Coming up
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Wednesday 13th March, 7.30pm
Bone-tired, anxious and overwhelmed, the author of Wintering sought to feel more connected and at ease by exploring the restorative properties of the natural world and reawakening her sense of wonder.
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John O’Farrell — Family Politics
Wednesday 3rd April, 7.30pm
John O’Farrell, author of ‘May Contain Nuts’ and ‘The Best a Man Can Get’, joins us to discuss his latest novel ‘Family Politics’, an antidote to our divided times, with his signature warmth and wit.
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Zeinab Badawi — An African History of Africa
Wednesday 10th April, 7.30pm
Zeinab Badawi, president of SOAS and television journalist, joins us to provide an authentic account of Africa's history, told through African voices.
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Alex Niven — The North Will Rise Again
Wednesday 17th April, 7.30pm
Writer, poet and lecturer at Newcastle University Alex Niven confronts the North/South divide and the future of regional politics.
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Wednesday 24th April, 7.30pm
The Guardian investigative journalist and bestselling author of ‘Kleptopia’ joins us to lift the lid on Cuckooland — a world where the rich can buy everything… including the truth.
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SOLD OUT: Cathy Newman — The Ladder
Tuesday 19th March, 7.30pm
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SOLD OUT: Alice Winn — In Memoriam
Wednesday 20th March, 7.30pm
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SOLD OUT: Gary Stevenson — The Trading Game
Wednesday 27th March, 7.30pm
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Coming up at the Non-Fiction Book Club: Maria Ressa (How To Stand Up To A Dictator), Tania Branigan (Red Memory)
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Coming up at the Fiction Book Club: Tomasz Jedrowski (Swimming in the Dark), Sophie Mackintosh (Cursed Bread)
A great book set in Balham, Tooting & Clapham
Backstory’s book of the month: Grow Where They Fall
A great novel set in Balham, Tooting and Clapham: our dream! Like us, you’ll root for Kwame as he unravels his identities growing up black and gay in the 1990s and then teaching in a local school today. Look out for name checks for Clapham Common and The Bedford, among many other local landmarks…
Pop into the shop to pick up your copy, or order online here with free delivery anywhere in the UK:
And come and see the map in our window, beautifully drawn by Rory!
Say hi to our new neighbours
We love it when our end of Balham High Road gets some love! We’re thrilled that the space opposite us at 98-100 Balham High Road, which used to be a Gazette restaurant, has now opened as Reformer Collective, a reformer Pilates studio.
We popped over on day 1 with a bottle of something fizzy and were even welcomed by one of the team’s dogs. They seem a lovely bunch and tell me they do inspiring classes for all abilities across a range of disciplines, including reformer Pilates, mat Pilates, barre and yoga. You can get your first class free at this link.
To give our new neighbours a proper welcome, for the whole of March we’ll offer a free cup of coffee to drink in or take away with any book purchase after a Reformer Collective class. Just show your class booking at our till!
This week, senior bookseller Darby Brown reflects on a year in the job, and forging a new home on this side of the Pond
TUESDAY MARKS EXACTLY A YEAR since I started working at Backstory. A year since Rory spent a long Sunday with Megan and me, teaching us the basics until we could steam milk with our eyes closed and reaching for bookmarks while ringing up books became second nature. This also conveniently aligns with Tom being on holiday, thus providing the perfect excuse for me to take over this newsletter for a Sunday. (Enjoy, Tom!)
As often happens with milestones, this year feels like everything and nothing at the same time. A lot has changed at Backstory. I’ve noticed this especially with the brief return of Steph, one of our OG booksellers, who’s kindly popped by to help cover a few shifts after not having worked here for a year. I thought I’d remembered to tell her all of the big changes, but then realised I’d missed a massive one when I overheard her happily telling a customer that we take cash. Whoops. (We reluctantly stopped for security reasons after a break-in on the street.)
Steph also told me the bar has evolved since she worked here, with the addition of our sweet treats from the Clink, a new array of mugs to better balance the ratio of coffee to milk in our hot drinks, and the number of customers who come in more for the coffee and the atmosphere than for the books.
It’s hard for me to remember how the bar felt a year ago versus today, but there’s no denying that we’ve grown and evolved. Our live music nights were a huge success, bringing in fresh faces to the shop and creating such a lovely atmosphere where customers would rush to buy books for performers and the buzz could be heard from the street. The overstock is no longer overflowing with books that would fall on you if you breathed on them wrong. We expanded our drinks menu with cava and spirits and peach beer (my personal favourite). We even built more shelves and brought in lots and lots more books.
I’ve changed, too. I moved to London at the tail end of 2022, unsure of what exactly I wanted to do, aside from a vague idea of working in publishing. My end goal has always been to be an author, but that’s not exactly something you can send in a job application for. 2023 was a stumbling kind of year in many ways, but also a rewarding one. In addition to my role at Backstory, I found several freelance editing gigs, and I started my own business teaching creative writing workshops.
At the start of this year, I finished the first draft of a novel and am currently compiling a list of all the things to fix for draft two. I’m still nowhere close to having anything figured out, but there is something in being able to look back and feel proud of the ways in which I’ve grown.
But then, not everything has changed, which is special in its own way. I’ve moved houses several times but still go to the same supermarket. I run in the same parks, and of course, the tube is always the same. The London that drew me to move here is still waiting for me whenever I choose to venture up the northern line.
At Backstory, we still have a blast hand-picking books once a month for our book subscriptions. Children still push all of the books to the back of the shelves in the children’s section, and I’m still not quite sure why. The team is as fun as always, full of laughs and life updates. We still meet all together once a month to rave about books over a pint or two.
I still see strangers bond over books almost every day. A customer will be asking me for a recommendation, and before I can say a word, another customer is pressing a book into their hands. “Oh, you loved Lessons in Chemistry? Then, you should read this!” A few weeks ago, I watched two regulars meet each other for the first time, one encouraging the other to write the children’s book they’ve always dreamed of writing. Another night, I overheard a customer making a list of London recommendations for someone who’s just moved here.
As someone whose life has been full of shifts and uncertainty the past few years, these tangible and familiar moments are magical. Last week, I got to sell the seventh Harry Potter book to an excited girl, who had consumed the first six. I got to share with her that it was my favourite book in the whole series, which is, still, my favourite comfort series.
To that little girl and all the others who shared your joys, your thoughts, and your time with me, thank you for making my first year at the bookshop one for the books.
— Darby