bookshop events

‘The Opposite of Loneliness’

A Celebration of Marina Keegan’s Writing with Kevin and Tracy Keegan

Saturday 25th October, 7pm

October 25th, 2014 would have been Marina Keegan’s 25th birthday. Marina was killed in a car accident just days after graduating from Yale and writing her inspirational essay, The Opposite of Loneliness. Published posthumously, this collection of her work manages to be moving and uplifting, tinged with hope and sadness and the impossible-to-describe feeling of being 22 and on the brink of new beginnings. There’s a wide variety of pieces here, from witty non-fiction to cleverly observed stories, and Marina’s keen eye for the human condition makes each piece compulsively readable. It’s a book that will stay with you for a long time after you finish the final page.

This evening will celebrate Marina’s legacy and the innocence and beauty of this wonderful book. We will be joined by Jason Cowley, editor of the New Statesman, and Suzanne Baboneau, managing director of Simon and Schuster UK, in conversation, and there will also be selected readings from The Opposite of Loneliness, giving people an opportunity to reflect, and to celebrate a life which was tragically cut short but which has now become an inspiration to many people. We will also be joined on the evening by Marina’s parents, Kevin and Tracy Keegan, who will be reading excerpts from Marina’s work, and Beth McNamara, Marina’s high school English teacher, will be reading the title essay, ‘The Opposite of Loneliness’.

This is a FREE event to attend. For a ticket please collect from our Customer Service Department at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Broad Street, Oxford. Alternatively, contact us on 01865 333 623 or for enquiries please email events.oxford@blackwell.co.uk.

You’ve probably all heard the hype surrounding a certain erotic novel… while we’re certainly not prudish (our shelves proudly display works by the infamous Marquis de Sade and also Anais Nin) we can’t help feeling that there are other books more deserving of such hysteria….

Recently the lovely, mad and hysterically funny Jasper Fforde came to visit us, and during his lunchtime signing on 13th July he very kindly signed 15 copies of his comic novel Shades of Grey, where life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour. Eddie Russett is an above average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder by marriage to Constance Oxblood. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane – a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed…

So here’s the deal – we do have a little E.L. James on our shelves… but why not go fifteen shades better and take home a signed copy of Jasper Fforde’s comic, futuristic love story – if George Orwell had tripped over a paint pot or Douglas Adams favoured colour swatches instead of towels, neither of them would have come up with anything as eccentrically brilliant as Shades of Grey.

You won’t regret it – honest! You can find Shades of Grey and other signed editions of Jasper’s work in our fiction department – and if you’ve enjoyed it, let us know!