No Alibis Bookstore

Oliver Jeffers - Where to Hide a Star - Book Signing
2024-12-14 11:00 - 12:30 (Europe/London) | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join Us for a Book Signing with Oliver Jeffers
Saturday 14th December 11am – 12.30pm

Reserve your FREE space here
Celebrate twenty years of The Boy in this highly anticipated new adventure from the internationally bestselling picture book creator of Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers!
Once there was a boy who would often play hide-and-seek with his friends the star and the penguin. The star was always easy to find, but one day it went missing. So, the boy radioed the Martian for help and soon found himself on an exciting spaceship rescue mission to the North Pole! But there, he discovered that he wasn’t the only one who had always dreamed of having a star as a friend… The out-of-this-world, long-awaited sequel to the much-loved Boy stories, loved all around the world – now introducing a brand-new character!

Photo Credit – Yasmina Cowan

Book Launch - A Dream of White Horses by Paul Scraton
2025-01-30 18:00 - 20:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening with Paul Scraton to celebrate the launch of his new novel, A Dream of White Horses, published by Bluemoose Books. Paul will be in conversation with author Marcel Krueger (author of Babushka’s Journey and Iceland). Book your free ticket here.
About A Dream of White Horses:
Ben travels through the night from London to a Baltic island. On the journey he listens to voice messages his friend Pascal has made to accompany photographs he began taking at fourteen of every room he ever slept in. The messages tell the story of a family, of migration, exile and the search for home in a fractured world.

The Boy from the Sea, by Garrett Carr - Book Launch
2025-02-06 18:00 - 20:00 | Seamus Heaney Centre, 38-40 University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE
1973. In a close-knit community on Ireland’s west coast, a baby is found abandoned on the beach. Named Brendan by Ambrose Bonnar, the fisherman who adopts him, the baby captivates the town and the boy he grows to be will captivate them still – no one can quite fathom Brendan Bonnar.
For Christine, Ambrose’s wife, Brendan brings both love and worry. For Declan, their son, his new brother’s arrival is the start of a life-long rivalry. And though Ambrose brings Brendan into his home out of love, it is a decision that will fracture his family and force this man – more comfortable at sea than on land – to try to understand himself and those he cares for.
Told over two decades, Garrett Carr’s The Boy from the Sea is a novel about a restless boy trying to find his place in the world and a family fighting to hold itself together. It is a story of ordinary lives made extraordinary, a drama about a community who can’t help but look to the boy from the sea for answers as they face the storm of a rapidly changing world.
Compulsive reading. Compassionate, lyrical and full of devilment. – Louise Kennedy
A novel of heart-bumping power and sparkling vividness, this book evokes the seethe and surge of an island nation’s sea fables while being suspicious of sentiment, often wittily so. This is a strange, beautiful, truly compelling triumph, a story about a very specific place that somehow comes to seem an everywhere and a people who feel familiar as faces in mirrors. A breathtaking achievement. – Joseph O’Connor
The Boy from the Sea is an utterly engrossing read. Atmospheric and incredibly moving, I was captivated by the trials and triumphs of the Bonnars. A bittersweet ballad of a novel, I’ll be thinking about for a very long time. – Jan Carson
Garrett Carr teaches Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, and he is a frequent contributor to The Guardian and The Irish Times. His non-fiction The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. The Boy from the Sea is his debut novel.

An Evening with Pádraig Ó Tuama
2025-02-10 18:00 - 19:00 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd Belfast BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
No Alibis Bookstore is delighted to announce an evening at the Crescent Arts Centre celebrating Pádraig Ó Tuama’s latest collection of poetry ’44 Poems on Being with Each Other and Kitchen Hymns a new collection of form and hymnody that arise neither from belief nor devotion.
Pádraig will be in conversation with award winning poet Gail McConnell for what is sure to be a memorable event. Tickets are free but booking early is recommended to avoid disappointment.
Tickets are available here.

44 Poems on Being with Each Other features a remarkable and refreshing range of exceptional poems from around the world including contributions from Wendy Cope, Constantine P. Cavafy, Chen Chen, Joy Harjo, Patricia Smith and many more. It is an anthology that will delight readers just as Pádraig’s podcast has done for millions around the world.

Book Launch: But & Though - Jake Hawkey
2025-02-27 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us to celebrate the launch of Jake Hawkey’s debut collection, But & Though, published by Picador. Book your free ticket here.
About But & Though:
In But & Though, Jake Hawkey scrutinizes the impact of parental addiction on families, its title a nod to the language of dependency, its circles of prevarication and excuse. Hawkey’s poems chart the loss of a father and the resilient love between siblings, and take an unflinching look at a parent–child relationship sometimes painfully inverted through alcoholism. Hawkey’s fresh perspective and playful style introduces a vital, authentic new voice in British poetry.
It will appeal also to those interested in the wider literature of addiction and the complexities of urban working-class life in Britain. Hawkey approaches these subjects from highly original and personal angles, breathing life into his characters and settings. Ultimately, we come to know a young writer attempting to ‘detach with love’ as he strides forward into his own life.

After the Party by Sharon Dempsey - Book Launch
2025-03-05 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
After the Party by Sharon Dempsey is a story of a young woman named Georgia, her battle for ‎justice and the lengths some mothers will go to protect their sons. When Georgia is raped by three ‎boys from influential families after a house party, she decides to speak out… only to face cruel ‎accusations and backlash in response. As she fights to reclaim her truth, the boys’ mothers use ‎every resource to shield their sons from accountability. Georgia’s attempts to take revenge from ‎these boys and their families seemingly end in failure. Torn between rage and resilience, Georgia’s ‎struggle for justice becomes a test of her strength against a web of influence, deceit and denial. A ‎powerful exploration of trauma, revenge and the dark side of maternal love.‎
RESERVE YOUR FREE SPACE HERE

Charles Lang - The Oasis - Book Launch
2025-03-06 18:00 - 19:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
The Oasis
Charles Lang
‘This debut collection announces Charles Lang as one of the best new poets in Scotland.’ — Alan Gillis
A POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION

BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE
Pulsing with the energy of urban life, these poems traverse the gritty, playful and tender moments that shape our lives. From the thrill of evading the police in ‘The Chase’ to the nostalgia of ‘New Shoes’ and the sheer abandon of ‘The Amusements’, we are pulled deep into a world where chaos and community intersect.
With a clarion and uncompromising voice, Charles Lang maps a labyrinth of memories, blending sharp wit with darker undercurrents as he explores identity, masculinity, class and ecology. Whether reflecting on family, friendships or fleeting moments of euphoria, Lang offers an authentic snapshot of working-class lives, where beauty is found in both the mundane and the extraordinary; in the human and the more-than-human.
A sonorous celebration of language and place, The Oasis is a vivid ode to the city’s streets and stories, a testament to resilience and belonging.
Praise for The Oasis
You’re stopped by the voice in these poems. Lang’s Glaswegian idiom is easefully natural, versatile, and a thrilling pleasure to read. But more than that, the deftness of his verse – in its formal dynamism, psychological subtlety, and tonal range – is hugely accomplished. Sharpness of detail, working class experience, and rootedness in the local, in these poems, deliver a generous, nuanced, conceptually ambitious and emotionally powerful effect. This debut collection announces Charles Lang as one of the best new poets in Scotland. — Alan Gillis
With a calm eye and a companionable level-headedness, Lang talks to his reader in his natural accent and tone, taking us wryly through the amusements of ‘The Amusements’, the schemes hatched on the schemes, and on into the complications of university and young adulthood. There is a lovely direct clarity and refreshing openness to his work. — Nick Laird
The Oasis is a breathtaking debut—boldly crafted with raw honesty and a captivating quest for beauty in every corner. It challenges in its ways of surveying, which are both kind and enthralling. This collection is a remarkable achievement in connecting our inner and outer lives. Formally brilliant and perfectly paced, it feels like an exercise in refining our ways of being. — Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal
These poems opened like windows to the streets of my own childhood. The music in the language is succinct and vibrant. The urban experience is brought to life in this collection. A rare perspective indeed. — William Letford

Charles Lang

Judith McQuoid Book Launch
2025-03-11 18:00 - 19:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us at No Alibis Bookstore for an evening celebrating the launch of Judith McQuoid’s new children’s novel ‘Giant’
Thrilling historical fiction on the childhood of beloved author CS Lewis.
Davy, a working-class boy living in East Belfast in 1908, is sent to work at the wealthy Lewis household. When he meets Jacks – the name by which CS Lewis was known to friends and family – Davy is captivated by his friend’s world of books and stories.Together the boys plunge into imagining and adventuring, and Davy discovers his own artistic talent. But when Davy is offered a job at the shipyard, and Jacks’s mother falls gravely ill, their wondrous days of make-believe seem numbered. Will they lose their extraordinary shared world forever?
Order the book here
This event is free and tickets are available here
See you then!

Book Launch: Patrick Holloway - The Language of Remembering
2025-03-12 18:00 - 20:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Please join us to celebrate the launch of Patrick Holloway’s debut novel, The Language of Remembering, published by Epoque Press. Patrick will be introduced by local author Wendy Erskine. Book your free ticket here.
About The Language of Remembering:
Returning from Brazil with his wife and daughter, Oisín is looking to rebuild a life in Ireland and reconnect with his mother, Brigid, who has early onset Alzheimer’s. As her condition deteriorates, she starts to speak Irish, the language of her youth, and reflect on her childhood dreams and aspirations.
Mother and son embark on a journey of personal discovery and, as past traumas are exposed, they begin to understand what has shaped them – and who they really are.
The Language of Remembering asks how we connect to the people we love and how we move on from the past to find meaning in the present.
‘Holloway is a rare and immense talent. The Language of Remembering is full of the grit and texture and sweetness of life, the sorrow of loss, the wonderful, terrible mystery of our humanity. The characters feel real, their voices sing from the page and the writing is sublime. I loved every line of this novel, readers are going to love it too – it will soar.’ Donal Ryan
‘You can hear him a little way away but in each direction he is not there. You keep walking and in a clearing he is sitting on a bench waiting for you. You walk to him but never seem to get any closer. His arms reach out for you. He looks up and you follow his gaze and the sky, greyed by clouds, is full of little finches, golden and maple and autumn-leaved, and they fly so beautifully and freely.’
‘In a profoundly moving tale, Holloway brings us close to real, earthy, honest, human beings whose experience comes from several languages and who live through the day-to-day minutiae of both past and present. The prose is exquisite, energetic and exciting. One of the most beautiful books you will read this year.’ Mary O’Donnell
About the author:
Patrick Holloway is an Irish writer of fiction and poetry and is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar. He is the winner of the Bath Short Story Award, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Flash 500 Prize, the Allingham Fiction contest and he was the recipient of the Paul McVeigh Residency in 2023. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, The Moth, Southword, The Ilanot Review, Carve, The Irish Times and The Irish Independent. The Language of Remembering is Patrick’s debut novel.

Book Launch: Paving the Path to Peace by Connal Parr and Stephen Hopkins
2025-03-21 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening in the bookshop to celebrate the launch of Paving the Path to Peace by Connal Parr and Stephen Hopkins. Book your free ticket here.
About Paving the Path to Peace:
In the context of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April 2023, elite politicians and paramilitary groups were presented as the drivers for conflict and peace in Northern Ireland. This book shifts the focus to the role played by civil society groups which sought to mobilise for peace and reconciliation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It begins with an analysis of peace activism in Northern Ireland during the earlier decades of violence and is followed by an in-depth case study of the Peace Train Organisation, which was set up to counter paramilitary attacks on the trainline between Dublin and Belfast. The final part assembles contributions from fifteen key protagonists in civil society organisations, reflecting upon their work and lives.　The authors seek to redress the balance in the historiography and popular perception of this critical period, arguing that civil society groups helped shift the social and political climate surrounding the conflict. The book breaks new ground in the memorialisation of the peace process, highlighting the neglected role of transnational civil society peace activism.

Book Launch: Ali Marie Watkins - The Next One Is for You
2025-03-25 18:00 - 19:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening with Ali Watkins to celebrate the launch of The Next One Is For You as part of Imagine Festival 2025. Book your free ticket here.
About The Next One Is For You:
Join us for this launch of a gripping tale of crime, rebellion and the hazy line between them – the definitive account of America’s hand in the Northern Ireland conflict. From New York Times reporter and Pulitzer finalist Ali Watkins, this true-crime saga is the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles.
Northern Ireland, 1975. Violence has erupted on the streets of Belfast. After years as a sleepy, guerrilla army, the IRA is clashing with Loyalist gangs and heavily armed British soldiers. But the Troubles have spilled beyond the small island: An ocean away, in the heart of Philadelphia’s Irish enclave, a teenage girl finds a letter in her mailbox. Inside is a bullet, and the message is clear: the next one is for you or your family.
Ali Watkins is a journalist for The New York Times on the London bureau, previously covering crime and law enforcement. She was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting for coverage of the Senate’s report on the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program.

Book Launch: The Bureau - Eoin McNamee
2025-04-03 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening with Eoin McNamee to celebrate the launch of his new novel, The Bureau, published by Riverrun (Quercus). Book your free ticket here.
About The Bureau:
Lorraine would say afterwards that she was smitten straight off with Paddy Farrell. You could tell that he was occupying the room in a different way, he found the spaces that fitted him. She was the kind of girl the papers called vivacious, always a bit of dazzle to her.
Could she not see there was death about him? Could he not see there was death about her? Paddy worked the border, a place of road closures, hijackings, sudden death. Everything bootleg and tawdry, nobody is saying that the law is paid off but it is. This is strange terrain, unsolid, ghosted through.
There’s illicit cash coming across the border and Brendan’s backstreet Bureau de Change is the place to launder it. Brendan knows the rogue lawyers, the nerve shot policemen, the alcoholic judges and he doesn’t care about getting caught. For the Bureau crew getting caught is only the start of the game.
Paddy and his associates were a ragged band and honourless and their worth to themselves was measured in thievery and fraud. But Lorraine was not a girl to be treated lightly. She’s cast as a minx, a criminal’s moll but she’s bought a shotgun.
And she’s bought a grave.
It’s a great book…the underlying menace, the threats, the ghostliness, and the border as a character itself. It’s searing, elegaic, haunting, poetic, scary. And sad. – Anna Burns
For over thirty years, Eoin McNamee has been one of the outstanding writers of his generation. The Bureau is his most personal and heartbreaking novel yet, and stands shoulder to shoulder with his finest work. – David Peace

John Connolly & Brian McGilloway Book Launch
2025-05-02 18:00 - 19:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in No Alibis Bookstore for a Double Book Launch!
We are very excited to launch “The Children of Eve” by John Connolly and
“The One You Least Suspect” by Brian McGilloway
on Friday 2nd May at 6pm in No Alibis Bookstore.
This is a FREE event but pre booking is advised.
Book your tickets HERE

Pre order your signed book HERE

A Book Signing with Gary Lightbody - The Forest is The Path
2025-05-20 12:30 - 13:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
This a Ticket with Book Event
Reserve your ticket here

Join us for a Book Signing event with Gary Lightbody in No Alibis Bookstore on
Tuesday 20th May at 12.30pm
This will be a ticketed event. Each ticket purchased includes a first edition copy of Gary’s book,
“The Forest Is the Path”.
Extra copies to purchase will be available on the day.
If you are unable to make the event and would like a signed copy of Gary’s book you can reserve one here
​If you wish tom have a dedication, please ​insert details in the NOTES box when placing your order

Book Launch: Barren - Byddi Lee
2025-05-22 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening in the bookshop to celebrate the launch of Byddi Lee’s new novel, Barren.
***Book your free ticket here***

About Barren:
In time, we are never alone.
Two grieving women are connected across time when the forces of nature activate a magical bronze axe they both possess, opening a portal through which they view each other’s worlds. When it becomes clear they both need saving, a way must be found to heal the calamities in both their worlds – before time runs out.
In present day California, pregnant Irish emigrant Aisling looks forward to becoming a mother. A sudden miscarriage leaves her devastated, but her unborn daughter’s spirit chooses to stay with her offering unheard comfort.
In Neolithic Ireland, huntress Zosime worries another lost pregnancy will diminish her standing in the tribe. When a comet strikes, bringing plague and famine, Zosime embarks on an odyssey to find a way to save her tribe – taking her magical bronze axe which contains the history of her tribe.
The axe is also in Aisling’s possession, for both women are from Armagh, separated by thousands of years. When an earthquake activates its powers – suddenly Aisling can see through time and space. Connected to her unborn daughter’s spirit and the axe, somehow she can view Zosime’s desperate plight. However, the connection means her daughter is trapped between worlds, fading and powerless.
Unless Aisling can trust her new powers and discover the secrets of the axe, her daughter’s spirit, Zosime, and the woman’s tribe, might be lost forever.

Poetry Launch: Charlie McIlwain - Elegy [Model Interaction Trend].
2025-05-29 18:00 - 20:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us for an evening in the bookshop to celebrate the launch of Charlie McIlwain’s debut poetry pamphlet, published by Sincere Corkscrew. You can book your free ticket here.

Elegy [Model Interaction Trend] is the coruscating, inimitable debut poetry pamphlet from Charlie McIlwain. An astonishing palimpsest of quotes, samples and deconstructed syntax, this is a poetic sequence which holds (radical, queer) ethical witness to modern brutality.
“Charlie McIlwain’s Elegy is a thought-provoking reflection on memory, loss, and (absent) confession. Repeated breaks in sense and syntax mirror the inability of memory to capture charged events with clarity. McIlwain looks back on that which evades representation and offers us his reflections “in chalk”. To speak in chalk also implies the production of word and sound particles that remain on the sleeves, in the air, taken into the lungs. After reading McIlwain’s Elegy, you will carry some of its lingering chalk dust away with you.” – William Keohane

Fintan Drury - Catastrophe: Nakba II, in conversation with Tom Kelly
2025-06-17 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us at No Alibis Bookstore for the Belfast launch of Catastrophe: Nakba II by Fintan Drury, in conversation with Tom Kelly.
The Nakba or ‘Catastrophe’ occurred between 1947 and 1949 and saw 15,000 Palestinians massacred and more than 700,000 expelled from their homeland by Israel. Today, we’re witnessing a second Nakba – one being played out in front of our eyes.
Provocative, eye-opening and unapologetically direct, Catastrophe is a call to understand the unique suffering of the Palestinians.
Reserve a free place at this event here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/no-alibis-bookstore-ltd/t-lnqdyka

Book Launch: Wendy Erskine - The Benefactors
2025-06-19 19:30 - 21:00 | Ulster Sports Club, 96-98 High St, Belfast, BT1 2BG
Join us for an evening at the Ulster Sports Club to celebrate the launch of Wendy Erskine’s debut novel The Benefactors on June 19th.
***Get your free ticket here***
***You can pre-order your signed copy (with gift) of the book here***
From the prize-winning author of Dance Move and Sweet Home, this is an astounding novel about intimate histories, class and money – and what being a parent means. Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to 18-year-old boys. Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care.
Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children’s services charity, loves celebrity and prestige. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they’ll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess.
But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed. Brutal, tender and rigorously intelligent, The Benefactors is a daring, polyphonic presentation of modern-day Northern Ireland. It is also very funny.

Keith Donald - NewBliss (A Memoir Play)
2025-06-25 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Please join us in the bookshop for a special evening with Keith Donald. Keith will be performing his memoir play, NewBliss, which will also be available to purchase as a book, Music and Mayhem. ​The performance includes prose, singing, and music, all played by Keith. After his performance, he will take questions from the audience and sign books.
***Book your free ticket here***
Keith Donald is a renowned saxophone and clarinet player who has played with some of the biggest names in Irish music, including Van Morrison, Ronnie Drew, Moving Hearts and Christy Moore.
Keith’s play, NewBliss, tells the story of his professional life, from his first public performance on BBC Radio at the age of ten to playing high profile gigs in North America, Africa, Europe and Ireland.
In the show, Keith recounts the highs and lows of his six-decade long career, half of which was spent under the shadow of alcoholism. It is an insight into the life of a musician, from pit orchestra gigs to pay the bills, all the way through to sold out stadium tours.
NewBliss was written during 2014 and is a one-man show consisting of verse, prose and music. Keith’s journey from addiction to redemption is an inspirational story, complete with both laughter and lessons.

Penguin @ 90: Michael Magee, Jan Carson and Stephen Sexton
2025-07-03 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in the bookshop for a celebration of the 90th anniversary of Penguin Books with three of the finest authors within Penguin-waddling distance of the bookshop: Michael Magee, Jan Carson and Stephen Sexton!
Our authors will be having an informal conversation on their favourite Penguin titles, the significance of Penguin titles and bookselling, and the importance of storytelling.
***BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE***

Book Launch: Liam McIlvanney - The Good Father
2025-07-23 18:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us on Wednesday 23rd July for an evening in the bookshop to celebrate the launch of Liam McIlvanney’s new novel, The Good Father, published by Bonnier books. Book your free ticket here. Signed copies of the book can be pre-ordered here.
About The Good Father:
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with successful, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly and honest community in a picture-postcard town on the Ayrshire coast. Until one day, Bonnie the lab comes in from the beach alone.
Their son, Rory, has gone – the only trace left behind is a single black Adidas slider. Their lives don’t fall apart immediately. While there’s still hope (and no body) they dig deep and try to carry on.
It’s a process of abrasion – a wearing away of happiness and normality; a slow degradation, a gradual breakdown – until they’ll never be the people they were before. This sort of tragedy impacts a whole town. Does the community still feel the same after? What are folk saying about you? Who are your friends? Who can you trust? When the worst thing has happened and you’ve lost everything, you either go under or you rebuild and start again.
‘Beautifully written, this is easily one of the finest crime novels I’ve read in a very long time’ C.M. EWAN
‘Heart-stopping and heart-rending, this is Liam McIlvanney’s best novel yet’ VAL MCDERMID

Book Launch: The Black Pool by Tim MacGabhann
2025-07-24 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in the bookstore for an evening with Tim MacGabhann to celebrate the launch of his memoir, The Black Pool, published by Hodder & Stoughton. Tim will be introduced by local author Jan Carson.
***Book your free ticket here.***
A raw and powerful memoir of addiction and recovery, across three continents and multiple drugs, from early childhood through adulthood.

Following an obsessive mind trying (and failing) to find relief, The Black Pool is a gripping thrill-ride through violent, chaotic underworlds. Tracing the roots of an illness through the failures of youth and adolescence and finally back to childhood, it’s about all the wrong places where addicts look for transcendence – from work, to relationships, to writing, to anger.
It shows what happens when everything falls apart. It shows us rock bottom and the start of the journey to recovery from there. It’s a memoir shot full of holes and shocking clarities. And towards the end, it achieves something like serenity – something like recovery.

Signing Event: M.W. Craven
2025-08-16 13:00 - 15:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
M.W. Craven will be joining us in the bookshop to sign copies of his new book, The Final Vow. ​
***Book your free ticket here.***
Mike is a UK bestselling author, best known for his Cumbrian based crime and thriller novels starring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw.
About The Final Vow:
A shooting at Gretna Green. A bride is murdered on her wedding day, seconds after she slips on her new ring. It’s brutal and bloody but she isn’t the first victim and she won’t be the last.
With the body count now at 17, people are terrified, not knowing where the sniper will strike next. With the nation in a state of panic, the police are at a loss and turn to Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw – the only team who just might be able to track down a serial killer following no discernible pattern and with the whole country as his personal hunting ground. Can Poe and Tilly stop an unstoppable assassin, who never misses his mark and never makes a mistake? Or will he find them before they find him…
‘Washington Poe is a brilliant creation from one of the finest and most inventive crime writers of today’ Peter James
‘Mesmerising, macabre and magnificent. Poe and Tilly are unstoppable’ Chris Whitaker
‘If you haven’t read any M.W. Craven yet, fix that immediately’ S. A. Cosby
‘I’ve been following M.W. Craven’s Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better ‘ Peter Robinson
‘Poe and Tilly books are a joy’ Steve Cavanagh
‘In Tilly and Poe, M.W. Craven has created a stand-out duo who are two of the most compelling characters in crime fiction in recent years’ Fiona Cummins

EVENT POSTPONED Steve Cavanagh - Two Kinds of Stranger - Book Launch
2025-08-21 18:00 - 19:00 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL WE HAVE HAD TO POSTPONE THIS EVENT. WHEN WE HAVE A NEW DATE ARRANGED WE WILL NOTIFY EVERYONE WHO HAS RESERVED A PLACE FOR THE ORIGINAL DATE. APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED

Join us for a book launch with the Award Winning Novelist
Steve Cavanagh

BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE
PRE ORDER YOUR COPY HERE
SHE HELPED A PERFECT A STRANGER. SHE DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS THE PERFECT KILLER
Perfect husband. Perfect apartment. Perfect friends and the perfect job.
As an internet celebrity – famed for her random acts of kindness – everyone knew it.
So when a betrayal causes her to lose it all, millions of people are watching. But even at her lowest, Ellie will always help someone in need. Which makes her the perfect target for a sadistic game.
Because as she soon learns, you can never trust a stranger – and a seemingly random encounter plunges her into a nightmare worse than she ever imagined. The only person she can turn to is conman turned trial lawyer Eddie Flynn, who must take on a case where nothing is what it seems. With the most cruelly ingenious mind manipulating events from the shadows, everyone is in danger – including Eddie and his family.
The award-winning, Sunday Times Top Five bestseller returns with a brand new thriller featuring the unforgettable Eddie Flynn.
Praise for Steve Cavanagh:
‘Unputdownable’ ALEX MICHAELIDES
‘Will keep you guessing until the very end’ IAN RANKIN
‘The ultimate treat for crime fiction fans’ JANICE HALLETT’
Books this ingenious don’t come along very often’ MICHAEL CONNELLY
‘A fantastic thriller writer’ MARK BILLINGHAM’

Steph McGovern - Deadline - In Conversation
2025-08-26 18:00 - 19:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd Belfast BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
No Alibis Bookstore in Association with Pan Macmillan Publishers welcome you to an event with Steph McGovern to celebrate the publication of her novel
DEADLINE

Author Photo Credit Carolyn Mendelsohn
PLEASE NOTE-NEW VENUE-CRESCENT ARTS CENTRE UNIVERSITY ROAD BELFAST
‘A pacy, witty, engaging thriller, entertaining and delightfully authentic, but hard-hitting and thought-provoking too. I can’t wait for you all to read it.’ Ann Cleeves
Your child has been kidnapped.
You are live on television.
Going live in 10, 9, 8…
Today is a huge day for TV reporter Rose’s career. A live interview with one of the most powerful men in the country, on one of the nation’s biggest TV shows.
But when she hears an unfamiliar voice in her ear, she knows something is very wrong.
Her earpiece has been hacked. She’s live on air in the middle of the interview and someone is telling her that they have kidnapped her family.
In order to protect them, Rose must do exactly what the hijacker says. They are in control now.

BOOK YOUR FREE TICKETS HERE.
‘Fascinating and authentic peek behind the scenes… Steph McGovern lifts the lid and hooks us in with an irresistible set up.’ Val McDermid
‘A fantastic premise. I was totally hooked from the dramatic start. Deadline is racy and entertaining with a thought provoking core. I’m already looking forward to reading more Rose Steedman adventures.’ Cecilia Ahearn
Steph McGovern is an award-winning broadcaster who currently presents The Rest is Money podcast with Robert Peston.
Steph has worked in journalism for over twenty years, eight of them as part of the BBC Breakfast family. She went on to present her own BAFTA-nominated live daily show, Steph’s Packed Lunch, on Channel 4 and is a regular Have I Got News for You panelist and host.
Steph is an avid crime reader and has interviewed countless authors including Val McDermid, Harlan Coben, Ann Cleeves, Hillary Clinton, Lee Child and Don Winslow, as well as judging the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award at the Harrogate Crime Festival since 2019.
Deadline is her first novel.

Poetry Launch: Shakeema Edwards - Recipe for Leaving
2025-08-28 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in the bookshop for an evening with Shakeema Edwards to celebrate the launch of her pamphlet, “Recipe for Leaving”, published by Green Bottle Press. Shakeema will be introduced by local poet Milena Williamson.
***Book your free ticket here***
Shakeema Edwards’ poems explore accidents of birth, the aftermath of death and the scaffolding of a life inbetween. Through poems about her heritage, her relatives’ stories and domestic (and other) skills, Shakeema questions how we make the choices that form us. Antigua and its flora and fauna are lushly described through her memories and family reminiscences – ‘…love is the clash and tang of crushed papaya/nestled between saltfish and choba’ (The Chemistry of Cooking). As she changes countries and chooses what to leave behind, her poems excavate identity and belonging – ‘Take fifteen minutes outside the airport to memorise palm trees/down to their roots, down to the loam./Leave.’ (Packing). A fresh and distinctive new voice, Shakeema Edwards is one to watch.

Book Launch: Dr Bot by Charlotte Blease
2025-09-18 18:30 - 19:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd Belfast BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
Join us in the Crescent Arts Centre for an evening with Charlotte Blease to celebrate the launch of her non-fiction title, Dr. Bot : Why Doctors Can Fail Us—and How AI Could Save Lives, published by Yale University Press. Charlotte will be interviewed by radio presenter William Crawley.
***Book your free ticket here***
About Dr Bot:
How does AI compare to a doctor when it comes to saving lives? Doctors are under-resourced and face unprecedented levels of stress, with rising patient numbers and ever developing medical knowledge. But at the same time, they are all too human, prone to racial, class and social biases that affect the care patients receive. Can we improve patient experience and alleviate the burdens of doctors at the same time? In this groundbreaking study, Charlotte Blease reveals how AI, if handled with care, could emerge as the most reliable physician in history. Drawing on interviews with authorities in AI, doctors and patients, Blease shows how technology – despite some resistance – is already making a difference.
From diagnosis and second opinions to treatment and aftercare, AI has the potential to revolutionise our healthcare.

Commedia Mortale - Wayne Holloway in conversation with Wendy Erskine and Adrian Duncan: The unreliable author; lived experience and spinning a yarn.
2025-10-02 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in the bookshop for an event with
Wayne Holloway in conversation with Wendy Erskine Adrian Duncan:
The unreliable author; lived experience and spinning a yarn.
***BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE***
Liguria, Italy. In a mountain village sits an old farmhouse that stores the memories of those who have lived there and suffers the tales of the visitors who come and go. The house weaves its magic on all who encounter it.New owners move in and over time become entangled with a parade of oddball characters. From pagan ritual to the antics of modern village life, the clash between outsiders and locals, Commedia Mortale seeks to understand what is authentic in both: the tall tales of ageing Second World War Partisans, the dreams of a chef to travel to parts unknown supported by a Greek chorus of drunks, a talking parrot, and asylum-seeking footballers with their own dreams, and miraculously a visit to the village by Anthony Bourdain himself.
Parsed through the eyes of a film maker, the ultimate outsider, Commedia Mortale summons dreams of kinship and nightmares of enmity. Ranging across philosophy, food, history, love, loss and landscape, Holloway conjures up a unique portrait of a place, the fables of its past and the dilemma of how to live now.
‘“Idiosyncratic” doesn’t begin to get near him.’– Guardian
‘A Trojan horse of a novel. The conversational, high-energy prose causes one to open the gates and then all hell breaks loose.’– Percival Everett on Our Struggle

In Conversation Stephen Walker & Donna Traynor discuss "David Trimble - Peacemaker"
2025-10-10 19:30 - 21:30 | Europa Hotel, Great Victoria St, Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT2 7AP
Join author Stephen Walker in conversation with broadcaster Donna Traynor, as they discuss “Peacemaker” , the new book on David Trimble at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.

£15.00
(Plus Booking Fee)
Book Your Tickets Here
David Trimble was one of the most influential figures in modern British and Irish history. A Nobel Laureate, he negotiated the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 that helped to secure peace in Northern Ireland. In this first biography to chart Trimble’s life and death, award-winning journalist Stephen Walker vividly details how this shy Belfast academic changed the political landscape of Northern Ireland.
With the cooperation of the Trimble family, Peacemaker offers unparalleled insights into the life of a history maker: the first person to be elected First Minister of Northern Ireland and the last Ulster unionist to hold that title. Using interviews with his widow Lady Trimble and their grown-up children, the book colourfully charts Trimble’s story from the County Down city of Bangor, through the divisive world of unionist politics, to his crowning moment at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo. It is a tale of how the leaders of unionism and nationalism worked together to end decades of violence to compromise and share power
Stephen Walker is an award winning journalist and the author of five books. He worked as a lobby correspondent at Westminster, an investigative reporter with Spotlight and he is a former BBC Political Correspondent.
Donna Traynor is one of Ireland’s most recognised and respected broadcasters with a journalistic career spanning more than three decades
Signed Books available on the night.
The Penthouse Suite
Europa Hotel
Belfast
Event Details
Starts at 7:30PM
Location
Europa Hotel Belfast – Penthouse Suite, Belfast, BT2 7AP

Poetry Launch: Jessica Traynor - New Arcana
2025-10-21 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookstore, 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Join us in the bookshop for an evening with Jessica Traynor to celebrate the launch of her new poetry collection, New Arcana, published by Bloodaxe Books.
***BOOK YOUR FREE TICKET HERE***
Jessica Traynor’s New Arcana explores grief, bad boyfriends and the power of female friendship through readings of the Tarot and Tim Burton movies. Moving from teenage friendship and destructive relationships towards a tangling with the realities of family life, domesticity, and desire, this highly inventive collection builds into a heartbroken letter to a dear friend (personified in the poems as ‘lydia deetz’) who died by suicide. Interwoven with numbered poems from a newly imagined Major Arcana, New Arcana celebrates both the holding on, and the letting go.
New Arcana is Jessica Traynor’s fourth collection, following Liffey Swim (2014) and The Quick (2019) from Dedalus and Pit Lullabies (2022) from Bloodaxe.
