Since he opened Bow Books in Royston’s Angel Pavement just six months ago Paul Bowes has hosted a succession of authors signing their latest books and the final visitor for 2023 was a lady whose first book he actually published 20 years ago.
Carrie Dunn was reunited with Paul, who re-emerged from semi-retirement at the age of 77 to establish the new business in June, to promote her latest women’s football title, ‘Woman Up: Pitches, Pay and Periods-The Progress and Potential of Women’s Football’. It exposes the ‘painful past and exciting future’ of women’s football by detailing the evolution of the game and the many complicated problems that still persist.
She was joined at the store by former Lioness, Karen Farley, who played in the first ever official English Women’s World Cup in 1995, the captain of Royston Town’s women’s team, Amy Cooper, Giles Parnwell, Chair of Royston Town Youth F.C. committee, and crowds of delighted local supporters of Bow Books.
Carrie recently received great accolades for a previous publication, ‘Unsuitable for Females: The Rise of Lionesses and Women’s Football in England’ which was shortlisted for the Football Book of the Year at the 2023 Sports Book Awards. Also published this year was the final part of a trilogy, ‘The Reign of the Lionesses’.
Her initial book, ‘A Brand New Bright Tomorrow: A Hatter’s Promotion Diary’, was published by Paul under his Book Castle imprint whilst he had his business in Dunstable, and celebrated Luton Town’s emergence into Division Two of the Football League in 2002.
A smiling Amy said, “It was so lovely to meet both Carrie and Karen. We instantly clicked, laughing, joking, and chatting about football in general. I was telling the other ladies that I am currently out of action due to having a recent ACL reconstruction on my knee after a bad tackle towards the end of last year. It was interesting to hear that Karen also suffered a similar injury when she was last playing. It is quite a common occurrence in women’s football. It’s a pity that they couldn’t have stayed over to watch our game on Sunday.”
Paul Bowes stated that it was very unusual for an author to have produced three books published by the same number of publishers in the same year. He continued to say that it was a privilege to host Carrie Dunn at his new premises, whilst she was at the top of her game. “Especially”, he said, “as I had inadvertently launched that glittering career when publishing her first book 20 years ago. Now she is one of the country’s leading pundits, as TV commentator, panelist, theorist, advocate, and author, monitoring all aspects of the spectacular rise to prominence of women’s football. Delighted too, to welcome her friend, Karen Farley, a goal scoring former Lioness centre forward in many internationals, including the World Cup of 1995. I am sure all of those who met them from the many teams being hosted at all age levels by our community focused Town Club will have been inspired. Conversing with the two of them was truly infectious, as will be reading Carrie’s books.”
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Copyright – Article & photographs – Clive Porter
Photos – If anyone is interested in owning any of the fine photos in this feature, please contact Clive Porter: 07594 259 410
