Every week this shop fills with voices — authors reading new work, poets sharing verses, children lost in stories. Our events are intimate by nature: thirty chairs among the shelves, a glass of wine, and the particular magic of hearing words spoken aloud in a room full of books and people who care about them.
Join us for a reading and conversation with the author of Burial Rites and Devotion. Hannah speaks about landscape, folklore, and the long gestation of stories set in cold places. Wine and bookseller recommendations included.
The author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers reads from his latest work and discusses the space where poetry meets fiction. An evening for anyone who believes the novel still has room to surprise us.
Bring a poem — yours or borrowed. Our monthly poetry open mic is where Brighton's writing community finds its voice among the shelves. Sign-up from 7 pm, readings begin at 7:30. Free entry.
The author of Wilding joins us to discuss rewilding, landscape, and the radical act of letting go. Essential for anyone who walks the Sussex countryside and wonders what it could become.
Three translators read from their latest work and discuss the quiet art of carrying a voice between languages. Featuring new titles from Fitzcarraldo Editions, And Other Stories, and Archipelago Books.
The author of Open Water and Small Worlds reads and discusses fiction that moves to music. A celebration of rhythm on the page and the communities that inspire it.
Beyond our one-off events, some things at Cormorant & Quill happen like clockwork. These are the rhythms of the shop — the gatherings that bring the same faces back week after week.
7:00 pm, free with a drink purchase
Every Thursday we welcome a writer to the shop for a reading, a conversation, and a signing. From debut novelists to Booker-listed names, our author talks bring new voices to Sydney Street in Brighton's North Laine. Seats are limited to thirty — the intimacy is the point.
7:30 pm, free entry
Bring a poem — yours or one you love. Brighton's poetry open mic night at Cormorant & Quill draws regulars and first-timers alike, creating the kind of charged listening that only happens among shelves full of verse. Sign up from 7 pm. Five minutes per reader.
10:30 am, for ages 3–7, free
Stories, songs, and crafts for little readers. Every Saturday morning the children's corner fills with small voices and big imaginations. Parents are welcome to browse the shelves with a coffee from our café — we'll look after the reading.
Reading at Cormorant & Quill felt like reading in someone's living room — if that living room happened to have eight hundred poetry books on its shelves and an audience that actually listened. I've read in festival tents and literary centres, and nowhere matches the attention in this room.
I read my first poem aloud at the open mic here. My hands were shaking. Afterwards three strangers came up to talk about it. That was two years ago — I've barely missed a first Friday since.
We bring the children to Story Hour every Saturday. My daughter now thinks all bookshops should come with storytellers and biscuits. She's not wrong.
The Thursday author talks are consistently the best-curated events in Brighton. The shop is small, the audience is attentive, and the booksellers always ask the questions nobody else thinks of.
Our events are intimate and seats go quickly — thirty chairs is all we have. Fill in the form below and we'll confirm your place by email within a day.