Author Event – Nicholas Royle ‘Finders, Keepers’: The Secret Life of Second Hand Books

  • DATE

    19 June 2026

  • TIME

    7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

  • AGES

    All ages welcome

  • PRICE

    £5

Join us at The Bubble Room in Stanley Square as part of Sale Festival and Independent Bookshop Week for an event with Manchester based author, Nicholas Royle to discuss his latest book Finders, Keepers: The Secret Life of Second-Hand Books.

Copies can be purchased in advance, or on the night. Ticket options available in the dropdown box.

Please note there is no physical ticket – simply show your email at the venue on entry and choose ‘Pickup in store’ at checkout to avoid shipping costs.

About the Book:

Finders, Keepers tells the stories that hide between the lines of the second-hand books that fill the shelves of charity shops and second-hand bookshops up and down the country. The author collects books. He collects books that contain bookmarks in the form of maps – he will read the book while walking the streets depicted on the map, provided he doesn’t have to get on a plane to get there.

He collects books given as Christmas presents. He collects books that have the same title as other books – he’ll read both books and compare them. He might wonder – he might even ask – which one has the greater claim on the title.

He collects books that he finds with business cards in them – instead of reading the book, he sends it to the individual named on the business card and asks them to read it instead. He collects ex-library books. He collects free books.

Well, he looks at the books that people leave out on their garden wall in the rain and photographs then and mostly leaves them where they are.