SHOWTIMES AND TICKETS

We're thrilled to welcome prize-winning author Jacqueline Crooks to Picturehouse to celebrate the release of her new novel, Sky City: a spellbinding portrait of '90s London, friendship and loneliness, healing and redemption, and three lives brought together by chance.

Crooks will appear in conversation, broadcast live from The Ritzy in Brixton – you'll have the chance to submit a question for her before the event, too. 

You'll also have the chance to bring Sky City home with you before its release on 06 August: 'Bundle' tickets include a copy of the book, and copies will also be available to purchase on the night, courtesy of our local bookshop partners. 

Brought to you as part of Picturehouse's Book Club: bringing your bookshelf to the big screens. Join us for curated screenings and events, conversations with literary minds, and more. Presented in partnership with Dark Matter.

Jacqueline Crooks grew up in '70s and '80s Southall, part of London’s migrant community carving out a space through music, culture and politics. Fire Rush, her first novel, was shortlisted for multiple prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Jhalak Prize. It won the PEN American Open Book Award and the Paul Torday Memorial Prize. It was also chosen as an Observer Best Debut Novel of the Year.

ABOUT SKY CITY

London in the 90s. Jaycee and Ella-G are best friends, and daughters in search of fathers.

After years in a hostel for young homeless women, Jaycee finally has a room of her own high up in Sky City, a housing estate in north London carved out of the glow-in-the-dark sky. But the past is not so easily forgotten: When an old classmate, Sol – her first love – reappears, he seems to offer her a lifeline. Can she trust him now?

Ella-G has left London for the glamorous world of the New York music scene. When Jaycee finds a rare record that seems to lead to Ella-G’s father, the two women go searching for answers. But can Jaycee find justice and healing, even as her, Sol, and Ella-G's worlds threaten to crash together and splinter apart?

Timings:
19.00: start in screen
20.00: end

  • Release Date :
  • 04 Aug 2026
  • Certificate :
  • 12A
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