An Evening with Mike Pickering
2026-05-18 20:00 - 22:00 (Europe/London) | Old Woollen, Sunnybank Mills, 83-85 Town Street, Farsley, LS28 5UJ, United Kingdom
From The Hacienda to the Happy Mondays to M-People…

Join us as we find out more about a life of music, madness and moving on up with Mike Pickering, a major figure in UK music, whose story has not been told before.

Manchester Must Dance is a new book, written with mercurial storyteller Paul Morley and covers a golden age of British popular music and culture, from the 1960s onwards, all seen through the perspective of someone who was in the thick of it, as a musician, DJ and A&R executive.

Manchester Must Dance features contributions as well as forewords from music titans Noel Gallagher, Martin Fry, Johnny Marr and Calvin Harris, and gives a unique insider’s perspective on the Madchester story, from the 1970s to 1990s.

Mike will be interviewed by Andy Spinoza, an early member of the Haçienda, who reported on the city’s music scene for the NME and The Face. He founded alternative magazine City Life in 1983 and spent ten years as a gossip columnist for the Manchester Evening News. As boss of his own PR company, he promoted the dynamic post-industrial Manchester throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

About the Book

From Manchester’s backstreets to global dancefloors – this is the untold story of a musical pioneer. Beginning on the night in November 1963, when his mum took him to see the Beatles live at Manchester’s ABC Cinema, Mike Pickering takes the reader through sixty years of clubs, clothes, gigs, record labels, football matches and politics.

Pickering has lived through decades of rapid change in popular music. As an influential DJ he introduced house music into the legendary Haçienda. He signed Happy Mondays and James to Factory Records before working with Kasabian, Gossip and Calvin Harris at Sony. His Mercury Prize-winning, multi-million-selling group M People transformed the music industry’s attitude to dance music.

An Evening of Feminism and Flourishing Futures with Natasha Walter
2026-06-09 20:00 - 22:00 | Cargo Wines, Twistings Gallery, Sunny Bank Mill, 83-85 Town Street, Farsley, Leeds, LS28 5UJ, United Kingdom
Join us in Cargo Wines here in Farsley for an Evening with Natasha Walter – author, journalist and charity founder, who writes and campaigns for a world in which women can flourish on a flourishing planet.​We’ll be celebrating the release of Natasha’s new book Feminism for a World on Fire which takes a global view of current challenges facing women across the world. Natasha doesn’t shy away from the issues but she also tries to look for the hope that is still rising and the courage that never dies.

About the Book

Women are facing backlash. Authoritarian states, online misogyny and climate breakdown are creating growing dangers for women, as their safety is being threatened and their freedoms are under attack. Today, feminism is trapped in a cycle of consumerism and sold to women as individual empowerment.The result is that women are struggling to build connections with one another and with the world around them. How can women defend their rights and freedoms in this dangerous world? In the urgent Feminism for a World on Fire, Natasha Walter moves decisively beyond individualism to build a vision of a rooted feminism that can connect women’s liberation to other movements for equality and environmental protection. A world where women can thrive together on a flourishing planet may sometimes seem like a distant dream – but it is still within our grasp.With clarity and courage, in this passionate and compelling book, Natasha finds a thread of real hope in the dark.About the Author

Natasha is also the author of Living Dolls: the Return of Sexism, a book about young women and the hypersexual culture. Before becoming an author, she worked full time as a journalist, and still often writes for the Guardian and the Observer, as well as other outlets. Natasha founded the charity Women for Refugee Women, where she was the director for 15 years, campaigning with refugee women for justice and safety.

An Evening with Jennifer Saint
2026-06-15 20:00 - 22:00 | Old Woollen, Sunnybank Mills, 83-85 Town Street, Farsley, LS28 5UJ, United Kingdom
Jennifer Saint will join us this June to celebrate This Immortal Heart – an epic story of love and war where two opposing deities find themselves drawn to each other against all odds. When Aphrodite and Ares fall in love, sparks are bound to fly…

THIS IS THE OLDEST LOVE STORY OF ALL TIME . .

About the Author

Jennifer Saint grew up reading Greek mythology and was always drawn to the untold stories hidden within the myths. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, she wrote Ariadne, which was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year in 2021. All of her novels have been Sunday Times bestsellers, with both Elektra and Atalanta hitting the coveted number one slot.

Jennifer Saint lives here in Yorkshire with her family.

About the Book

Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, wields unparalleled power over every divine and mortal heart. Though her world is one of beauty, she is the most dangerous god of all, ruled by passion regardless of the consequences.

Ares, God of War, is her perfect contradiction: feared, unwanted and relentless in his devotion to chaos. Where she breathes life into longing, he thrives in destruction.

And yet gods are no more immune to love and loss than anyone else, and soon their lives collide. But even divine love can’t protect them from the fates of Mount Olympus, and whilst the God of War may be capable of greater love than anyone else, so many the Goddess of Love be capable of the gravest mistakes.

The Fall and Rise of the Mölkky Bar Kids
2026-07-09 18:30 - 21:00 | Truman Books, 95 Town Street, Farsley, Leeds, LS28 5HX
Immerse yourself in a blazing tale of sporting splendour that began as a pub conversation gone awry. Join Leeds-based Neil Squires on the launch of his new book; an unlikely story of four men from Yorkshire who found themselves crossing the globe in search of international glory.

Hilarious, moving and surprisingly profound, The Fall and Rise of the Mölkky Bar Kids is a lesson in enduring friendship, growing older and the importance of throwing your hat (and your Mölkky stick) in the ring when you’re offered a new adventure.

About the Book

Suddenly in his mid-fifties, Neil Squires found himself at a crossroads in life. With a journalism career in oscillation and trips to the barber starting to focus more on his eyebrows than hair, he desperately craved a sporting adventure akin to the ones he had spent his life reporting on. But when he took up an obscure Finnish throwing game, he had no idea it would lead him and three school friends halfway across the world, in ill-fitting Team GB kit, to compete for the nation, becoming unlikely Japanese media celebrities in the process.

Travelling 5,500 miles from home to Hokkaido in pursuit of a gold medal at the Mölkky World Championships, with the weight of the nation on their rapidly stiffening backs, the newly formed Mölkky Bar Kids faced humiliating loss, unexpected victories, and learned of the power of writing a bonkers twist into your story at a stage in life when most people begin to disregard you.

“As my ghostwriter, Neil Squires actually managed to make one of my books interesting and funny. This is what you get from him when he isn’t compromised by such poor material.” – Jonny Wilkinson

An Evening with Jess Kitching
2026-07-16 18:30 - 21:00 | Truman Books, 95 Town Street, Farsley, Leeds, LS28 5HX
Not only is Jess an internationally published writer of thrillers, she’s a regular attendee of the Truman’s Book Club Social! We can’t wait to have her in the bookshop to celebrate with her as she launches her new book The Secrets of Strangers. Join us on publication day!

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware, The Secrets of Strangers is a propulsive thriller about a writer who gets caught up in the case of a missing woman.

About the Book

After suffering a loss, Janine and her husband Kamal need a fresh start. They leave their family and everything they know in Manchester and move to Bamblethorpe, a picturesque Lancashire village where they expect nothing but peace and quiet. It’ll be just what Janine, a thriller writer, needs to work on her next manuscript.But the peace of their new village life is disrupted when long-time local Alexa Clarke goes missing out of the blue. Did she leave her husband like some people suspect? Or is there credibility to the rumours that something more nefarious has happened to Alexa?Frozen by writer’s block, Janine stumbles into investigating Alexa’s disappearance, and the more she discovers about Alexa’s life, the more complicated things become. Nothing is as it seems, and Janine begins to realise that there are disturbing parallels between Alexa’s life and her own.What starts as curious procrastination quickly spirals into a tangled web of secrets, lies and a truth Janine may not be ready to face … if she survives.

‘Gripping, twisty and perfectly plotted. A mystery that just demands to be devoured.’ – Katy Brent

‘A terrific writer with a smart, keep-on-guessing, plot-twisting story that will keep you turning the pages until you reach the final one … then you’ll finally be able to take a breath.’ – Chris Carter, author of The Crucifix Killer

About the Author

Born in Bradford, Jess Kitching is an avid reader, writer and binge-watcher who splits her time between the UK and Australia. After graduating Huddersfield University with a First in English Literature, Jess worked as a primary school teacher before becoming an author. Her three previous thrillers have been internationally published and described by readers as ‘thrillers with heart’. Her debut romance, The Life Experiment, was Women’s Weekly’s Best Romance of 2025.
