20th October, 2021, Steyning Cricket Club
Wednesday 28th March at 7.30 pm.
We are thrilled to be hosting the Sussex launch party for Matt Hopwood’s beautiful book A Human Love Story.
Matt Hopwood grew up near Steyning, and has spent many years travelling, gathering stories as he goes, so this launch is a home-coming of sorts. Matt is a storyteller and a facilitator of sharing space. He is a graduate in Applied Anthropology from Goldsmith’s University, a former teacher and has worked alongside community projects in Kenya, Palestine and Israel.
A Human Love Story is the result of a journey Matt undertook, on foot, with just a small bag and a walking stick, walking many hundreds of miles, from Lindisfarne to Callanish in the Outer Hebrides. He relied entirely on the generosity of strangers for shelter and as he went, he asked people to tell him their transforming stories….. it is these profound, honest and moving stories of love, weaving a web of tenderness, connection, and compassion, which are gathered in the book. Matt plans further books for the stories he harvested in other parts of the UK. The fascinating original recordings of the stories can be heard on Matt’s website here.
Matt is a popular guest on national and local radio shows, including the Sunday Morning Show on BBC Radio 2, and with Clare Balding on ‘Ramblings’ with BBC Radio 4, which generated one of the biggest audience responses in the entire series. He was featured again on ‘Ramblings’ in mid February when the book came out.
The launch is mainly by invitation to Matt’s family and friends, but we may have some space for interested locals! Please call in at the shop or phone us on 01903 812062 if you’d like to come along. There will be wine and nibbles, Matt will share insights and stories from his journey, and we will have plenty of copies of the book on sale for Matt to sign!