SOLD OUT – Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives – Lucy Mangan in conversation with Dorothy Lehane

Event Description
Celebrate the love of reading with Lucy Mangan, bestselling Guardian columnist, TV critic, and author of recent memoir Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives. Join us for a warm, witty exploration of reading, resilience, and life’s pivotal moments—through the pages that shape us.

Lucy Mangan is the bestselling author of Bookworm and Bookish, a Guardian columnist, and a voice that blends humour, insight, and heartfelt connection. Her latest memoir has drawn praise as “an affectionate, warm guide on the healing power of reading” (Independent) and “a bookworm’s delight” (Penguin). Whether you're an avid reader or a casual browser, you'll leave with renewed wonder for the books that shape our lives – and maybe a few new titles to add to your own shelf.

🌟 Event Highlights
Reflection & Conversation
Lucy will share the personal stories behind Bookish – how literature became her sanctuary through grief, motherhood, and lockdown, and how her beloved book‑filled shed “shrine” (housing over 10,000 titles!) reflects a lifelong love of reading.

The Power of Reading
Drawing on her Guardian reviews and personal memoir, she’ll explore how books guide us through childhood, heartbreak, career challenges, and culture shifts; revealing how stories help us “walk in other people’s shoes”.

Live Q&A
Join the conversation! Ask Lucy about comfort reads, her writing journey from solicitor to author and TV critic, and tips for returning to beloved genres or discovering new ones.

Don’t miss this chance to journey through stories with one of Britain’s most beloved literary voices. Reserve your seat today!

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'A bookworm's delight' Sara Collins | 'A gorgeous hug of a book – funny, warm and charming' Marian Keyes | 'Comforting, funny and moving' Sali Hughes | 'Lucy Mangan on books is like butter on toast: perfect' Caitlin Moran | [Mangan] makes for a wonderfully incisive critic' Observer

A love letter to all those who come alive when they pull a new treasure off the shelf, stay up late reading just one more page and pack their suitcases with clothes wedged between books instead of the other way around.

From exploring the stacks as a student, to finding her feet as a bookseller-turned-journalist, falling for a fellow bookworm in an independent bookshop, escaping the doldrums of new motherhood and finally building a (book) room of her own, Bookish is the story of a life spent falling in love with reading. Bookworm author Lucy Mangan chronicles her years of buying, borrowing and hoarding everything from well-worn literary classics to steamy bonkbusters, gripping thrillers, young adult novels and other not-so-guilty pleasures.

Brimming with literary insights, wry observations and stellar recommendations, this book is an ode to the bookish places – from local libraries to bookstores big and small – and the stories that make us who we are.