Card news
Are you a book lover who wants to get more from your Card? In this section we highlight the latest news and activities from the Waterstone's Card Team.
Whether it's catching up with competition winners who attended book launches and award ceremonies, posting exclusive author extras or highlighting exciting publishing news, we strive to keep you up to date with all the additional benefits of being a Waterstone's Cardholder.
We will regularly update this area so remember to keep logging in for more information.
A book group evening with Victoria Hislop
Read about the fun and friendly evening a book group spent with author Victoria Hislop after winning a competition earlier in the year to discuss the books by the author - with the author. The Drinkstone Book Club had a lovely time discussing Victoria Hislop's titles over dinner at The Angel Hotel in Bury St Edmunds with Victoria herself.
Buy the eBook editions of The Island and The Return.
The first to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
We ran a competition for one lucky Cardholder to be the first person the English-speaking world to read the final installment of Stieg Larsson's incredibly popular Millenium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Signing a secrecy agreement, the manuscript was securely delivered to her home in Kendal and now Cardholders can find out what the first person to read The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest thought of the book.
New Barbara Kingsolver
It's been nine years since The Poisonwood Bible and this November sees the publication of a brand new fiction book from author Barbara Kingsolver. The Lacuna is the heartbreaking story of a man torn between the warm heart of Mexico and the cold embrace of 1950s McCarthyite America.
Sample the new John Banville
Booker prize winner John Banville has a new book out, The Infinities. Try before you buy? We've got the first chapter available for you to read and decide if it's the next book for you.
Cupcake making with Annabel Karmel
We ran a competition earlier in the year for 10 children and their parents to win the chance to attend a cupcake decorating session with children's nutrition expert Annabel Karmel. Annabel and the event proved to be a hit with the Cardholders and their kids, where Annabel demonstrated how to have fun while making delicious and tasty treats.
Read more about the cupcake making session with Annabel Karmel
David Starkey at Hampton Court Palace
We held a competition earlier this year to win a guided tour of Hampton Court Palace with the famous historical biographer David Starkey. Cardholder Annette Traverse-Healey won the incredible opportunity and took her son Liam to visit the beautiful Hampton Court Palace on the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne.
Meeting Katie Fforde
We ran a competition for one Cardholder to meet Love Letters author Katie Fforde at the Queen's Hotel, Cheltenham. Hilary Brown was our lucky Cardholder. Read her moving story to hear why this was a special win for Hilary.
Valentine Warner recipe card
Coinciding with this month's delicious. Magazine Top Book for Cooks, we have a delicious summer recipe taken from Valentine Warner's new book What to Eat Now: Spring and Summer.
Meeting Martina
Earlier this year we ran a competition to meet Britain's bestselling crime writer, Martina Cole. Three lucky Cardholders and their guests met Martina for lunch in a top London restaurant.
Find out what our Cardholders have to say about meeting Martina
Free Innocent smoothie recipe card
We've joined up with the team at Innocent to offer Waterstone's Cardholders a free downloadable recipe card for a delicious pear and fig smoothie.
1.6 million plastic bags saved!
Thank you! Since we launched our eco points offer in May 2008 we've saved over 1.6 million plastic bags. Keep up the good work - whenever you visit a Waterstone's store say "no, thanks" to a plastic bag and earn five eco points on your Card.
Shopping online? Eco points are unavailable on items posted directly to you, but if you choose to collect your order from store remember to ask for eco points if you don't take a plastic bag.
Our new gift cards - designed by you
To design our latest gift cards we ran a competition for Waterstone's Cardholders and booksellers. We had a fantastic response and six of the cards now available in our UK stores were entries from the competition. Congratulations to Lorne Felgate, Azalea Dalton and Kate Skillings, our winning Cardholders, and booksellers Sarah Browne at Waterstone's Sheffield Orchard Square and Jemima Hunt at Waterstone's Bournemouth Arcade.
Our winners' responses:
"When I heard about the Waterstone's competition I jumped at the chance of being creative with my illustrations. The inspiration initially came from a canvas I produced including the spaceman featured on the card along with a whole host of other characters. The canvas now hangs proudly in my house. The space man seemed to fit perfectly with the Waterstone's slogan "Discover something new". I sent the design off and hoped for the best. I waited... then the news came that my design had been successful. I was over the moon that my little card would be in Waterstone's stores everywhere."
Lorne Felgate
"I found trying to decide what to do was the hard part. Should it be a Christmas theme? Something featuring books? An image that would appeal to children? I decided to experiment with simple, brightly coloured flower shapes as they lend themselves to the cut-paper collages that I have been working on recently and I like the way the combination of colours, textures and patterns of the paper work together to create a vibrant picture. I have enjoyed the challenge of creating a design that has to fit on something the size of a credit card and am thrilled to be one of the winners of the competition."
Azalea Dalton
Love-all at Wimbledon
Free short story for Waterstone's Cardholders!
Lose, and she finds out is a short story by the author of A Thousand Suns, Alex Scarrow. The tale is centered on Daniel Everett, the British hopeful in the Wimbledon Tournament, who stands to lose much more than just the Championship if he doesn't win the title.
Serving up seduction and blackmail, Orion Group Publishing are offering Cardholders the exclusive opportunity to download Lose, and she finds out.
Download Lose, and she finds out*
*You must have Adobe Reader installed to be able to view this download.
Buy Alex Scarrow's latest novel Last Light.
