The perfect gift for bookworms!

By michele on November 28, 2009 | Add a Comment

Are you looking for the right gift for the voracious readers in your life? RiverRun Bookstore recently launched a Signed First Editions Club.  Members receive an autographed copy of an important new work of fiction or nonfiction every month.  The cost is no more than the retail price of the book plus shipping; or you can pick it up in the store.  Sign up for a year and get free shipping!

You can buy a membership for yourself or someone else.  We send an e-mail out to members once a month letting them know about the current selection. You can always opt out if you don't want the featured book. 

So far we've offered signed copies of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo's That Old Cape Magic, Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs, and the December pick is Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna. 

Do you want a signed copy of bestselling writer Joe Hill's LOCKE & KEY: HEAD GAMES?

By michele on September 11, 2009 | Add a Comment

We're very excited that bestselling writer Joe Hill (author of Heart-Shaped Box and 20th Century Ghosts) will be signing copies of his latest graphic novel later this month for fans. He announced this week on his website that folks can order up to 3 books per household  from us, but at least one book has to be the new Locke & Key: Head Games.  Here's the info from Joe's site: 

If you’d like to get your paws on a signed copy of Locke & Key: Head Games, put a call in to RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH, sometime between now and the 23rd of September. Their number is (603) 431-2100.

You want Spivet! You've got him.

By tom on May 06, 2009 | Add a Comment

We've been getting alot of calls about wunderkind Reif Larsen's novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, ever since the Boston Globe gave it a great big write up this week.  Well I'm happy to say that Michele, our events co-ordinator, is way out ahead on this kind of thing, and has already secured Larsen for a booksigning on June 26th at 7pm.

You can read the Globe article here.

Jody's winning poem!

By michele on April 09, 2009 | 4 comments

It's probably no surprise that most booksellers are also writers themselves.  We're very proud of our very own Jody Hetherington, who just was named a winner in the 2009 Maine Literary Awards, sponsored by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.  You can see her superb poem, winner in the Individual Awards for Unpublished Work Poetry category, below.  Jody also received an Honorable Mention for her fiction, "House of Words", in the Individual Awards for Unpublished Work Fiction category. Go Jody! It's only a matter of time before we're hosting her as a featured reader and published author at RiverRun!

either oar

I

First, find a boat. It helps

to have a dream of water still

lapping in your ears and the salt

of regret in your eyes. Stay

within thought of the ocean, and listen.

Author interviews, blogs, literary links, and social networking

By michele on April 06, 2009 | Add a Comment

I've been busy these days not just booking and running author events here at RiverRun, but also interviewing authors and writing book reviews.  When Jedediah Berry and Samantha Hunt came to Portsmouth last month, I had a chance to talk with both of them about their thoughts behind their novels.  Now I have interviews with them published in the April issue of Bookslut.  Did I mention we have signed copies of Jedediah's book, The Manual of Detection, and Samantha's book, The Invention of Everything Else?read more

"Start spreading the news..."

By michele on March 04, 2009 | Add a Comment

I love New York City. Ever since I went there to see my first musical when I was a kid (Carousel in Lincoln Center), I've fallen in love with the bustling city, filled with the most fascinating people, plenty of pigeons, street vendors selling sausages and pretzels, the famous and the very not-so-famous walking the same streets, giant billboards, and so much more to fill a book, or lots of books.  Colson Whitehead wrote a well-known love-letter to his city, called The Colossus of New York.  It's one of the best books I've ever seen that honestly captures all the euphoria and craziness of the Big Apple.  The miracle of it all is the book is slim.  He's economical in his ode to the city, and yet he says more with a few words than many authors do with paragraphs and pages of description.  

I'll be thinking of Whitehead as I visit New York tomorrow and Friday to meet with publicists about summer and fall author tours. 

After an exciting and busy holiday season, RiverRun bookstore will be starting up its events and programs for children again starting with, of course, our weekend story time.  This is an exciting story time for us because, for the most part, it will be hosted by the actual authors or illustrators near and far who have published books for children.  These events will be listed weekly at our website with information about the author and their work.  Before the holidays, we started up the kids story time and featured the popular David Elliott, whose book Knitty Kitty was featured in the Portsmouth Herald.  The turn out to the reading was wonderful and David answered many questions, entertained parents and children with his reading and stayed after to sign books and chat.  Sarah Thomson also ran a charming story time with her books Imagine A Place and Amazing Animals series along with first time self-published author Kirsten Merinda with her book dedicatread more

RiverRun interviews Bestselling Author Wally Lamb

By michele on December 05, 2008 | Add a Comment

Wally Lamb is the next featured author for Writers on a New England Stage at The Music Hall. He'll be there on December 18th at 7:30pm. In celebration and anticipation of his appearance in Portsmouth, I chatted with Wally via a phone interview earlier today. He's warm, funny, and very personable. No surprises there! Keep reading to learn what Wally had to say; including what it's like to write a novel after being selected by Oprah twice for her tremendously popular book club.

Have you ever been to Portsmouth before?

I was there for a friends wedding a couple of years ago. She got married on a ship and we cruised around. It was a very rainy day but it was a very fun wedding.