18-20 October 2024
Back in May we held our first ever Real Magic Weekend, a magic mini-festival celebrating books, food and drink, art and music, bringing lots of amazing writers, artists and musicians to venues in Wendover.
We hoped at the time to make this a regular fixture and after the huge success of the launch event and all your kind words and support we thought it would be lovely to do this again in the autumn.
So it gives us enormous pleasure to announce this first wave of events for the weekend in October. We hope you like it, we think it is a feast of talks, music, food and drink, workshops, ideas and good times. Please note there will likely be more stuff still to announce over the coming weeks, but tickets for all listed events are on sale now.
FRIDAY 18 OCTOBER
1500 – OPENING PARTY!
The Real Magic bar opens and we’re going to drink cocktails and hang out. All welcome, come and browse the shop and pick up any last minute tickets for events over the weekend. If there are any left.
1800 – THE TWITTERING MACHINE with RICHARD SEYMOUR
Special guest Richard Seymour is in conversation with Carl about the Twittering Machine. This is the perfect way to start our second Real Magic Weekend, get yourself out of the house, off your phone and join us all in the shop to discuss how capitalism and social media have stolen our social life.
Former social media executives tell us that the system is an addiction-machine. We are users, waiting for our next hit as we like, comment and share. We write to the machine as individuals, but it responds by aggregating our fantasies, desires and frailties into data, and returning them to us as a commodity experience. Through journalism, psychoanalytic reflection and insights from users, developers, security experts and others, Seymour probes the human side of the machine, asking what we’re getting out of it, and what we’re getting into.
1930 – MY REAL MAGIC RECORD with SYLVIA PATTERSON
Sean Rowley sits down with special guest Sylvia Patterson to talk about her life in music journalism, her two brilliant books, and of course her chosen Real Magic Record.
Sylvia Patterson is one of music journalism’s best-known voices. She began her four decade adventure in magazines on Smash Hits in its million-selling late-80s heyday and went on to write for NME, The Face, Q and many others. Her 2016 memoir I’m Not With The Band was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and won Annie Nightingale’s BBC Radio 1 Book of the Year. Her second, Same Old Girl (2023), told the unflinching story of her misadventure through cancer and miraculous recovery.
2000 – REAL MAGIC PUB DISCO
Join us at The King and Queen as we close out the first day of the festival with DJs, drinks and dancing.
SATURDAY 19 OCTOBER
0900 – REAL MAGIC RECORDS
Sean Rowley brings a special Saturday instalment of his monthly record shop to the Real Magic weekend, but please note it’s shorter one for this week only because of everything going on. So upstairs at the shop from 9-1pm! Don’t miss it.
1200 – REAL MAGIC DOG SHOW
We’re bringing the Real Magic Dog Show back for our second Real Magic weekend. Last year was a hugely successful, hangover challenging load of fun and we’re doing it all again with special categories, guest judges and the opportunity to be crowned overall Top Dog. Free entry, meet at the shop at midday!
1400 – ORIGIN STORY with DORIAN LYNSKEY and IAN DUNT
Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey join us to discuss their brand new Origin Story books. Origin Story is a series of short titles – Conspiracy Theory, Fascism and Centrism – that tells the stories of popular – but often misunderstood – political terms. Written by political columnist and author of How Westminster Works, Ian Dunt, and music and politics writer Dorian Lynskey, the series is based on their chart-topping podcast Origin Story.
1530 – CLAY with JENNIFER LUCY ALLAN
We are joined by writer and broadcaster Jennifer Lucy Allan. This book is a love letter to clay, the material that is at the beginning, middle and end of all of our lives; that contains within it the eternal, the elemental, and the everyday.
Born out of a desire to know and understand the mysteries of this material, the spiritual and practical applications of clay in both its micro and macro histories, Clay: A Human History is a book of wonder and insight, a hybrid of archaeology, history and lived experience as an amateur potter.
1700 – REAL MAGIC MUSIC with HAYDEN THORPE
Hayden Thorpe is best known as the former frontman and chief songwriter for the much-loved band Wild Beasts. He returns to the stage (and to our bookshop!) with his beautifully singular third album Ness, made in collaboration with best-selling nature writer Robert Macfarlane.
1900 – REAL MAGIC MUSIC with VIVIEN GOLDMAN, OLDBOY and MISTAH BROWN
Join us at the Legion for our special Real Magic Music party, and we have a packed bill of words, live music and DJs for this one. We’re honoured to welcome the ‘The Punk Professor’ Vivien Goldman to the village to discuss her new book Rebel Musix: Scribe on a Vibe.
A chronicler of the eruptive UK punk scene; a feminist spearhead in the Golden Era of music journalism; the first UK envoy of reggae and afrobeats, and the original UK publicist of Bob Marley are only some of the many hats worn by the trailblazing music writer and historian Vivien Goldman. A pioneering voice in an industry dominated by men, Goldman established herself as one of the most influential music writers of our time as she elegantly and passionately introduced the UK to reggae, free jazz, funk and afrobeat.
Alongside live music from Oldboy – fast, relentless and super raw – the band’s sound has been compared to that of the late 80’s and early 90’s Chicago / US noise scene as once released by Touch and Go, Amphetamine Reptile and Sub Pop but reimagined with a British post punk slant. Nasty, noisy pop music some say. For fans of Osees, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Mayyors and QOTSA. The DIY ethic rings true with these boys – no manager, no agent, no lawyer, no label and definitely no rush.
Providing the perfect soundtrack to the evening’s proceedings will be dynamic DJ duo – Mistah Brown from the mighty Tighten Up family alongside infamous soundtape specialist – Jayman (Who Cork The Dance) – spinning dynamite 45s for your skanking/pogoing pleasure. We guarantee only brilliant selections from these longtime vinyl collaborators. They’ll be warming up for Vivien’s talk, then getting things hyped for our live headliners.
SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER
1000 – FAMILY ART WORKSHOP
Jaany Ravenscroft-Hull is back to work with families, creating their family portraits as cats. It’s all about sharing ideas, creativity, exploration and making family memories. You can make cat portraits just for fun or make one that’s like your own family (grumpy / smiling – you decide).
All resource provided, just wear art friendly clothes as we’ll be using paints. £5 gets you access as a family to cover materials
1200 – KEVIN THE VAMPIRE: A FANGED and FEARSOME FIEND with MATT BROWN
Matt Brown is back to read from the latest instalment of the fangtastic Kevin the Vampire series!
The time has come for Kevin’s Gloaming. This is a test every almost nearly eleven-year-old must pass to show they have all the necessary skills to be a vampire. Kevin will have to show he can transform into a bat, mind-speak and melt into the darkness. Which would be fine, except he hasn’t quite mastered the melt yet… If Kevin doesn’t pass, he’ll be cast out forever. Is there anyone who can help him?
1230 – POETRY AT THE PUB with CECILIA KNAPP, OLLY TODD and VANESSA KISUULE
For our Sunday poetry extravaganza we’re delighted to be joined by Cecilia Knapp, Olly Todd and Vanessa Kisuule. These three brilliant young poets are reading from their work at the King and Queen pub on Sunday afternoon and will be sticking around for book signing and conversation after the event.
1400 – SANJANA FEASTS with SANJANA MODHA
We’re delighted to welcome Sanjana to Real Magic Books for the latest in our special series of food writing events at the shop.
Sanjana Feasts is a collection of eighty original vegetarian and vegan recipes, where you’ll discover a kaleidoscope of fresh takes on regional Indian favourites and recipes from the diaspora to feed your soul.
Sanjana Modha is an extraordinary talent, a rising star in modern Indian cuisine. Inspired by her Indian heritage, East African family background, and Yorkshire roots, Sanjana’s approach to food is gloriously authentic – fusing flavours and influences to represent who she is and what she loves to eat.
1530 – NEVERLAND with VANESSA KISUULE
Neverland is the debut work of non-fiction by award-winning slam poet Vanessa Kisuule, this is a love letter to the musicians we adore and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship.
Vanessa Kisuule is a big Michael Jackson fan. This fixation once gave her great joy, but now it keeps her up at night. In her bracingly honest, energetic and lively book she explores the fall-out from that fandom and how, or if, we can hold people to account whilst loving them at the same time.
Why do famous musicians mean so much to us? How does the pop culture machine both mirror and magnify the worst aspects of human nature? Why is it so hard to accept that the people we love, famous or not, are capable of doing terrible things?
As debates rage on about abusive public figures, Kisuule asks not just if we should separate the art from the artist, but how this moral conundrum informs the way we shape our relationships, families and notions of social justice. Witty, poetic and with references to R. Kelly, Britney Spears and a host of other famous faces, Neverland is both an ardent love letter to the music we love and an unflinching look at the costs of hero worship.
1700 – REAL MAGIC MUSIC with MODERN NATURE and SIDNEY JONES
Our final event of the weekend, a special musical closing party on the shop. Super excited to welcome Jack Cooper aka Modern Nature to close our second Real Magic Weekend by performing a super cool, stripped back set on the shop floor amongst the books, as is now traditional for our closing event.
Supported by Sidney Jones and her band. Cocktails will be served, the bar drunk dry. Our closing event was so lovely last time, come and see off the weekend with us.
Modern Nature, a group that blurs the lines between folk music, modern composition and improvisation. Since 2019 they have released two critically acclaimed albums and a host of other material that includes an instrumental album, a short record called Annual and four cassettes of improvised music. Their latest album No Fixed Point In Space came out last year on Bella Union Records.
