Richard Holloway – The Heart of Things: On Memory and Lament

We are really looking forward to welcoming Richard Holloway to the bookshop for an event to celebrate the paperback publication of his latest book, The Heart of Things: On Memory and Lament.

We are planning for this event to take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home.

In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against anything in the bookshop – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers at the ready. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a copy of The Heart of Things.

About The Heart of Things:

Richard Holloway is one of our most beloved public thinkers. As Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church he put principle over Church policy to advocate for gay rights and women in the priesthood. He never shied away from confronting his own doubts and fears, whether questioning his own faith, or facing the inevitability of death. Across numerous bestselling books he has been a radical voice of compassion and realism, helping us navigate the hectic modern world.

Throughout his life Richard has turned to poets and writers to help answer the big questions, and for solace and guidance in the face of life’s challenges. Now in The Heart of Things he shares those poems and words which have been his own guide, offered in the hope they will help us too.

Here then are some lights along life’s path, with thoughts and reflections on living well, death, sadness, regret, sin, conflict and forgiveness. All interwoven with Richard’s philosophical consideration of what they have meant to him. This is a book to turn to for inspiration, guidance and comfort. It offers lessons from those who, in Richard’s words, ‘know best how to listen and teach us to listen’, all united by ‘the sensual appeal of words, the pain and pleasure they impart’. It is a book to treasure.

Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen, he is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Leaving Alexandria won the PEN/Ackerley Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. It was a Sunday Times bestseller, together with Waiting for the Last Bus.

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