Struggling with a little last minute shopping? We thought we would give you a hand with some great gift ideas. And the best part is books are so easy to wrap!

Ebury will have a strong presence at Latitude Festival once again this year, with the return of the haven of literary tranquility which is the Ebury Library and Bookshop, with shelves packed with books for festival goers to browse and buy and a programme of practical workshops delivered by Ebury authors.

Visitors to the stand can unwind by taking part in our Yoga and Relaxation workshops delivered by Ebury’s Lucy Edge and Virgin’s Tony Wrighton respectively; enjoy Foraging Workshops with Miles Irving and take part in daily Travellers’ Tales storytelling sessions hosted by Emma Kennedy, Stuart Maconie, Henry Worsley and Tony Wrighton.

We’re celebrating Ebury Press’s 50th anniversary in style with an old-school birthday party led by the doyenne of organised fun, Josie Curran, complete with musical statues, pass the parcel and pin the tail on the donkey. We’ll also be holding a games tournament in honour of Dave Gorman vs. The Rest of the World.

Additionally, we have an impressive line-up of authors appearing in the Literary Arena and on the Sunday Times Stage: Stuart Maconie, Rory McGrath, Louise Wener, Arianne Cohen, Henry Worsley, Mark Thomas and Ben Okri.

Are you going to be at Latitude? Let us know in the comments!

Celebrating the launch of Dave Gorman’s new book, Dave Gorman vs. the Rest of the World, we held a fantastic Games Day in our canteen yesterday. Photos from the event below.

Ebury author and comedian Dave Gorman is undertaking a back-breaking trip around the four corners of mainland Britain – on his bike! And if that wasn’t hard enough he’s performing a one-man comedy show every night too, taking in a weird and wonderful variety of venues along the way. Here’s a round up of what’s been happening on his blog. Ebury will be publishing the full story of his adventure next summer.

Day 29:

I was preparing to do this ride alone. Scot - my guide for the past couple of days - had given me some good advice for the journey and I was pretty sure I could find my way as a result. But as it happened, when I was chatting with the audience after the show in the train carriage one of them said, “I suppose you’ve got someone to show you the way tomorrow?”… I explained that I hadn’t and so… step forward, my short-notice Human Sat Nav, Campbell:

Day 30:

I’ve not really mentioned much of the extra-curricular activity but this is what we - my tour manager Ed and me - got up to this morning. A powerboat trip on Loch Ness. We saw no monster.

Meanwhile back at the bike ride… We stopped off to take a look at the Falls of Foyer…

… and also at Dores where this man lives in a converted mobile-library, hoping to spot the monster that doesn’t exist. Ah.

Day 31:

I had my first taste of the Scottish speciality, a macaroni-cheese-pie:

It tastes exactly like cold macaroni cheese in a pie.

Day 32:

What journey am I on again?

… oh yeah… this one:

There are fifteen miles to go. So close…

Day 33:

That’s how many miles I’ve cycled. From the southernmost point of the British mainland to the easternmost point to the westernmost point to the northernmost point. With a full show each and every night along the way.

I’m exhausted. I’m also exceedingly proud.

There’s not much of an internet connection here so I can’t offer pictures or maps or whatever but I’ll catch up when I’m back in London. I’m going to take a couple of days off before that happens though. Lots to sit and think about.

It’s been an amazing month - the most exhilarating of my life - big thanks to everyone who came to a show (no spoilers now, it tours again in the spring!) and to everyone who’s offered encouragement along the way. It’s been much appreciated.

Read more about Dave’s travels on his blog

Find out about Dave’s books

Ebury author and comedian Dave Gorman is undertaking a back-breaking trip around the four corners of mainland Britain – on his bike! And if that wasn’t hard enough he’s performing a one-man comedy show every night too, taking in a weird and wonderful variety of venues along the way. Here’s a round up of what’s been happening on his blog. Ebury will be publishing the full story of his adventure next summer.

Day 22:

The start of this ride made me very aware of how much my fitness has improved. We were climbing for quite a while and I wasn’t really aware of it. Granted it wasn’t a very steep climb but even so… I know I would have felt it so much more a few weeks ago. After yesterday’s drizzle I was expecting the weather to get worse from here on in but as it was it was a little crisp and cold but with mainly clear blue skies and amazing views.

Day 23: 

We must have taken a bit of a detour… because here I am in Moscow…

Day 24:

The urban sprawl spreads all the way from Glasgow to Dumbarton but we hardly saw any of it because we followed a ribbon like path of green, through a big park, along a canal towpath and eventually on to a cycle path that threaded its way between the mountains and the river, the road and the railway.

There were showers, there was sunshine, there was a howling gale… and there was a big bike…

Day 25:

Ardlui is a strange place. In that it’s not really a place. There’s a hotel there… and that’s pretty much it. There isn’t anything resembling an actual village that I could see. Quite how it’s got a place name all to itself I dont really know… still the gig wound up being fun.

Day 26:

You’d think the downhill that followed would be really exciting… and in good weather it might well have been. As it was the wind was so strong that I could’t really freewheel as I came down into Glencoe. Oh well. Here’s what most of today looked like:

Day 27:

I’m really very, very happy right now. I’ve finally made it to the westernmost point: Ardnamurchan.

I can’t believe I’ve got this far. It’s been an incident packed 28 days that have taken me from the southernmost point to the easternmost point to the westernmost… and now the end is in sight. Just 5 more shows and 6 more rides and I’ll be at the northernmost point.

Day 28:

I’ve generally avoided blogging about the shows for fear of it becoming a procession of “nice gig tonight” blandness - but it’s worth mentioning this one because of its oddness. It was in a railway dining car. That means that half the audience are facing one way and the other half the other. There’s no stage. There’s no obvious focus. But what happened felt really special. Instead of trying to force a 3 gallon show in to a pint pot I tried to turn it into a pint pot shaped show. Everyone there was up for it because it was different and entered into the spirit wonderfully. It doesn’t feel like a gig that I did and they watched, it feels like an experience that the 33 of us shared. I’ll never do another gig like it and I liked it for that very reason.

Read more about Dave’s travels on his blog

Find out about Dave’s books

Ebury author and comedian Dave Gorman is undertaking a back-breaking trip around the four corners of mainland Britain – on his bike! And if that wasn’t hard enough he’s performing a one-man comedy show every night too, taking in a weird and wonderful variety of venues along the way. Here’s a round up of what’s been happening on his blog. Ebury will be publishing the full story of his adventure next summer.

Day 15

The ride today wasn’t hill-free but what climbing there was rewarded us with spectacular views…

Day 16

We stopped for lunch in a glorious tea-rooms just before the climb into the Moors began.

Day 17

The shortest and easiest ride of the lot so far… a mere 27 miles. (Mind you, it’s not so long ago that the word ‘mere’ wouldn’t have sat before ‘27 miles’ without looking ridiculous to me.) Mind you, I think I ought to enjoy this run of easy rides because the Lake District is coming soon and that surely means that pain is just around the corner.

Here we are at the finishing line, The Grand Theatre… a truly lovely old building:

I love old theatres and this one’s been here since 1782. Mind you, I think some of the plumbing has been too…

Day 18

I’m really enjoying the way each day’s ride is shaped by the nature of my guide as much as it is by the landscape. Some people want to mooch around and sup tea and somehow get the ride done in between time. While others just want to get me there as quickly and safely as posssible.

Anyway… there was more tea to drink but here we are at the finishing line in Kendal…

Day 19

After a couple of days of short and relatively flat riding Day 19 provided a reminder of what it is I’m actually doing. The ride might have only been 35 miles but my life did it involve some climbs:

Day 20

I knew my Boardman bike was due a bit of a service - it has done nearly a thousand miles on this journey already plus another six or seven hundred in training… but I wasn’t expecting the man himself - Chris Boardman - to start making the adjustments himself…

Day 21

Two big things happened today. I completed my thousandth mile of the ride… and I crossed the border into Scotland.

I’ve had so much good fortune with the weather so I really can’t complain about the grey skies and brief showers that came today. It might not have shown the landscape off at its best but we were never drenched.

We took a little detour to take in a nice stretch of coastline…

Here we are at the finishing line:

Read more about Dave’s travels on his blog

Find out about Dave’s books

Ebury author and comedian Dave Gorman is undertaking a back-breaking trip around the four corners of mainland Britain – on his bike! And if that wasn’t hard enough he’s performing a one-man comedy show every night too, taking in a weird and wonderful variety of venues along the way. Here’s a round up of what’s been happening on his blog. Ebury will be publishing the full story of his adventure next summer.

Day 8:

High Wycombe to Cambridge.  I’m not sure where my human sat navs disappeared to here…

Day 9: 

Cambridge to Ipswich. Here we are at the end of the ride, outside Regent’s Theatre:

Day 10:

I’ve been getting a few messages from people on Twitter asking me what time I’m going to arrive at places and what route I’m taking and so on. The answer is always that I don’t know. I’m letting my Human Sat Navs choose the routes and I really can’t predict how long any given ride is going to take - especially when I don’t know where we’re going.

The first coast to coast is complete… I’ve gone from Lizard Point to Lowestoft Ness:

… and now I start the long haul up to Ardnamurchan…

Day 11:

I was cycling from Lowestoft Ness to King’s Lynn today and I honestly hadn’t realised how far it would be. I think in that London-centric way where things out in that part of the world just have to be close to each other I hadn’t taken in how far apart the two cities were. Even taking the main road between Lowestoft and KL - the A47 - would put the ride at more than 70 miles but no sane cyclist would want to do that.

I haven’t lost much weight but another more obvious change to my body comes in the form of my tan lines. I wear gloves while I’m cycling so there are two ends to the tan. Ridiculous:

Day 12:

I’m pretty sure my fitness has improved enormously over the last few days. I know it was flat (and there was only the occasional headwind) but I was really surprised when Peterborough suddenly loomed up. I wasn’t expecting to see it for another hour or so and it really didn’t feel like I’d cycled 50 miles. I expect there’ll be some hills on the ride to Leicester. Boo them… I’ve enjoyed the flatness.

Day 13:

Day 14:

It happened in Ipswich and it happened again in Leicester… the person who’d agreed to be my Human Sat Nav for the next ride just went AWOL. I called, I left messages, I sent a text and I tried their e-mail address… no reply at all.

In Ipswich when that happened I asked the audience if anyone there could help me and got the excellent Dave so I thought I’d try the same in Leicester. I wasn’t disappointed… I got the brilliant: Kirstie and Mike

I don’t remember it being called that when I was a lad:

Read more about Dave’s travels on his blog

Find out about Dave’s books

Ebury author and comedian Dave Gorman is undertaking a back-breaking trip around the four corners of mainland Britain – on his bike! And if that wasn’t hard enough he’s performing a one-man comedy show every night too, taking in a weird and wonderful variety of venues along the way. Here’s the latest from his blog. Ebury will be publishing the full story of his adventure next summer.

Day 1:

Yesterday, someone asked me on Twitter if I was planning a big send off or not. I found myself confused by the question. The start was always going to be a 38 year old man cycling uphill and I wouldn’t know how to turn that into a big send off. But to my surprise a small number of strangers did gather in the cold and the drizzle to wave us off from Lizard Point. There may have been only four of them but it was really appreciated and it was another, lovely boost to my morale - so thanks for that.

Day 2:

Day 3:

I’ve decided there simply isn’t going to be time to add daily commentary of any substance on the rides and shows… doing the ride and the tour concurrently turns out to be pretty exhausting. Who knew?

So maps and facts and the occasional photo will have to do. I will say this though… cycling across Dartmoor was bloomin’ ace.

Day 4:

Day 5:

Blow out on my rear tyre - inner tube and tyre shredded and rear wheel ruined - but - with the aid of a spare bike, the ride was completed. I had a great guide and a lovely gig to top it off. Bosting.

Day 6:

Guided by Richard and several other folk who work for Sustrans. They have a magic knack for avoiding traffic. An ace route. (But be careful on the Fosse Way - it’s a rough surface that I wouldn’t want to take a pure road bike down.)

I wouldn’t have thought cyclists were the target market for kebabs but here’s me doing what the sign tells me…

Day 7: 

Here I am with my Human Sat Nav - the fab Andrew as well as my mate Lloydy Junior who joined me on the ride for a couple of days…

We will reach the easternmost point tomorrow…

Read more about Dave’s travels on his blog

Find out about Dave’s books