Search results for: 'three down'

1 Aug 2018

A Chat with Stephen Cottrell

1 August is Play Day, which encourages the value of play and imagination. Our author Stephen Cottrell has always told stories to his children. Now, he has written a children’s story too. Read about the origins of his new book The Sleepy ...

15 Oct 2018

Work that we're called to do

Barbara Fox chats with us about the genesis of her new book Midwife of Borneo, in which she tells the story of the life and work of Wendy Grey ...

26 Sept 2018

The Wisdom of Dr Dawn Harper on Fitness Day

Dr Dawn Harper is on our blog for Fitness Day, sharing her wisdom about the benefits of regular exercise. We all have to find the fitness that works well with us and makes us feel motivated. When we find what we enjoy, we look forward to our ...

22 Oct 2018

What can compel us to write nonfiction?

What makes a good biography? Barbara Fox reflects on her work in journalism and how it led to the writing of Midwife of Borneo. Though she’d planned to write fiction if she ever wrote a book, her editing and journalistic skills helped her to write nonfiction. While we can often plan to write one book initially, we can sometimes end up ...

6 Nov 2018

Where do writers get their ideas?

In keeping with our #NaNoWriMo theme, we interviewed Sarah Meyrick, author of The Restless Wave, about her idea for her new novel. How do you begin with an idea and turn it into a ...

20 Nov 2018

Alexa Tewkesbury's 3 wishes for all children

Alexa Tewkesbury has written several children’s books for us. It seems only fitting that she’d be on our blog for World Children’s Day, sharing her wishes for today’s ...

20 Nov 2018

5 lighthearted books for Christmas

For most people, Christmas is the perfect time of year to unwind, relax and spend precious time with family. With this in mind, SPCK has handpicked five easy lighthearted books for the ...

10 Dec 2018

5 Questions for Stephen Cottrell

Stephen Cottrell, author of The Sleepy Shepherd, chats with us about books, writing, and his plans for ...

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11 Apr 2019

Michael Cassidy - My Life and Times: Part 2

This is part 2/2 of this blog post. Part 1 can be found here. We are very committed, like SPCK, to reach people and disciple them by books and Christian literature. ...

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15 Apr 2019

Spanning the Decades

Sarah Meyrick introduces our new blog series where she takes you through the decades of her new novel, The Restless Wave, as well as inspiring stories from her own family ...

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26 Apr 2019

Spanning the Decades: 1940s

Sarah Meyrick's third installment of Spanning the Decades features the research that went into The Restless Wave and her own personal history with Church Stowe, available for pre-order ...

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1 May 2019

Natural Holy Places: Britain's Top 10

Nick Mayhew-Smith, author of The Naked Hermit, rounds up a five-year journey into the wild sacred spaces of Britain with a top 10 list of the most enchanting holy ...

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3 May 2019

Spanning the Decades: 1960s

Sarah Meyrick's fourth Spanning the Decades post for her new book The Restless Wave, available for pre-order ...

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16 May 2019

Spanning the Decades: The Restless Wave

Sarah Meyrick's final post for our Spanning the Decades series is all about families and how to survive them. Order her new book, The Restless Wave, available ...

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4 Jul 2019

Coffee with Sarah Meyrick

Sarah Meyrick recently published her second novel, The Restless Wave. Set across three generations, the book emcompasses themes such as love, family, faith and history, with some of her inspiration coming from her own family history. We managed to find a quiet few minutes to catch up with Sarah and talk about all things ...

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22 Jul 2019

16 and a Half Ways to Upgrade Your Faith

We’ve all been there. One minute we’re sky-high in our relationship with God, and the next we’re questioning whether he’s listening to us at all. But what if there was a way to get past the ups and downs? Youth Pastor Bob Wallington suggests ways to help us maintain a relationship with God in his book 16 and a Half ...

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10 Jul 2019

The Light Keeper - blog post from Cole Moreton

Find out more about Cole Moreton's upcoming book The Light Keeper and how to win a night's stay at the Belle Tout ...

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19 Aug 2019

The Challenges of Urbanization

From one end of Eurasia to the other, societies are now either already highly urbanized or in the process of becoming so. In The Human Odyssey Stephen Green explores the challenges that are posed by this change. In the following blog post Stephen introduces us to his chapter on 'The forces unleashed by ...

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19 Aug 2019

Storytelling at Greenbelt by Murray Watts

Storytelling has always been a big part of Murray Watts' life. It started with his mother reading him the works of Hans Andersen and Grimms' Fairy Tales, which later led to his live broadcasts of monologues and parables on Radio Merseyside in 1971. It's now come full circle to the publication of 'Yours Truly', a collection of 18 brilliant and ...

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9 Sept 2019

Exploring Patterns of History - an extract from The Human Odyssey

The long human odyssey of self-discovery has reached a crucial stage: everything we do affects everyone and everything else - and we know it. In this extract from Stephen Green's new book The Human Odyssey he explores patterns of history and questions whether these patterns justify the narrative of a human journey - an odyssey which, for ...

Emma Collins
3 Oct 2019

New for October 2019

With a chill in the air it's evident that Autumn has arrived so why not snuggle up with a new book this month. October sees the release of a great selection of books. New publications include The Very Brief History of John Henry Newman and the third children's book by Paul Kerensa, Joe's Bros and the Bus that Goes. Learn more about new books for ...

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4 Oct 2019

What can we learn from our animal friends? Meet Danny, the Irish Setter

All over the world, everywhere, humans and animals form great bonds that give them both another kind of gift of life. This is one of the reasons why Joan Chittister wrote the book, Two Dogs and a Parrot. For World Animal Day we're sharing an extract from the book where we meet Danny, the unruly Irish ...

14 Nov 2019

An Inspiring Story of Courage and Strength

As we approach Christmas and the end of 2019 it's the ideal time to reflect and prepare for the new year ahead. Whilst we reflect on our lives, there will be many things we are grateful for, as well as those we take for granted. Putting yourself in someone else's shoes is not always easy to do but when we immerse ourselves in a story, especially a ...

Emma Collins
10 Jan 2020

Taking Action to Save Water

Water is a key theme throughout Saying Yes to Life: The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book 2020. Whilst Ruth Valerio reflects on light and water in relation to the Days of Creation (Genesis 1), she also relates this back to the environmental, ethical and social concern that we face today with Climate Change. In this extract from the book ...

Emma Collins
3 Mar 2020

Why the title 'Irrepressible'?

"These twelve principles mean a lot to me and have formed so much of my thinking over recent years. I hope they will give other people some practical handholds and a good dollop of hope". Cathy Madavan, speaker and author of Irrepressible: 12 principles for a courageous, resilient and fulfilling life tells us why she wrote the book, why ...

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30 Mar 2020

Vincent van Gogh The Bedroom - A Reflection from Sister Wendy Beckett

Today is the birthday of Vincent van Gogh, a post-impressionist painter who is one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art. A few of SPCK's books reference van Gogh. One of which is Sister Wendy's 100 Best-loved Paintings. In this blog post you will find an extract from the book where Sister Wendy reflects upon van Gogh's ...

Emma Collins
14 Apr 2020

Mindful Walking

With many of you going out for daily exercise, how many times would you say that you were mindful of your surroundings? Graham User writes that he has two approaches to walking, one that focuses on the amount of steps and time it takes him, and the other to pay attention to his surroundings such as patterns in the sky, birdsong or sounds of ...

Emma Collins
30 Apr 2020

Q&A with David Wilbourne, Author of Just John

David Wilbourne has been a 'John Habgood observer' for 37 years. Just John: The Authorized Biography of John Habgood has been a long time in the making, as we learn in this Q&A with David it took four years to complete just one chapter. Find out in this first part of our Q&A what it was like to write this biography and whether David, ...

Emma Collins
5 May 2020

You are not alone, an extract from Baby Change

Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week is a week-long campaign dedicated to talking about mental illness during and after pregnancy. In the introduction to Baby Change, Anne Calver writes that she '...did not find anything to help parents emotionally, mentally or spiritually as they prepared for and transitioned into life as mums and dads'. In ...

Emma Collins
21 May 2020

Thomas Graumann, the boy who fled the Nazis

It is with great sadness that today we hear of the passing of Thomas Graumann, one of the last children rescued by British humanitarian Nicholas Winton. Thomas' story was published in the book Twice Rescued Child, co-written with Tricia Goyer. Last year we caught up with Tricia and she told us what it was like working with Thomas and ...

Emma Collins
28 May 2020

Tears, Locked Doors and Doubt - an extract from God and the Pandemic

Today sees the publication of Tom Wright's new book God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and its Aftermath. In this extract from the book Tom Wright draws parallels between the tears, locked doors and doubt that are present in the Gospel of John with the tears, locked doors and doubt that we are experiencing ...

Emma Collins
30 Jun 2020

How Talk Can Transform Us

'The idea of talking to someone for eight hours might have been daunting for some people, but this is what Rowan and I have been doing for more than a decade'. Greg Garrett tells us about the many conversations he had with Rowan Williams, and how these conversations became a book, giving readers the chance to be a 'fly on the ...

Emma Collins
30 Sept 2020

National Poetry Day 2020 - Hope by George Herbert

National Poetry Day is celebrated every year on the first Thursday of October, and encourages everyone to enjoy, discover and share poetry. With this in mind, we are sharing a poem by George Herbert called Hope, with a commentary from Mark Oakley. This is an extract from Mark Oakley's volume My Sour-Sweet Days: George Herbert and the Journey of the ...

Emma Collins
5 Nov 2020

Who doesn’t like making top-ten lists?

In this extract from We are Satellites by Martin Saunders, we learn how lists of favourite films, books, music or games all have one thing in common, and that is: the creative arts. With creative arts having the same common root of human creativity, where does that creativity come ...

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22 Dec 2020

Our Need for Renewal - Reflecting back on SPCK’s 2020 Annual Lecture

SPCK’s well-received AGM and annual lecture on 19 November gave us all, “much to ponder and act on.” as one attendee told us. The virtual event was hosted by broadcast journalist, Genelle Aldred in conversation with four esteemed SPCK authors who shared their understanding of ‘renewal’ and responded to questions from ...

Emma Collins
12 May 2021

What would the Ascension look like in a sitcom?

It’s a strange thing to consider, but what would the Ascension look like if it was portrayed in a ...

Laura Barry
16 Jan 2023

Guest Post: Lily-Jo's Blue Monday Tips for Talking to Children About Mental Health

Lily-Jo, a children’s mental health expert and author of Talking to Children About Mental Health, shares with us her top tips for helping you AND your child through the January ...

Laura Barry
30 Jan 2024

Our Bestselling Lent & Easter Books for Children

Explore our bestselling Lent and Easter books for children. Add our favourite Easter books to your basket - perfect for entertaining little ones this Easter! ...

Laura Barry
24 May 2024

Discover our New May Releases

Explore our fantastic new releases for ...

Laura Barry
29 Apr 2026

Our Royal Patron in Congress

Following King Charles III’s address to Congress, SPCK reflects on faith, friendship and a 300-year story of Christian books carrying hope across the ...