case that would be a nice hardback edition of 'Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition' by Frances Yates which I once left behind at the Amnesty International booksale in Blackheath. Never mind they've got another one coming up next week:

Amnesty Book Clearance Sale, 10am-4pm Saturday 22 November

Church of the Ascension, Dartmouth Row, London SE10 8BF (10 minutes walk up Lewisham Hill from Lewisham National Rail and DLR Station).

'Simon Ware, Vice Chair of Amnesty's Blackheath and Greenwich Group , said :“The local group has collected thousands of books from a variety of sources, including publishers and book reviewers as well as individual donors. The quality of books – many of which are brand new – is exceptionally high, and there will be plenty of bargains to be found, from second-hand paperbacks to review copies of recently-published novels.”  The group’s book sales, now in their 40th year, are established as Amnesty International’s most successful local fundraising event in the UK, raising more than £275,000 over the years. They are a much loved event for many in the local area and often there is a queue of people waiting to get into the event when the doors open'

Meanwhile New Cross Learning are having a Big Book Sale tomorrow from 2 to 5 pm. They promise: 'Thousands of books from 30p! Second hand, vintage, antique and new. Also CDs and DVDs. Come to NXL on Sunday 16th November and go home richer'. At 282 New Cross Road.

Lewisham Pensioners Forum Big Book Clearance Sale

From Lewisham Pensioners Forum:

'The six monthly Lewisham Pensioners Forum Big Book Sale has come round again.  And this time it's even more of a bargain bonanza. With donations from our elderly members (so we get in really quite interesting stuff) outstripping sales we need to do a massive clearance.  So rather than the usual five paperbacks for £1 and hardbacks 50p to £2, we're offering bags of paperbacks or hardbacks for £2 and £4 respectively, and you can fill as many as you want of supermarket fruit/veg. boxes with the same for £5 (paperbacks) or £10 (hardbacks) each.

If you've an Amazon account - come and stock up - likewise if you're geared up to e-bay sales.

If you've connections to any library - just think how far a budget of even only £30 would go.

For anyone in the least bit tempted by books it's an event not to be missed.

There is unrestricted parking in the area at weekends and vehicle access to the very doors of the Saville for ease of loading'.

Telephone Box Library

It's taken me a while to get round to posting these photos of the telephone box library on Loampit Hill SE13 (near to the junction with Tyrwhitt Road). Essentially it's a book swap - people are invited to come along and choose a book and leave one behind.

There's some lovely remarks in the comments book. I agree that as someone says, libraries are the 'the heart of civilisation'. In fact why do we stop at just having libraries for books  - why not have libraries for all those other things (most things) that we only use once or twice and don't really need to all have as own separate possessions? Tool libraries, maybe even clothes libraries...

All in all a good idea, though my experience of other book swap schemes is that there is a built in entropic tendency for quality to decline over time unless somebody is actively weeding out the books that nobody really wants. What tends to happen is that people take the interesting books and leave behind less interesting ones - eventually Jeffrey Archer and '50 Shades of Grey' take over as surely as bindweed on a neglected allotment. So please help out by taking down some good books and maybe taking out your share of the rubbish.

Amnesty International and Lewisham Pensioners Forum Book Sales

Two of South London's great regular charity book sales coming up in next few weeks.

Amnesty International's Blackheath summer booksale is on Saturday 21st June at the Church of the Ascension, Dartmouth Row SE10 8BF from 9 am to 5 pm. 

A couple of weeks later on Sunday July 6th, Lewisham Pensioners Forum have their six monthly Big Book Sale at the Saville Centre, 436 Lewisham High Street, SE13 (by Lewisham Hospital) - free entry, prices from 20p for paperbacks and 50p-£2 (mostly) hardbacks.  Plus tea and cakes.

If you can't find some decent summer holiday reading at either of these, you might as well as give up.

  

Crisis Bring and Buy Book Sale SE14

There's a Bring and Buy Book Sale tomorrow (Saturday January 11th) in aid of homeless charity Crisis, at the Telegraph Hill Centre Lounge, Kitto Road SE14 - adjoining St Catherine's Church. The sale runs from 12 noon to 4pm, with prices from 20p (paperbacks mostly five for a £1) to £2 (hardbacks 50p to £2) or maybe a bit more for something really special. You can also bring donations on the day of the sale if you are worried about where you are going to put all those books you buy!

I know there's some really good books, because I've donated loads. It's been painful, but I've just run out of room for more books. I ended up running out of space to hang up clothes as I'd started accumulating piles of books in the wardrobe too. So I've decided to pass on some classics that I hope will find a good home, to make room for some new ones. Here's a few samples....

O'Neill's Music of Ireland - the classic collection of fiddle tunes,
I bought for my mandolin playing from Hobgoblin shop when it used to be in Cecil Sharp House, and I
was learning to play at the Working Men's College in Camden. I have far more tunes now than I am ever likely
to have time to learn.

'Reading Capital Politically' by Harry Cleaver - influential autonomist reading of Marx. In the early 1990s I went out for a meal with Cleaver in Brixton  (and a few others including Massimo de Angelis).  It was at the Satay Gallery, when it was in Vining Street where Fujiyama later opened. Nice food, good politics - but there's a pdf on libcom so I feel I can put it back into the stream.

'The White Goddess' by Robert Graves - never read this from cover to cover,
but great to dip into for its idiosyncratic take on mythology and poetry.

See books have histories and associations as material objects - where they came from, which rooms they furnished, who handled them - which digital documents lack. Now I've revisited all the memories attached to just these three examples, I know that I am at risk of buying back the books I donated. I must stay strong!

Amnesty International Book Sale in Blackheath

Next week is the annual Amnesty International Book Sale in Blackheath, a regular date in the diary of all south London bibliophiles. Here's the details:

'The Blackheath and Greenwich Group of Amnesty International is holding its annual fund-raising book sale on Saturday 23 November at the Church of the Ascension, Dartmouth Row, London SE10 (10 minutes walk up Lewisham Hill from Lewisham BR, DLR & Bus Station). Doors open at 10am [finishes at four].

The local group has collected thousands of books from a variety of sources, including publishers and book reviewers as well as individual donors. The quality of books – many of which are brand new – is exceptionally high, and there will be plenty of bargains to be found, from second-hand paperbacks to review copies of recently-published novels. Prices start at £1 for paperbacks and £3 for hardbacks. The group’s book sales – now in their 39th year – are established as Amnesty International’s most successful local fundraising event in the UK, raising over £200,000 over the years.

Amnesty International works worldwide for the release of prisoners of conscience, fair trials for political prisoners and an end to torture, extrajudicial executions, disappearances and the death penalty. The Blackheath and Greenwich group has done a lot of campaigning work on Human Rights in China and stopping violence against women and meets at 8pm on the second Tuesday of each month at St. Margaret’s Church, Lee Terrace, Blackheath. To find out more information about the Amnesty Blackheath and Greenwich group visit www.amnestybg.wordpress.com'

I have been several times and have had some very good finds.  The Church of the Ascension is an interesting building worth a visit in its own right. According to its website:

'The Church of the Ascension  was established as the Dartmouth Chapel in 1697 by Susannah Graham, aunt of William Legge (later Earl of Dartmouth and Lord of the Manor of Lewisham). She was also the second daughter of Sir William Washington, the great-great-great uncle of George Washington, the first president of the United States... The church was rebuilt in 1750 and  extended in 1838. It became a parish church on Ascension Day, 3rd of May 1883. A hall was added in 1906.  The church suffered bomb damage in December 1940 and was restored in 1950'

The Church c.1840 - from Ideal Homes

Lewisham Pensioners Book Sale

Coming up next Sunday 20th October, Lewisham Pensioners Forum is having another Big Book Sale. It's at the Saville Centre, 436 Lewisham High Street (near the Hospital), with paperbacks five for £1 and hardbacks from 50p to £2. You can bring along books to donate on the day as well as buying.

Extreme Reading at New Cross Learning

From New Cross Learning:

'Thursday 7th of March is World Book Day and we will be holding a Book Exchange, a write-in for the Bridport prize (flash fiction, poetry and short stories) and an exhibition of Extreme Reading Photos. The write-in will start at 6, Book Exchange will run from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and is the perfect opportunity to pick up some new reading material. Bring along a book of your own (or a pile) and try and convince someone to swap it with you. Refreshments will be available.

Over the whole of World Book Day week we will be be holding an exhibition of Extreme Reading photos. We are trying to encourage reading by making it fun and inviting by adding a little spice to such an everyday occurrence, and we want you to take part! Please send us photos of where and how people can read in the most peculiar, strange, weird and extreme ways. All entries need to be in by 28th February 2013. Photos can be sent to newcrosspeopleslibrary@gmail.com. We will print them for you. Be creative and have fun!'

And also their next Big Book Sale on Sunday 10 March, 2 - 5 pm:

'Underneath New Cross Learning, within the endless catacombs of the Lewisham Historical Society, we have accumulated a store of thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of books, and the time has come once again to sell some off! If you’ve been to one of our Big Book Sales before you will know that they are among the best places in London to pick up new reading material. Get there early for sweet deals. Hardbacks £1. Paperbacks 5 for a £1'.

New Cross Learning, 283-285 New Cross Rd, London, SE14 6AS.