Ian Alexander will be talking this evening at Gilbert White’s House, Selborne, Hampshire, Thursday 10th March 2016 at 6:30 pm on ‘The English Love Affair with Nature’ based on his book of that name published by YouCaxton, a fascinating exploration of  – what it says it is.

Ian will be looking at: 1. the idea of nature; 2. How the nation fell in love (including Gilbert White’s ‘A Natural History of Selborne’ and Thomas Bewick’s ‘A History of British Birds’); 3. How the nation became ready for the affair: (early beginnings, the mediaeval world view, natural theology, early collectors, romanticism and the industrial revolution); 4. A nation in love, from good books to art, geology, dinosaurs, conservation, birding, gardening and more; 5. Now and the future.

Our Charity Ball to raise funds for the Severn Hospice takes place this Saturday, 7.30 till late, at the Topaz Ballroom, Maverick Business Park, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury. It features the Footloose Dance Orchestra, a wonderful sixteen-piece dance band.

Dress – black tie or plenty of sparkle.

There is a bar.

Tickets are still available; contact enquiries@youcaxton.co.uk.

Bob Fowke will be speaking on The Pirate and the Poet – Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Captain George Shelvock, in the Unitarian Church, High Street, Shrewsbury, at 2.00 pm on Sunday 10th January. The talk is in aid of the Shrewsbury Literary Festival.

In November 1794, Coleridge was out walking with William and Dorothy Wordsworth, seeking for a central concept for what he hoped would be a block-buster, gothic poem and Wordsworth suggested an episode from A Voyage Round the World by Way of the Great South Sea by Shrewsbury man (or pirate), Captn. George Shelvocke, where Shelvocke describes the shooting of an albatross by his Second Captain, Simon Hatley. From this suggestion grew the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, and Simon Hatley thus became the unsung model for Coleridge’s Mariner. Bob Fowke looks at the extraordinary story behind the poem, the pirate and the voyage.

Colin Sharp will be speaking on Button Gwinnett, Dubious Signatory of the American Declaration of Independence, on Monday 23rd November at 6.00 pm in Shrewsbury Library, to coincide with publication of Button Gwinnett, Failed Merchant, Plantation Owner, Mountebank, Opportunist Politician and Founding Father, his fascinating account of this little-known but remarkable figure. Gwinnett, from Wolverhampton,  rose by dubious means to become one of the largest landowners in the State of Georgia and, in 1776, placed his signature on the Declaration of Independence and then became President of Georgia – before his last, unfortunate duel. Colin Gwinnett Sharp is a former Royal Navy Commander who first came to know of his forbear’s exceptional life whilst serving in the British Embassy in Washington DC.

Book launch, Tuesday 7th July at 7.00 pm at Pengwern Books, Fish Street, Shrewsbury, for Coalbrookdale Doctors by Dr. Richard Moore, Dr Moore’s wonderfully well-researched account of three generations of Shropshire apothecaries/general practitioners. All welcome.

The YouCaxton Charity Ball (in February) raised £500 for the Severn Hospice and we’ve just had a very pleasant letter of thanks from them. We’re planning another ball for next year and hopefully we can raise even more.

Bob Fowke will be giving a talk at Leominster Public Library, 6.30 pm Thursday 7 May, on self-publishing and on some of the problems facing authors wishing to self-publish today. The talk will embrace both digital and print publishing and will look at problems of marketing as well as at the more technical problems facing authors who take the self-publishing route. The talk starts with an historical overview of self-publishing from earliest times and looks at the constraints on authors imposed both by the publishing industry and by states throughout the centuries.