Welcome to The Woodstock Bookshop
The shop opened in May 2008 and is on the main road in Woodstock, just next to the bus stop. We can supply most books to order by the next day and have several thousand books in stock: to order books ring or email the shop. We have a large selection of children's books and are happy to advise and recommend. We can also supply second-hand and out-of-print titles. We offer discounts for school orders and for book clubs and have a free local delivery service.
We were on the regional shortlist for Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2009, 2013 and 2017, and listed in the Independent's Top 50 UK Bookshops.
BOOK GROUPS AND BOOKSHOP TALKS
are both suspended during the pandemic. We hope to start again as soon as it is safe to do so.
WOODSTOCK POETRY FESTIVAL
The bookshop started and runs Woodstock Poetry Festival, a completely independent festival that has now been running for 8 years.
The Woodstock Literature Society also holds an excellent series of monthly talks - do visit their website for further details.
Twitter: @WoodstockBooks
Saturday, 26 November 2016
The Albion Beatnik Bookshop, Jericho
Woodstock Poetry Festival is over but the Albion Beatnik Bookshop in Walton Street, Jericho, has a year-round programme of poetry readings, jazz and other events. If you haven't already discovered it, have a look here. How he has the energy to put it all together I don't know - we are feeling pretty wiped out after our three days and he has events year-round!
Sunday, 13 November 2016
Woodstock Poetry Festival - looking back
This year's festival has come and gone - so many moments to remember:
Liz Lochhead opening the festival with ebullience and tenderness -
Alice Oswald standing in the darkened church and, in spite of the cold and the hornet in the microphone, delivering her poems steadily and bringing us all together;
Liz Lochhead opening the festival with ebullience and tenderness -
Alice Oswald standing in the darkened church and, in spite of the cold and the hornet in the microphone, delivering her poems steadily and bringing us all together;
Alice Oswald signing books in the church
The session with Vahni Capildeo, Gregory Leadbetter and Yousif Qasmiyeh gave a new outing to See How I Land
Jane Draycott's new book arrived BEFORE publication date and is wonderful -
She read with Penny Boxall (below) and Carrie Etter.
and Lemn Sissay performed poems from Gold from the Stone to an enthusiastic audience in a very chilly church -
Many thanks to everyone - poets and audience - who supported the festival. On to next year!
Friday, 21 October 2016
TS Eliot Prize shortlist
Three of the poets shortlisted for this year's TS Eliot Prize are appearing at Woodstock Poetry Festival - Vahni Capildeo, Alice Oswald and Bernard O'Donoghue.
TS Eliot Shortlist:
Void Studies by Rachael Boast (Picador)
*Measures of Expatriation by Vahni Capildeo (Carcanet)
The Blind Road-Maker by Ian Duhig (Picador)
Interference Pattern by JO Morgan (Cape Poetry)
*The Seasons of Cullen Church by Bernard O’Donoghue (Faber)
*Falling Awake by Alice Oswald (Cape Poetry)
Jackself by Jacob Polley (Picador)
Say Something Back by Denise Riley (Picador)
Every Little Sound by Ruby Robinson (Liverpool University Press)
The Remedies by Katharine Towers (Picador)
Void Studies by Rachael Boast (Picador)
*Measures of Expatriation by Vahni Capildeo (Carcanet)
The Blind Road-Maker by Ian Duhig (Picador)
Interference Pattern by JO Morgan (Cape Poetry)
*The Seasons of Cullen Church by Bernard O’Donoghue (Faber)
*Falling Awake by Alice Oswald (Cape Poetry)
Jackself by Jacob Polley (Picador)
Say Something Back by Denise Riley (Picador)
Every Little Sound by Ruby Robinson (Liverpool University Press)
The Remedies by Katharine Towers (Picador)
Full details of the shortlisted poets here.
Saturday, 1 October 2016
Woodstock Poetry Festival 2016 - 11-13 November - programme
So,..
Here's
the programme for this year's festival!
5th
WOODSTOCK POETRY FESTIVAL
Friday
to Sunday 11 - 13 November 2016
Friday
11 November
*8.30pm
Alice Oswald reads
from Falling
Awake and
recent work. £10
(wine
and sandwiches served between these readings)
Saturday
12 November
11am
– Free children’s event: John Foster ‘The Dinosaur Rap’,
reading & activities with puppets in Woodstock Library for
children aged 3-11. Tickets from the library.
1pm
Oxford Stanza 2 – welcome return of this group of local poets.
£5
2.30pm
Jenny Lewis leads an open mic session. £5
4pm
See How I Land. Anthology edited by Carole
Angier seven years ago, bringing together Oxford poets and exiled
writers. Several contributors join us today, including Yousif
Qasmiyeh, Palestinian poet and translator; Gregory Leadbetter (whose first full collection The Fetch has just been published by Nine Arches Press); Nigerian
poet Afam Akeh, founding editor of African Writing, and Vahni
Capildeo, whose Measures of Expatriation won this year’s
Forward Prize. £8, includes a copy of See How I Land.
Vahni Capildeo
6pm
Gillian Clarke, formerly National Poet of Wales, reads from her
recently published Selected Poems and from her
forthcoming book, Zoology. £8
*8.30pm
Lemn Sissay, Chancellor of Manchester University and official
poet of the 2012 Olympics, reading from his recent collection, Gold
from the Stone. £10
Sunday
13 November
2.30pm
Deryn Rees-Jones & Jamie McKendrick have both recently
published their Selected Poems. Jamie McKendrick
is a distinguished poet and translator from the Italian and ‘among
the most interesting, surprising and distinctive poets of his
generation’ (Sean O’Brien).
Deryn’s previous work Burying the Wren was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and she is Professor of Poetry at the University of Liverpool. £8
4pm
Oxford Stanza – readings by members of this long-established
Oxford-based group including Simon Altmann, Caroline Ashley, John
Elinger, Paulette Mae, David Olsen and Andrew Smardon. £5
6pm
Carrie Etter, Penny Boxall & Jane Draycott. Penny Boxall
recently won the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for her first collection,
Ship of the Line; For a recent interview with Penny see here.
Carrie Etter, an American poet living in England, is Reader in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and has published three collections of poetry, most recently Imagined Sons;
Jane Draycott’s previous collection, Over, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. She teaches at Oxford and Lancaster and last appeared at the festival with her remarkable translation of Pearl. She will read from her latest book, The Occupant. £8
Carrie Etter, an American poet living in England, is Reader in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and has published three collections of poetry, most recently Imagined Sons;
Jane Draycott’s previous collection, Over, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. She teaches at Oxford and Lancaster and last appeared at the festival with her remarkable translation of Pearl. She will read from her latest book, The Occupant. £8
8.30pm
Bernard O’Donoghue & Tom Paulin, with singer Mick Henry
and guitarist Nick Hooper. Traditional Irish singing and music, with
poems by Bernard O’Donoghue, including recent ones from The
Seasons of Cullen Church, and readings of Yeats and his own work
by Tom Paulin. Woodstock Social Club - drinks available at the bar.
£8
Tickets
and information: 01993 812760
Festival
ticket giving entry to all events - £60
Children
& students half price
Tea
and cakes are included in the price of all afternoon events
Most
readings are held upstairs in Woodstock Town Hall
Events
marked * are held in St Mary Magdalene Church
info@woodstockbookshop.co.uk
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Jay Ramsay's reading 2nd November has been postponed
Jay Ramsay's reading from Diamond Cutters has been postponed due to ill health. He plans to read here next year. Diamond Cutters is an anthology of Visionary Poetry, co-edited with Andrew Harvey, from the early 20th century with Kathleen Raine and David Gascoyne through to contemporary poets in the early 21st century in Britain, America and Australia. Poets include William Stafford, Robert Bly, Jeni Couzyn, Dorothy Walters, Gabriel Bradford Millar and Irina Kuzminsky.
Poetry editor of Caduceus magazine (since 2002), Jay Ramsay's latest individual collection is Monuments (Waterloo Press, 2014). Diamond Cutters is his sixth anthology of contemporary poetry. He is the author of more than 30 books, poetry, non fiction and Chinese classic translation (with Martin Palmer). He is also a UKCP-accredited psychotherapist in private practice.
Poetry editor of Caduceus magazine (since 2002), Jay Ramsay's latest individual collection is Monuments (Waterloo Press, 2014). Diamond Cutters is his sixth anthology of contemporary poetry. He is the author of more than 30 books, poetry, non fiction and Chinese classic translation (with Martin Palmer). He is also a UKCP-accredited psychotherapist in private practice.
Tickets £5; book in advance from info@woodstockbookshop.co.uk or 01993 812760
Saturday, 2 July 2016
Bernard O'Donoghue
Saturday, 11 June 2016
Mr Darley's Arabian
Chris McGrath giving a speech this week at the launch celebration in Woodstock Town Hall for Mr Darley's Arabian: High Life, Low Life, Sporting Life - A History of Racing in Twenty-Five Horses.
I didn't think I was interested in horses yet I love this book because it is about so much more than horses - and it is so very well written. It's the story of a bloodline from 1704, the year Thomas Darley sent a colt bought from Bedouin tribesmen near Palmyra by sea back to England. Frankel, the greatest modern racehorse, is descended from this horse as are 95% of all thoroughbreds in the world today.
Mr Darley's Arabian is already gathering glowing reviews - see http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/06/how-racing-finally-became-respectable/
and
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mr-darleys-arabian-high-life-low-life-sporting-life-a-history-of-racing-in-25-horses-by-christopher-mcgrath-7n3fnb5ws
Monday, 23 May 2016
Adam Sisman talk cancelled
We have had to cancel this talk by Adam Sisman about John le Carre which should have taken place on Tuesday 24th May - I am very sorry if you were intending to come along...
Saturday, 7 May 2016
Adam Sisman discusses his life of John le Carre
This
month our talk is by Adam Sisman
who
will discuss his recent biography of John le Carré in Woodstock Methodist Church on
Tuesday 24 May at
7pm.
Tickets £5 redeemable against a copy of the book,
which means you can get the new paperback for only
£5!
Advance booking essential
from the bookshop 01993 812760 or info@woodstockbookshop.co.uk
Ultimately it's about love ... this is a very
emotional book. John le Carre had an utterly heartbreaking childhood ...
This is the best biography of 2015 - a rare achievement that
invites rereading -- Edward Wilson, Independent
Here are a selection of the universally amazing
reviews for the book which was shortlisted for the
PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography 2016
in the US:
Compendious and
compelling...Sisman is excellent at the nuts and bolts of writing and of being
published...it must be difficult to write the life of a man who is still very
much with us, and in the public eye, no matter how much liberty the biographer
has been given to tell the story, warts and all. Sisman - a very fine and astute biographer - has done an
excellent, not to say exemplary, job under the circumstances ... it is
impossible to imagine this Life being bettered -- William Boyd, New
Statesman
This is the way to
do it. Why this admirably balanced, patiently detailed biography of John le
Carre is not on the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist beats me ...
Sisman does full justice to [the] rawness at the heart of le Carre -- David
Sexton, Evening Standard
The spy novelist's
life is explored and explained with immaculate care and attention to detail
Sunday Times
This book is
testament to Sisman's skill and perseverance ... With his excellent grasp of the
wider history, Sisman is good at anchoring Cornwell in this shadowy environment,
as he guides his readers through the models for various characters ... Sisman
brings admirable clarity to what could have been a meander in a wilderness of
mirrors -- Andrew Lycett, Spectator
Cornwell has
admitted that he can no longer separate many of the facts of his life from his
lies and fictions. For Sisman this is like a red rag to a bull and you can feel
the thrill of the chase throughout his terrific John le Carre, Independent
Sisman pulls it
off: this is a well-written and highly readable book which is neither
hagiography nor hatchet job ... Within that world he [John le Carre] conveys
some of the truths of human nature, endeavour and fallibility. This is a real
and rare achievement and in Adam Sisman he has a biographer worthy of it -- Alan
Judd, Times Literary Supplement
Absorbing ... An
insightful and highly readable portrait of a writer and a man who has often been
classified as elusive and enigmatic as his fictional heroes -- Michiko Kakutani,
New York Times
Saturday, 30 April 2016
8 years old today
I opened the shop eight years ago today - it was a sunny bank holiday Saturday and many people from the town came in. They threw their arms open as they walked in and said, 'Welcome to Woodstock!' and by the end of the day we had a list of customer orders and it felt as if the shop had always been here.
A huge thank you to all the customers, publishers and writers who have supported the shop over the years. The writers have been many - see the list of speakers to the right. And the customers, too, have been many and very loyal. Several have become friends. There has even been a wedding.
Finally, thank you to the people who work here with me, who all do far more than you should.
A huge thank you to all the customers, publishers and writers who have supported the shop over the years. The writers have been many - see the list of speakers to the right. And the customers, too, have been many and very loyal. Several have become friends. There has even been a wedding.
Finally, thank you to the people who work here with me, who all do far more than you should.
Monday, 22 February 2016
Margaret Macmillan - History's People
Margaret Macmillan, Warden of St Antony's College, Oxford, is talking at Woodstock Methodist Church on Tuesday 23 February at 7pm about her latest book, History's People: Personalities and the Past. Tickets £5

'History's People is as entertaining and illuminating a work of popular history as one could possibly wish for' - Prospect
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Book groups
We have two book groups at the shop - a group that discusses nothing but poetry, and one that has occasionally discussed poetry but usually reads fiction. And it seems social connections such as book groups are every bit as good for you and as important to your well being in later life as exercise. Of course - who would doubt it?
The shop book groups are different from most of the book groups I hear about because the members didn't know each other before joining, and we discuss the books rather than each other. That is a generalisation - not all book groups discuss each other. But we really do spend an hour discussing the books - and, in the poetry group, the discussion lasts an hour and a half and I usually have to bring it to an end so everyone can go off and have their supper or they might go on all evening.
The poetry group has been reading a book from the T S Eliot short list each month. So far we have read 40 Sonnets, Citizen, Loop of Jade and Waiting for the Past. We have settled into a pattern of reading aloud the poems we would like to discuss for whatever reason - perhaps we didn't understand it, perhaps we simply loved the sound of it or the ideas it explores. And people share their thoughts and readings and somehow you end the evening feeling you have developed a deeper appreciation of the poet and their work.
There is less reading aloud in the other group, and often more difference of opinion which makes for interesting discussions. It is all very enjoyable and now that I know it's also as good as exercise for my general well being I feel even better about the groups!
Do pop in if you would like to join either group...
The shop book groups are different from most of the book groups I hear about because the members didn't know each other before joining, and we discuss the books rather than each other. That is a generalisation - not all book groups discuss each other. But we really do spend an hour discussing the books - and, in the poetry group, the discussion lasts an hour and a half and I usually have to bring it to an end so everyone can go off and have their supper or they might go on all evening.
The poetry group has been reading a book from the T S Eliot short list each month. So far we have read 40 Sonnets, Citizen, Loop of Jade and Waiting for the Past. We have settled into a pattern of reading aloud the poems we would like to discuss for whatever reason - perhaps we didn't understand it, perhaps we simply loved the sound of it or the ideas it explores. And people share their thoughts and readings and somehow you end the evening feeling you have developed a deeper appreciation of the poet and their work.
There is less reading aloud in the other group, and often more difference of opinion which makes for interesting discussions. It is all very enjoyable and now that I know it's also as good as exercise for my general well being I feel even better about the groups!
Do pop in if you would like to join either group...
Monday, 1 February 2016
This shop smells like the bookshops of my childhood...
Two women have just in walked in and that is what one said to the other. A nice thing to hear.
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Sarah Howe won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry
Loop of Jade is the first debut collection to win the award - hugely well deserved, give it to everyone who likes poetry...

Monday, 4 January 2016
Kathleen Jamie reading on the radio yesterday!
I was driving in to Oxford yesterday afternoon and suddenly heard a very familiar voice - Kathleen Jamie reading from The Bonniest Companie, her latest collection and the one she read from when she came to Woodstock Poetry Festival in November. You can find it here. Do listen, she reads wonderfully.
Happy New Year and many thanks for making the poetry festival such a success and this year - our eighth - our most successful so far by a long way...
Happy New Year and many thanks for making the poetry festival such a success and this year - our eighth - our most successful so far by a long way...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)