We're always looking for new volunteers, if you are interested in volunteering in the bookshop just pop in for a chat.
Influences
People who have done cool stuff for the shop:
Internationally renound children's book illustrators Nick Sharratt and Chris Riddell (perhaps best known for the Tracy Beaker and Edge Chronicles books respectively) have done a brilliant joint illustration on our wall. A unique collaborative artwork and worth popping down to see!
Photos: Caroline Ellis
Our shop launch back in April included great musical performances from the following fantastic local bands: The Trucks, Django Spears, Los Piratas, Carly Bryant and Hullabaloo Community Choir. Catch a gig if you can or check them out on Myspace. We're hoping to have some of them performing to raise money for Amnesty again soon
As part of the Brighton Fringe Festival for two weeks in May our window became an art instalation created by local artists group 'First Group Meeting'. Comprising 'what the buttler saw' type light boxes and entitled 'Save the World, Yeah!' their creation intrigued and bemused volunteers and customers alike!
Sounds Like
The Second Hand Marching Band are our first 'signing' to the Tracks for Amnesty online label! You can listen to and download their EP 'A Dance to Half Death' here: Dance to Half Death
The full amount of the donation you make if you download "Dance to Half Death" goes to Amnesty. The second hand marching band www.myspace.com/thesecondhandmarchingband are a group of 16-22 musicians who play mainly in Scotland. They play folk music which a mixture of dance, pop and post-rock influence.
The SHMB started performing in December 2007 and have in the last year been up and down Scotland playing venues, tea houses, parks, festivals and fields.
We are looking for musicians, poets and bands who would like to donate a track to our music for download at the 'Tracks for Amnesty' website. The track you donate will be downloadable for a donation and your music will be helping to raise money for Amnesty's campaign work. If you would like to donate a track please contact us on thebiggigforamnesty(at)yahoo.co.uk.
You can check out the draft website at www.amnestybrighton.bandcamp.mu
The little pink bookshop in the North Laine, we're at 15 Sydney Street, open every day selling lovely things from 10 until 6 and on Sundays from 11 until 5.
01273 688983 thebiggigforamnesty(at)yahoo.co.uk
We have regular events at the shop, bands playing, book readings, poetry, art installations, exhibitions, cake eating, things like that. Here's what's coming up and what's gone before
****UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE BOOKSHOP****
HAUNTED STEREO ARE 'TRACK OF THE DAY' ON Q MUSIC!
September 7th 2009. Haunted Stereo are Q Music's 'Track of the Day' with their single 'Cross the Sea'. Cross the Sea on Q Music. Haunted Stereo have released their single Cross the Sea on the Tracks for Amnesty label. All proceeds from downloads of Cross the Sea are going directly to Amnesty to support their human rights work. You can listen to and download Cross the Sea here: Cross the Sea by Haunted Stereo Thanks very much to Haunted Stereo for donating their music to Tracks for Amnesty!
HAUNTED STEREO SINGLE RELEASE ON TRACKS FOR AMNESTY
Here is a wee bit of Haunted Stereo's press release:
Southampton’s alternative-folk six-piece Haunted Stereo have decided to release their new single “Cross the Sea” exclusively through Tracks for Amnesty. All proceeds will go directly to Amnesty International.
The collaboration was inspired by a performance in Brighton’s vibrant Amnesty Book Shop. “We enjoyed our performance so much”, says singer Andy Harris. “The manager, Mark Hannington, is so enthusiastic about the shop and its potential in becoming a platform for musicians who are keen to raise money for charity.”
The band have already made their first EP release “In Bars” available for download on Tracks for Amnesty. Following this up with an exclusive single release was a logical conclusion for the band. “We fully support Amnesty International, and if we can raise awareness for the charity through our music, that is fantastic,” says singer and accordionist Anja McCloskey.
****PREVIOUS EVENTS AT THE BOOKSHOP****
*AUGUST 8th HAUNTED STEREO PLAY LIVE AT THE SHOP
Protect the Human Party night with live performance from 6 piece Southampton alt.folk band Haunted Stereo.
Saturday August 8th 6:30 till 9:30 FREE
Performances from:
Haunted Stereo,
Jo Burke
and Marcus Hessenberg
Haunted Stereo
www.myspace.com/hauntedstereomusic are an alt-folk/ indie/ experimental six-piece line-up from Southampton.
Originally founded in late 2007, the band plays over 15 instruments between them. Creating intricate layers of sound with an array of melodic instruments – including banjo, mandolin, accordion, piano, violin, recorder, electric guitar, melodica and percussion - ,
“Pop it in your stereo to count the instruments/ confuse your neighbours/ accrue kudos for your eclecticism. Or just listen and enjoy.” (The Fly, Review of In Bars EP)
“A quirky mix of alt-folk, country and indie.” (Tom Robinson, BBC6)
Jo Burke www.myspace.com/joburkemusic performs English folk singing in a style which brings comparisons to Sandy Denny and Anne Briggs. Jo, who will also be playing piano and fiddle, has been singing and playing fiddle with Mary Hampton for a number of years.
Marcus Hessenberg,
www.myspace.com/tulips performing tonight in the duo 'Sorry', is a Brighton hidden gem who's performance brings comparisons to few other performers which is a compliment and a recommendation!
*TICKETS FOR BEACHDOWN FESTIVAL
Tickets for Beachdown on sale at the shop now.
£5 from each tickets sale goes to Amnesty when you buy your ticket at the shop!
*THE BOYS FROM BAGHDAD HIGH
Friday 19th June at 7:30pm
A film screening at the Salis Benney Theatre organised by the Brighton and Hove Amnesty group
Tickets are available at the bookshop. £5/£3 concession.
The Boys from Baghdad High
Film screening hosted by Brighton and Hove Amnesty Group
Friday 19th June at 7:30pm
Sallis Benney Theatre
58-67 Grand Parade
An award winning documentary (2007) Filmed by four school friends in Baghdad. Living amid sectarian violence their families face the dilemma of staying or fleeing the danger. Following the film will be Q&A with the producer and one of the “Baghdad Boys”
Window Display Illustration Project
This week we are pleased to be hosting an illustration installation designed and created by a group of talented illustration students from Brighton University. www.illustratorselbow.com.
The piece will be installed in the shop's window throughout the day of Friday 15th of May with an animation being created at the same time using the installation as source material. The piece will be on view until the end of May. This is our late addition to / unofficial part of Brighton Festival 2009 (think fringe of the Fringe!)
Feel free to pop to the shop to see the artists at work on the 15th.
Thursday 30th April 2009 at the bookshop. From 6:30pm FREE
Books for Amnesty in Brighton and County Brighton Irish Society present a heart warming, toe tapping evening of Irish storytelling and traditional music on Thursday April 30
Local author Bridget Whelan will read from ‘A Good Confession’, a story about the friendship that grows between a young widow and a Catholic priest in 1960s London. Health guru Miriam Stoppard described the novel as “an unputdownable, compelling love story about the conflict between passion and duty”
Bridget will be joined by other Brightonians who write with a distinctive Irish voice including Ty Galvin, chair of the Brighton Irish Society and prize winning short story writer Carmel Walsh. They will be accompanied by the lilting sounds of The Celtic Ti-grrs, an elegant uplifting Brighton based trio who have been delighting audiences with their youthful energetic take on Celtic music for the last three years.
Free Entry. Donations welcome.
County Brighton Irish Society
www.brightonirish.co.uk
Little Gig for Amnesty
Saturday 28th February 2009 at the bookshop
Protect the Human Party Music and Poetry night
with solo vocal looping from BUNTY,
soulful singing from FAYE HOUSTON,
performance poetry from JUKE BOX POETS
and Free Cake
from 6:30pm. Free Entry. Donations welcome.
*The bookshop will be having a book stall at the "Sanctuary is a Human Right" event on Saturday December 6th at the Brighton Unitarian Church (across from the Mash Tun pub). Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the event is an afternoon of poetry, prose, theatre and photography, mulled wine and mince pies organised by the Sussex University Amnesty group. Come and say hi from 11:30am!
1pm Guinnah Hussain: Slam poetry
2pm Aydin Mehmet Ali: Prose and Poetry
3pm Tha Asylum Monologues performed by Actors for Human Rights
Music from Rudi Schmidt, Michael Mclinn, Bunty and Katie Malco
*SKOOLZ ART 2008 CHILDREN'S ART TRAIL
13 September to 31st October 2008.
The Bookshop will be displaying artwork in the window as part of the Skoolz Art Children's Art Trail.
*PROTECT THE HUMAN PARTY Friday October 17th 6pm to 8:30pm
Celebrating ‘Protect the Human Week’ we're keeping the shop open in the evening and having a little party. Come and enjoy some music and drinks and help Amnesty stand up for Human Rights
INSTRUMENT AMNESTY NIGHT Saturday September 20th 6:30pm
Come and join us at the bookshop for some music and FREE CAKE! and donate your old bass drum, fiddles, triangles and trombones!
Maybe you have bought a new guitar and your old one is looking lonesome? Maybe your loft has a drum kit from your teenage punk rock days?
From September 20th the Books for Amnesty bookshop will be selling second hand musical instruments.
If you have an instrument that you don’t play why not donate it to Amnesty?
Pass it on to another aspiring musician, while helping raise funds for Amnesty’s Human Rights work.
*BOOK STALL AT BODHI GARDEN FAIR
The Amnesty Bookshop will be having a stall at the Bodhi Garden Fair
Saturday 13th September 10am - 4.30pm
Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton
A one-day festival of fun & food, art & music, health & healing... And a fund-raiser day for the charity.
Live, inspirational and eclectic music; Buddhist cinema from around the world; A taste of Buddhist meditation for complete beginners; Talks from experts from the different traditions of Buddhism; Vegetarian and vegan café serving delicious home-cooked & cakes; Therapies & Workshops: Art therapy, massage, hypnotic meditation, mindful stress management, yoga for kids etc; Stalls selling ethnic, fair-trade, ethical goods, handicrafts, clothing, jewellery, and Tibetan art. Free entry. Come and enjoy
"Dive into stories that span the world, sting the eyes and grip the memory...phrases that will make you laugh and anecdotes that will force a smile of recognition. Salt and Vinegar is real life: straight from the heart to the page."
At the bookshop
Thursday 29th May 2008 6:30pm
*SPRING RAFFLE. A lucky customer won a SIGNED copy of Jacqueline Wilson's new book; 'My Sister Jodie'! (illustrated by Nick Sharrat).
*DONATE A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TO RAISE MONEY FOR AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL!
Donations accepted whenever the book shop is open, pick up for larger instruments may be available please contact for more detail.
BOOKS FOR AMNESTY ONLINE: Books for Amnesty Brighton selling to the world! (kicking and screaming into the 21st century) we have just started to SELL BOOKS ONLINE on the ABEbooks website
You can check out our online stock here: Amnesty Brighton online sales
EVENTS AT THE BOOKSHOP (Music, poetry, art, book readings and signings and other cool stuff. Once a month at least we try and do something fun in the shop) :
Our October 2007 Event: Protect the Human Party. Weds 17th October at the Gladstone pub on Lewes Road. 6:00pm to 11:30pm. In association with the Grand Launch of the University of Brighton Student Amnesty Group. Dave from Lennie (Carnival Pop), Resonators (Reggae / Dub) and the Trucks (Country) will be playing. Plus DJ. Books and Tshirts for sale too!
www.myspace.com/resonatorsmusic
www.myspace.com/thetrucksbrighton
www.myspace.com/newbrightonband
Our 'For Cake and Country' event on September 29th became the "FREE CAKE!!! Protect the Human" party. Loads of free cake eaten and loads of signatures on our giant campaing letter: The Right to Free Protest in Burma. We missed the Trucks but we can see them in October at the Amnesty gig at the Gladstone! :
Our event in June was the Amnesty Swapshop:
JUNE 30th (Saturday): 'The great Big Amnesty Swap Shop'
MAY: 'Save the World, Yeah' Art installation as part of Brighton Festival Fringe
APRIL 21st (Saturday): Launch Gig with THE TRUCKS, LOS PIRATAS, CARLY BRYANT, DJANGO SPEARS and HULLABALLOO CHOIR
Books for Amnesty sell second hand books, vinyl, cd's, dvd's and comics.
We have two floors of the best second hand books and new books at second hand prices and we're very excited about our new RECORD SHOP at the back of the ground floor!
As well as second hand books etc. we also sell Amnesty International Tshirts, badges and fair trade chocolate!
All the money we raise goes to Amnesty International (UK) to support work defending human rights in the UK and worldwide. All our stock comes from donations and all our staff are volunteers.
If you would like to donate some books / records etc just bring them down (or give us a call if its a big donation!).
WE LOVE VINYL DONATIONS! Got records you haven't listened to for years? Don't put them in the attic, bring them down to the shop and put them to work helping Amnesty stand up for human rights.
We're always looking for new volunteers, if you are interested in volunteering just pop in for a chat.
We have a regular calender of events happening in the shop. Check out our events list for cool stuff coming up! See our blog page for reviews of events we've already had.
SoundCurious #1: listen & look : look & listen A weekend of enthralling activities in sound and moving image: Live scoring and zoetroping, puppets, OHP animation and more and more.
Performances from:
Hamilton Yarns Robert Stillman Bunty Weirding Vessel Collectress Sons of Noel and Adrian Charlie Henry The Grubby Mitts Vitamin B12 Same Actor Bela Emerson Viv
Oct 10th & 11th Workshops 1000 - 1200. Shows 1800 - late. Weekend £14, Day £8 Coachwerks. 19 Hollingdean Terrace, Brighton. More info at www.soundcurious.org.uk
Hey! Thanks again for being our friend. Make sure you have a little listen to our album Songs For Abandoned Buildings. If you like it, please follow the link on the player to buy it from itunes so we can play a town near you! Don't forget to give us a review on itunes when you buy it :)
Hello Mark and team! Just wanted to say thank you for hosting us last night. We really enjoyed the gig. What a lovely audience you had as well... We're very much up for working with you again. Just give us a shout :-) xx Anja/ Haunted Stereo
hello you pretty little pixies- just to let you know that if you want a rap act/ spoken word/ mad professor to come along and perform at any of your events- then you need only say the word. Alll the best! Professor Elemental
Salut, merci de nous avoir ajouté, il y a quelques chansons de projets enregistrés au studio, n hésite pas à donner ton avis, et parler de nous si ca te plait.
Photos: Caroline Ellis
Sunday 11 - 5pm
Online Now!
