(293 Gloucester Road BS7 8PE)

From grassroots clubs battling for survival to the rise and fall of Russian oligarchs; Marcus Rashford’s anti-hunger campaign and the uproar surrounding Gary Lineker’s tweets, Injury Time dives in to football’s central role in public debate and consciousness. The game, Goldblatt contends, is the ultimate societal bellwether, particularly in an age of multiple crises – Brexit, Covid, climate catastrophes, economic and political upheaval.

Tickets will go quickly for this so don’t wait until injury time to book!

It promises to be an indispensable, eye-opening evening but don’t just take our word for it; here are some reviews for Injury Time and David’s other acclaimed work:

‘David Goldblatt is possibly the best football historian there has ever been’. Dominic Sandbrook

‘David Goldblatt is the greatest British sportswriter of the 21st century … Injury Time is an absolute classic.’ James Montague, author of The Billionaires Club and Engulfed

‘Stunningly researched, calmly presented and cumulatively shocking, David Goldblatt’s Injury Time is a work of searching and uncomfortable truths about the world of British football in the age of Brexit. We all knew that the age of relative innocence had long gone; but this extraordinarily knowledgeable, broad-based survey reveals as never before the challenges facing any serious attempt to restore the soul to our game.’ – David Kynaston, author of A Northern Wind

‘David Goldblatt sets to tell the story of modern Britain through football – and, remarkably he succeeds. English football culture would be lost without him. He guides us through the madness.’ – Simon Kuper, bestselling author of Chums
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Tickets are available via Headfirst, here: https://hdfst.uk/e137000

When: Wednesday evenings, 1 October – 19 November 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Where: Right here at Gloucester Road Books, in the inspiring and creative atmosphere of the shop

Cost: £375 (payment plans available)

Group size: Just 10 participants, so spaces go quickly

Over 8 weeks, you’ll explore forms like:
Memoir and personal essays
Literary journalism
Biography, reviews, and features
Writing for Substack and blogs

With Holly’s expert guidance, you’ll take part in workshops, writing exercises, readings, and feedback sessions – all leading to a polished piece of your own writing and practical tips on how to get it published.

The course is designed to be warm, supportive, and inspiring – whether you’re a complete beginner or already writing. You’ll leave with not only new skills, but also the confidence to share your voice.

Holly Rigby is a Bristol-based writer and lecturer in creative nonfiction at City University. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and The Independent, and she’s been a commentator on BBC, Sky News, and Channel 4.

For more information and to book a place, visit: https://gloucesterroadbooks.info/non-fiction-writing-course-with-holly-rigby/

(293 Gloucester Road BS7 8PE)

Here’s what some of Mandy’s fellow chefs and cookery writers think of Simply Malaysian:

“A joyful book filled with highly achievable food. Simply Malaysian is simply brilliant and I can’t wait to get cooking from it.” Meera Sodha

“Mandy’s recipes are easy, delicious and full of flavour. A must have book.” Ching He Huang

“This is a cookbook for anyone who wants a little taste of Malaysia in their kitchen.” Rachel Khoo

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Tickets are available via Headfirst, here: https://hdfst.uk/e134240

The book is published in October, but we are offering pre-orders from our website via the link below. You can request a dedication with your pre-order, or just a signed copy.

Into being is an essential guide to writing memoir in a radical and empowering way. Drawing on her experience as a memoirist and a teacher of creative writing, Lily Dunn presents the ground-breaking idea that the craft of memoir itself can offer a form of transformation.

Dunn demystifies the memoirist’s art, helping readers to find meaning in raw experience and elevate the personal to the universal. She considers intriguing questions, from why our memories give greater significance to certain events to how we can write honestly without intruding too far into the lives of our loved ones. She also explores how writers are extending the memoir form to create something hybrid, playful and subversive.

In an age of social media, filled with confessions, re-inventions and distortions of the self, the question of what it means to be an individual is more urgent than ever. Into being shows readers how to turn writing memoir into a journey of discovery – one that can be shared with the whole world.

Book Subscription Round-Up

Our monthly fiction subscribers receive a book every month. It’ll be a book that one of us really loves, and believes ought to be more widely read. It won’t be anything very obvious that you might choose for yourself (although last year we did select Orbital before it was longlisted for, then ultimately won, the Booker Prize). There are four of us involved in the selection process, and we read widely, so expect a variety of different kinds of book. They will all be fiction, but that is the only thing we guarantee they will have in common. It is a delight for an adventurous reader.

Subscriptions can be 3, 6 or 12 months in length, and can be bought for yourself or as a gift. Each month the book will be wrapped and will include an introduction from the bookseller who made the selection.

The first six selections of this year are below, along with excerpts from our introductions. More information about subscription options is available from our website, or we can chat it through with you in the shop.

January

You Dreamed of Empires

by Alvaro Enrigue

February

Glorious Exploits

by Ferdia Lennon

March

Perfection

by Vincenzo Latronico

April

Tragic Magic

by Wesley Brown

May

The Heart in Winter

by Kevin Barry

June

We Would Have Told Each Other Everything

by Judith Hermann