Author and poet Helen Dunmore reads from her work and launches a new collection of poetry compiled by Janie Hextall and Barbara McNaught, Strings of Pearls. Dunmore, winner of both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the National Poetry Competition, features alongside T S Eliot, Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, James Fenton, and Kathleen Jamie in the new collection inspired by the sparkle of jewels and jewellery. The collection of more than 50 poems ranges from an engraving on a 17th-century watchcase through nursery rhymes to contemporary poetry.

Strings of Pearls is the second collection of poetry compiled by poetry-lovers Hextall and McNaught and follows the success of Washing Lines. Dunmore is most widely known for her fiction, including her adult novels, The Siege and The Betrayal, and her Ingo series for children. Her most recent collection of poetry, The Malarkey, was published to great acclaim in 2012.

In association with the Woodstock Bookshop.