Penarth's independent bookshop, Griffin Books, brought its 2020 events programme to a fitting close last week with the online launch party for local author Sam Hurcom's latest novel, Letters from the Dead .

It's safe to say that 2020 has brought its challenges and things have certainly been a little different for the shop this year.

Bookshop owner, Mel Griffin, said: "Author events are important for us as they bring people together and strengthen that feeling of community that is so important here in Penarth, and we started the year with some fantastic live events, including Sophie Hannah, Matt Pritchard and Joanna Trollope - little did we know what was just around the corner!"

Following the national lockdown in March the Griffin Books team worked quickly to get a programme of online events up and running.

Since April, they have hosted 34 virtual events with authors from across the UK and beyond, including Ruth Jones, Victoria Hislop, James Naughtie, Clare Mackintosh, Lemn Sissay, Nicci French, Simon Mayo, Ann Cleeves, Rachel Joyce, Jeffrey Archer, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, former First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, to name only a few, and have seen attendees tuning in from as far as New Zealand, Sri Lanka and America!

Mel continued: "Thank you to everyone who has supported Griffin Books by attending one of our events this year. It has been lovely to keep in touch with our regular customers and to get to meet so many new people through our online events."

The team is currently working on their 2021 programme and will be announcing more unmissable virtual events very soon.

Their live toddler Storytime sessions – streamed every Tuesday at 10.30 am via Facebook and Instagram – will continue until 22 December.

For news and announcements from Griffin Books, follow them on social media and visit www.griffinbooks.co.uk, where you can sign up to their newsletter via the box at the bottom of the homepage.