Musings
A collection of stories, thoughts and news
-
Giving Children the Freedom to Choose Their Next Story
Guest writer Brogan Tuxford, Primary School Teacher at St Mary’s School for Girls I was an avid reader as a child. I went to Narnia and to Hogwarts. I travelled back in time to solve mysteries and visited places far, far away (places that I now understand may not actually exist!). The pursuit of discovering the next adventure, story or world has never left me; it chased me into adulthood and still takes up huge swathes of my time. For me, there’s a childlike joy in being able to abandon reality and curl up within the pages of another world –
-
Christmas in Colchester: “Surprising Mrs B” – the story continues
This is the conclusion to a story published in Christmas in Colchester 2025 magazine. If you would like to read the story from the beginning, click here. Otherwise the story continues here: ….After tea, Cally lay on her bed digesting and scrutinising Fleabags, who was sitting beside her cleaning himself vigorously. He was a long-haired muddy-brown moggy with one white foot and a white ear. Generally he favoured a dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards approach to coiffure, but he had – in fact – only had fleas once and was perfectly clean. ’Have you always been able to talk?’ she asked. Fleabags paused with his
-
| Musings
How Did I Get Here
Hello, I’m Lucy. This is the story of how I got to be holding a copy of my book, in Red Lion Bookshop It’s been a strange time, and while I might look calm on the outside, I can assure you that my insides look a lot more like this: First, some background. I’m a librarian by profession, and while I’ve wanted to write since I was a child, I’ve only been writing in an organised way for the last five years. I’d written a few things before that, but I had only shared them with my family and close friends.
-
Wild Essex Imaginarium
Wild Essex Imaginarium University of Essex – 27 September 2025 This event will appeal to academics, art practitioners, heritage workers, activists and policy makers. The Wild Essex Imaginarium aims to re-engage/re-enchant the relationship between the arts and conservation practice in Essex over the next five years of this ‘critical decade’. We begin by asking how arts and cultural practice and engagement can influence environmental policy (local/regional/national) and support diverse participation. With the recent publication of the Essex Local Nature Recovery Strategy, this has become an ever more important issue. BUY THE BOOKS HERE BOOK EVENT HERE
-
Renaturing
Contributor: Author James Canton So, just for a moment, imagine your most idyllic literary festival event… a marque packed full of an intelligent, wise and interested audience, a fellow speaker who fits perfectly, a chair who coordinates the chat with wit and ease. Then throw in a castle as venue, a little over two miles from your home. Perfect. The EA Festival at Hedingham Castle over the weekend of June 14-15th 2025 – run by the amazing Joanne Ooi — was just such a dream for me. I was paired in a talk on ‘Renaturing’ – the title of my new
-
Writer In Residence (Jane- no longer tame)
A blog. Written by customer and friend of Red Lion Books, Jane Herd Jane- no longer tame Writer in Residence- Red Lion Book Shop, Colchester High Street, 5 th to 23rd August 2025 As Jane- no longer tame I am a feminist writer. My nom de plume arose spontaneously at the end of one of a series of poems using the metaphor of birds to explore the need to fly the nest and break from the gilded cage. One of my friends on hearing this title joked when had I ever been tame, I may speak out but I have always
-
Hopeful Artwork coming to Red Lion Books
Written by customer and friend of the shop, Eve Paterson who can be found on Instagram @e.f.paterson Some of the best stories are the ones we write with others. The ones that wrap you up like your favourite jumper. The ones that kindle joy and hope for what might be… Well, the Coat of Hopes is exactly one of those stories that is created in community, sewn with hope, and that you can quite literally wrap around you. Some of the people who experienced the warmth of the Coat at COP26. The Coat of Hopes began its journey in 2021
-
| Musings
The Final Curtain, on ‘Wise Children’ by Angela Carter
https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/_files/ugd/a0b156_c4e0aed82fc84c9483a6ca540dd9695f.pdf This article was written by Louise Prior, Red Lion Books and published in Underdog Lit Mag. Published in UNDERDOG, Literary Magazine, Issue 3, 2025 Louise’s article is Page 12. The Final Curtain – On Wise Children by Angela Carter
-
The Cocoa Bookclub Reading List
Hello Lovely Reader! The Cocoa Bookclub established itself in 2023 and has been growing ever since. If you scroll down, you can take a look at the books we have read previously. This list will be updated regularly to feature the most recent book club read. September 2025 – Piranesi August 2025 – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue July 2025 – Butter June 2025 – Intermezzo May 2025 – Spoilt Creatures April 2025 – The Giant Dark March 2025 – I Who Have Never Known Men February 2025 – The Lamb January 2025 – A Winter Book December 2024 – Upon a
-
Is Colchester an anomaly in the decline of young readers?
This article was written by Lily Locke, one of the Newsquest Young Reporters, a scheme that gives 14 to 18-year-old school students a chance to write for a real newspaper. Find out more at the Young Reporter website. Is Colchester an anomaly in the decline of young readers? A recent Guardian article reported that, in the UK, the number of children from age eight to 18 who read is at an all time low. Since the increased use of mobile devices in our society, fewer young people choose to read over online activities, as it can be perceived as boring
-
A year in the life of a customer, book by book
Some books what I have read in 2024 This year, I saw the phrase “nourishing seepage” in an online book preview – on the first page, in fact. I ordered it (The Girls, by John Bowen) immediately. First published in 1986, you can only get it second hand in the UK, but this “wry, macabre tale of simple country living, brutal murder, and a reasonably happy couple” has just been republished by McNally Editions in America, so hopefully some enterprising indie publisher here will follow suit. It’s gloriously mad, and one of those rare books where a man has written convincing
-
| Musings
Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me
How We Use Cannibalism as a Metaphor for All-Consuming Love Louise, our youngest member of staff, has recently had her writing published in the Literary Magazine, THE LITERARY UNDERDOG We are very proud of her. As you may ascertain from the title, the subject matter may not be palatable for everyone (see what we did there) but click the link to read her observations on the growing trend for cannibalism being featured in literature. Scroll down until you see the title Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me https://www.theliteraryunderdog.com/news On this subject, we have an Author Event with Lucy Rose on
-
| Musings
What Am I Doing Here
What on earth am I doing up here? Autumn 2024 You may not know who I am – I’m a part time Red Lion bookseller. I’m the one who rambles on about children’s books and often recommends contemporary fiction, as well as nature writing, a bit of high fantasy and occasionally, historical fiction. Right now I’m far away from the bookshop. I’m in Fasaig, Torridon – a tiny community on the shores of Loch Torridon in the region of Achnasheen, Wester Ross, North West Highlands. Nearest town, Inverness, just over an hour away. London, another galaxy… Readers, I just wanted to
-
Here Comes The Fun
We were delighted to welcome Ben Aitken to the woods this summer for our Words In The Woods day festival. Ben is bestselling author of Here Comes The Fun: A Journey into the Serious Business of Having a Laugh (Icon, July 2024). Perhaps you have read The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple (2022), The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders (2020), A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland (2019), or Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island (2015)? He has also been published in The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The
-
How Small Changes Can Make A Big Difference to Teachers
Blog post by author Michelle Auton In teaching there is always so much to do, so why do we want to be worrying about wellbeing as well? With over a fifth of teachers leaving the profession in the first two few years of their career and stress and workload being cited as the main reasons for leaving- a conversation about wellbeing is essential. I think the key to good wellbeing in education is not a huge change in routine but small considered changes that can build to make a big change. Lots of small steps can make a big difference. With
-
You will find kindness in the corners of a bookshop
You will possibly find dust in those corners as well but that’s a different blog. There are many ways to purchase a book. Some people don’t feel the safety or the conviviality of a bookshop is for them. They may prefer the anonymity of clicking a button and that’s okay. There are different tribes of people. In our experience there are still lots of people who enjoy visiting a bookshop to buy their books.This is a fortunate fact and it’s why we are still in business. HMV came, went and returned! Debenhams, Woolies and M&S were not able to stick around.
-
| Musings
Espionage, betrayal, scandal, corruption and murder. An author event about true events
Behind one of the greatest tragedies in UK policing history lies an incredible political scandal which has been likened to that of the Post Office scandal. The audio link above is a small excerpt from an interview with Colne Radio when Matthew Young recently interviewed the authors of No Ordinary Day who are coming to the Colchester Arts Centre on Saturday 16th March at 11am to talk about their book https://redlionbooks.live/product/author-event-no-ordinary-day-16th-march-2024-11am-matt-johnson-john-murray-at-colchester-arts-centre/ ‘An important book, especially now’ Lee Child ‘Espionage, betrayal, terrorism, corruption and murder. All the ingredients of a Le Carré novel, only it’s real’ Matthew Hall On 17
-
| Musings
Article from The Big Issue, 2024 Indie bookshops survive closure
Article for The Big Issue 2024 INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOPS SURVIVE CLOSURE We were asked to comment for the recent article published in The Big Issue. Please read here https://www.bigissue.com/culture/books/independent-bookshops-closure-survive-ba/
-
| Musings
Deaths, Disasters & Destinies, Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives
By Val Morgan, author, 2024 Being asked to write a blog piece about my new book by Red Lion is a real pleasure for me as Red Lion Books is a great supporter of local writers and their work. I was delighted when I knew my book would be displayed in the medieval history section in the shop. It is called Deaths, Disasters and Destinies: Anglo-Norman History in Twelve Lives. The book came about when I realised that after researching my four novels set in the Anglo-Norman period I had amassed a huge amount of historical and archival material. I was
-
Taking Inspiration from Real Life Stories by Liz Trenow
Taking inspiration from real life stories By Liz Trenow, 2024, Colchester based best-selling author of The Secret Sister, The Last Telegram, The Forgotten Seamstress, The Silk Weaver, Searching for My Daughter and five other novels. When searching for inspiration for my novels the most important thing is that I feel passionate about the subject. I’m going to spend at least a year in the company of these characters and if I don’t care deeply about them it’s going to be tough going. So most of my stories have a basis in real life, and my latest book, The Secret Sister is