We had such a fantastic day with our authors at the 'Books Are My Bag' Bookshop Party on Saturday 11 October - but it was actually the start of an incredibly busy week. Not only did we have our own 'fab four' local authors in the shop (Alison Mercer, Tom Moorhouse, Neill Cameron and David Melling), we also hosted the book launch for 'The Word At War' on the Monday evening (with Peter Lewis and Philip Gooden), and then sold books at an event in Oxford for Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
So we thought we would share the week in photos - and thanks to all of our authors who created such a buzz in our little shop over a busy few days!
We started the Saturday with our 'Live Window' and the following schedule...
...We had Prosecco ready, and Imogen baked this cake (featuring the first and last words of all four authors' books - how cool was that?)
Author Alison Mercer - author of 'After I Left You' and 'Stop The Clock' - was first up into the window...
...so she got to cut the cake...
...and grab the first of our Tracey Emin bags as a big thank you!
Next it was the turn of Tom Moorhouse - author of 'The River Singers' and its brand new sequel 'The Rising' - to take the hot seat...
...and enthrall visitors young and old alike with videos of water voles that he helps conserve in Oxfordshire...
...Tom was able to stay whilst illustrator comic maker Neill Cameron got cracking on a truly awesome window illustration. He sketched an outline on the outside of the window...
...and then got to work on the inside, breaking off periodically to sign copies of his books 'How To Make Awesome Comics' and 'Mo-Bot High'...
The shop was buzzing all day...
...Neill beavered away...
...whilst Tom looked on...
Tom was pretty chuffed to get a Tracey Emin bag...
...and then it was time for our final author David Melling to take his seat. Two incredibly talented illustrators in the shop at the same time!
...David spent the time in the 'live window' creating a 'Hugless Douglas' masterpiece for us...
Whilst Neill finished off the fabulous robot which is still adorning our window...
...which was beginning to attract a lot of interest!
David's finished work through the window...
...buzz, buzz!
...and another bag from a grateful bookseller!
On Monday we welcomed Peter Lewis and Philip Gooden for the launch of 'The Word At War' a collection of anecdotes and stories to show how language evolved rapidly during the Second World War.
On an awful, rainy night a packed shop steamed quietly as Peter and Philip shared stories of spam, chads and kilroy...
It's a cracking little book - a fab gift for anyone interested in how language evolves - and we have copies signed by both authors in the shop.
On Wednesday we were invited to provide books for an event with former Google CEO and current chairman Eric Schmidt and his co-author Jonathan Rosenberg.
Despite Oxford's traffic chaos delaying Eric's arrival, the debating chamber was packed to hear Eric discuss everything from Google Glass to being hacked by GCHQ.
We were able take along some young coders from John Mason and Thomas Reade Primary Schools who got to meet Eric. A great was to round off our 'Books Are My Bag' celebration of bookshops and their communities!
Thanks to everyone who came along and supported all our events!
