Supporting local writers

Writers Book Club with Jan Carson

November 27th 7.00pm

This is our first ever Writers Book Club, where the audience are all writers (or potential writers:) seeking insight into the writing and publishing process. We’re delighted to welcome award winning author Jan Carson as our first guest author. The event will be hosted by Sturry based author and creative writing tutor Sarah Ivens.

Jan Carson is a Belfast based writer who has published four novels, three short story collections and three micro-fiction collections. Her novel The Fire Starters won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland, 2019. The Raptures was shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year.
Jan was the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast in 2025, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has achieved the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. Her most recent novel, Few and Far Between (Doubleday UK and Scribner US) and micro-fiction collection, No Vacancy (No Alibis Press), were both published in 2026.

Jan will share her wide experience, including discussing the micro fiction format, and sharing her knowledge of the writing and publishing process, having experience of working with small indie publishers and large global publishing houses.

This event is open to all readers and writers but will be particularly interesting to writers and aspiring writers of all abilities

Tickets are available in Chapters or online here

Supporting local writers

Building a ‘writing community’ at Chapters

The new Writers Book Club is our latest initiative supporting writers, building on existing activities and events to support writers, from those already published to those just starting out. We currently offer the following support:

Creative Writing Course. Now in its third year this has proved very popular. Led by author Sarah Ivens, the focus is on those starting out in the writing process, including fiction and memoir.

Writing Support Group. This is for those who have already completed the creative writing course, allowing everyone to develop at their own pace, again with support from course tutor Sarah Ivens

Quiet Writing Group. This is simply what it says - a quiet space for those who wish to write. No need to book; you can just turn up and start writing. Poet and author Rosie Johnston hosts this and is always available for a chat or advice.

Writers Book Club. We have just organised the first of these, with author Jan Carson, and if successful we plan to provide others on an occasional basis. The format is that participants read the book prior to the event and then join in a facilitated discussion with a focus on the format chosen and the writing and publishing process.

Writers Library. Chapters has an extensive and growing collection of books on the writing process - at this stage only available for reading / consulting in the bookshop, and all publications can be ordered.

Local Author bookshelf in the bookshop. This is a dedicated section in the shop for local self published authors - so it is somewhere you can direct enquiries and also we sometimes have visitors specifically looking for something local.

What do words feel like?

A fun and informative event with artist Eszter Novak Sunday 6 December at 4.00pm Tickets £5 (fully redeemable at the event) Book in-store or here

Have you ever wondered what words feel like? What they sound like beyond their pronounciation? And how these additional sensory layers shape memory and understanding?

Inspired by her illustrated dictionary Obscurities, Eszter Novák invites you on an interactive adventure into the wonderfully weird world of obscure English words, exploring how humour and the senses can make language more memorable.

Eszter is a Hungarian-British (or HunBrit for short) artist, illustrator and graphic designer with an incurable fascination for the weird, the wonderfully peculiar, the charmingly odd and the delightfully obscure. Creator of Obscurities, a rather abridged, illustrated selection of some of the strangest words in the English language, she was the inaugural artist at Canterbury’s Clocktower Gallery this past summer.

Join her for a playful, multisensory exploration of some curious words, featuring illustrations, tactile elements and audio.

Please note: this event is intended for adult audiences as it might contain the occasional mature humour.

!!New Modern Boardgames Session New!!

New boardgames session starts Sat 5th December 3.00-5.00pm

Board games, coffee and good company at Chapters!

Join us for our first modern board games afternoon in a friendly, relaxed café setting. We’ll have plenty of games to choose from, including favourites such as Ticket to Ride, Codenames, Carcassonne and Azul, but feel free to bring along a game of your own.

No experience needed. Just come along and join the fun!

The session is free but can be booked by contacting Alban at [email protected] who is also happy to provide more information.

Not a fan of Amazon? Neither are we, at least not for buying books!

Well we have our own online bookshop, hosted by a non-profit committed to supporting small local indie bookshops like ours - you can check it out below:

https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/chaptersofsturry
There are literally thousands of books available to order but we have also highlighted a number of books we recommend, including Maurice’s favourite books of 2025 - check them out here.

CHAPTERS OPENING HOURS