Welcome to the Owl Bookshop

SEPTEMBER NEWS

Hello and welcome to the Owl’s website. It’s been wonderful to see the shop busy again and full of happy browsers (safely distanced!) We are now heading into the busiest few weeks of the publishing calendar and with schools and colleges also going back the Owl will be a hive of activity! There are lots of fabulous new titles to browse some of them featured here, tap on the images for more details and for the link to reserve. But please do come and visit us soon, Kentish Town Road needs you! If you shop at the Owl on a regular basis it is worth joining our loyalty scheme. Contact us by email at owlbookshop@gmail.com or call into the shop and we can add you to the scheme. For every £100 you spend we give you a £5 voucher to redeem against your next purchase.

Owl Bookshop

Book Awards

Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me – WINNER 2020 Orwell Prize by Kate Clanchy |

Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me – WINNER 2020 Orwell Prize

Kate Clanchy

£9.99

Diary of a Young Naturalist WINNER 2020 The Wainwright Prize by Dara McAnulty |

Diary of a Young Naturalist WINNER 2020 The Wainwright Prize

Dara McAnulty

£16.00

The Discomfort of Evening – Winner International Booker Prize 2020 by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld |

The Discomfort of Evening – Winner International Booker Prize 2020

Marieke Lucas Rijneveld

£12.99

Ducks, Newburyport – Winner James Tait Black Prize 2020 by Lucy Ellmann |

Ducks, Newburyport – Winner James Tait Black Prize 2020

Lucy Ellmann

£13.99

Hamnet – WINNER Women’s Prize 2020 by Maggie O'Farrell |

Hamnet – WINNER Women’s Prize 2020

Maggie O'Farrell

£20.00

Girl, Woman, Other – Women’s Prize Shortlist 2020 by Bernardine Evaristo |

Girl, Woman, Other – Women’s Prize Shortlist 2020

Bernardine Evaristo

£8.99

See all...

Children’s Books

October, October by Katya Balen |

October, October

Katya Balen

£12.99

Diary of a Young Naturalist WINNER 2020 The Wainwright Prize by Dara McAnulty |

Diary of a Young Naturalist WINNER 2020 The Wainwright Prize

Dara McAnulty

£16.00

The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell |

The Good Thieves

Katherine Rundell

£7.99

Moon Dog by Jane Elson | 9781444955705

Moon Dog

Jane Elson

£6.99

Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence | 9781444954746

Eight Pieces of Silva

Patrice Lawrence

£7.99

The Teeny Weeny Genie by Julia Donaldson & Anna Currey | 9781509843602

The Teeny Weeny Genie

Julia Donaldson & Anna Currey

£12.99

See all...

Coming Soon

A Promised Land by Barack Obama | 9780241491515

A Promised Land

Barack Obama

£35.00

100 Great Black Britons by Patrick Vernon & Angelina Osborne |

100 Great Black Britons

Patrick Vernon & Angelina Osborne

£20.00

This Land by Owen Jones |

This Land

Owen Jones

£20.00

Inside Story by Martin Amis | 9781787332751

Inside Story

Martin Amis

£20.00

See all...

Just Out

Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? by Jenny Diski |

Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?

Jenny Diski

£18.99

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake |

Entangled Life

Merlin Sheldrake

£20.00

Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain |

Islands of Mercy

Rose Tremain

£18.99

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig |

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

£16.99

Broadwater by Jac Shreeves-Lee |

Broadwater

Jac Shreeves-Lee

£8.99

The Golden Flea by Michael Rips |

The Golden Flea

Michael Rips

£9.99

See all...

Local Interest

Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told? by Jenny Diski |

Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?

Jenny Diski

£18.99

Broadwater by Jac Shreeves-Lee |

Broadwater

Jac Shreeves-Lee

£8.99

Camden Changing by Richard Lansdown & Gillian Tindall |

Camden Changing

Richard Lansdown & Gillian Tindall

£7.50

Brutal London by Simon Phipps |

Brutal London

Simon Phipps

£15.99

Cook’s Camden by Mark Swenarton |

Cook’s Camden

Mark Swenarton

£45.00

London Born by Sidney Day |

London Born

Sidney Day

£10.99

See all...

Staff Picks

How to be Autistic by Charlotte Amelia Poe |

How to be Autistic

Charlotte Amelia Poe

£8.99

Reality and Dreams by Muriel Spark |

Reality and Dreams

Muriel Spark

£9.99

Real Life by Brandon Taylor | 9781911547747

Real Life

Brandon Taylor

£9.99

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak |

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Elif Shafak

£8.99

Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls |

Sweet Sorrow

David Nicholls

£8.99

To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek |

To Calais, In Ordinary Time

James Meek

£9.99

See all...

Instagram

#OwlRecommends Jenny Diski was a fearless writer,

#OwlRecommends

Jenny Diski was a fearless writer, for whom no subject was too difficult, even her own cancer diagnosis.

Her columns in the London Review of Books - selected here by her editor and friend Mary-Kay Wilmers, on subjects as various as death, motherhood, sexual politics and the joys of solitude - have been described as 'virtuoso performances', and 'small masterpieces'. From Highgate Cemetery to the interior of a psychiatric hospital, from Tottenham Court Road to the icebergs of Antarctica, Why Didn't You Just Do What You Were Told? is a collective interrogation of the universal experience from a very particular psyche: original, opinionated - and mordantly funny.

'Nothing about Jenny Diski is conventional. Diski does not do linear, or normal, or boring ... highly intelligent, furiously funny' Sunday Times

‘She expanded notions about what nonfiction, as an art form, could do and could be' New Yorker

Follow the link here @owl.bookshop to reserve

#OwlRecommends Congratulations to Kate Clanchy wh

#OwlRecommends

Congratulations to Kate Clanchy who has won this year’s Orwell Prize for Political Writing

‘The best book on teachers and children and writing that I’ve ever read. No-one has said better so much of what so badly needs saying’ – Philip Pullman

Kate Clanchy wants to change the world and thinks school is an excellent place to do it.

She invites you to meet some of the kids she has taught in her thirty-year career. Join her as she explains everything about sex to a classroom of thirteen-year-olds. As she works in the school ‘Inclusion Unit’, trying to improve the fortunes of kids excluded from regular lessons because of their terrifying power to end learning in an instant.

Or as she nurtures her multicultural poetry group, full of migrants and refugees, watches them find their voice and produce work of heartbreaking brilliance. While Clanchy doesn’t deny stinging humiliations or hide painful accidents, she celebrates this most creative, passionate and practically useful of jobs. Teaching today is all too often demeaned, diminished and drastically under-resourced.

Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me will show you why it shouldn’t be.

#OwlRecommends A perfect combination of poetry and

#OwlRecommends
A perfect combination of poetry and illustration for every day.

NOVEMBER 17th! A riveting, deeply personal account

NOVEMBER 17th!
A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making-from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy.

Pre-order now from the Owl and get 100 Owl loyalty points.

Follow the link here @owl.bookshop to pre-order

#OwlRecommends Beautifully illustrated and compre

#OwlRecommends

Beautifully illustrated and comprehensive look at the work and life of this wonderful artist.

John Nash (1893-1977) was a highly versatile artist who responded to the British landscape with a unique vision that still resonates today. He also created some of the most memorable paintings of the First World War. Over a sixty-year career he produced paintings in oil and watercolour and was also an illustrator, cartoonist, wood-engraver and arguably the finest botanical draughtsman of his era.

Unlike his older brother Paul, John received no formal art training, but emerged almost fully fledged into the London art world of 1913. Held in high regard by his contemporaries, Nash was part of a wide network of artist friends, including Walter Sickert, Harold Gilman, Charles Ginner, Mark Gertler, Dora Carrington, Cedric Morris and of course his brother Paul, and he in turn influenced Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace examines these personal and working relationships, and in particular that with his wife Christine Kuhlenthal.

An extraordinary voice in her own right, revealed here for the first time through her letters and journals, Christine's influence was critical to Nash's career during a long marriage which also encompassed both partners having many other relationships. Their life story is an extraordinary one, which as this book shows was touched by many hitherto untold events. Drawing on original research, this fascinating and long-overdue biography provides a much fuller picture of John Nash and his work than previously and is at the same time an intimate and compelling narrative, embracing love, tragedy and the pursuit of solace.

#OwlRecommends The more we learn about fungi, the

#OwlRecommends

The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.

Neither plant nor animal, they are found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. They can be microscopic, yet also account for the largest organisms ever recorded. They enabled the first life on land, can survive unprotected in space and thrive amidst nuclear radiation.

In fact, nearly all life relies in some way on fungi. These endlessly surprising organisms have no brain but can solve problems and manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses.

Their ability to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the 'Wood Wide Web', is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented. Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world, and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live, and life itself.

Follow link here @owl.bookshop to reserve a copy

Find Us

Owl Bookshop

207-209 Kentish Town Road
London
NW5 2JU

Opening times

Monday – Friday 09:00 - 19:00
Saturday – 09:00 - 19:00
Sunday 11:00 - 18:00
Bank holidays – 11:00 - 18:00