Events

Look out for our upcoming events! Social book club, fantasy book club, walk & talk book club, writing courses and clubs, and quiet reading nights as well as loads of opportunities to hear writers talk about their work, buy signed copies, and meet fellow readers. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find details of ticketed events we have coming up!


BOOK CLUB - monthly; get in touch to sign up and get the book!

Each month we run a book club, bringing authors, writers, and translators along to join the discussion. To secure a place at an upcoming book club, and to get copies of the books to read ahead, please pop into the shop, message on Instagram, or email us at hello@collectedbooks.co.uk. 

NOVEMBER BOOK CLUB

FREE but please get in touch to sign up! Books available in-store now

Patricia Grace King on Those Who Vanish - Wednesday 18 November, 7.30pm

We're massively excited that our great friend, author Patricia Grace King, will be with us for November's Collected Book Club to join us in discussing her short story collection Those Who Vanish - stories that explore faith, violence, survival, and the resilience of the human heart.

As we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the 1996 Guatemalan Peace Accords, we find ourselves still urgently needing to understand the wars the United States has fomented abroad. Offering readers a direct window into the Guatemalan internal armed conflict (1960–1996), the stories in Those Who Vanish wrestle with the question of individual responsibility in the face of global forces, portraying with sensitivity American citizens in Guatemala during the conflict and the later experience of Guatemalan expats in America. We see how trauma ripples: through generations of a family, across oceans and borders, and even into the very fabric of our relationships.

Upon finding human teeth on their doorstep, two peace workers bury them out of respect for the dead. A tomboyish blonde American who grew up poor in rural Maryland must confront fraught issues of class when she begins dating a wealthy Guatemalan man. At a Mennonite sleepaway camp in Kentucky, two missionary kids connect over their shared experiences in Central America—until they don’t, hormones and hard memories bubbling between them.

This is a collection that insists we think critically about foreign wars and the roles we might play in them. Likewise, King asks us to consider the personal wars we wage against each other, and our own selves, as we decide who we are and what we’re willing to fight for.

Books available in store now