by Administrator | Nov 14, 2019 | Quick Reads
At the turn of the 19th century several of Southwell’s barns and larger homes would host theatrical performances. A teenage Lord Byron took part in one, a production of ‘The Weathercock’, at the Assembly Room where the Saracen’s Head now stands. Byron had previously... 
by Administrator | Nov 13, 2019 | Opportunities
Becky Cullen is a poet, educator, and researcher. She has taught across Nottingham in local secondary schools, at an international college, and now at Nottingham Trent University where she teaches and researches contemporary writing. She is also a poet, and her first... 
by Administrator | Nov 13, 2019 | Quick Reads
On 3rd October Nottingham Playhouse and Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature co-hosted an evening of events to celebrate National Poetry Day. Poets from Nottingham Creative Writing Hub hosted a well-attended Moments of Truth writing workshop, followed by the Poetry... 
by Administrator | Nov 12, 2019 | Readers & Writers
Henry Normal’s book Strikingly Invisible is a communion with the life we share with nature. This book explores the soul we share partly with the world. We have dark moments and light. We have eternally shifting positions, freezing and thawing to those around us. The... 
by Administrator | Nov 11, 2019 | Interviews
Nottingham is the perfect home for writers, and no one writer proves this more than author of Blue Tide Rising, Clare Stevens. Clare may have grown up in Somerset, but her connection to Nottingham can only be described as magnetic. “I came to Nottingham in the early... 
by Administrator | Nov 7, 2019 | Quick Reads
There’s a large three storey red brick house near Lowdham. This private home and footbridge is Grade II listed and used to be the notorious Lowdham Mill, this week’s literary location. Journalist John Brown was investigating the effects of factory life on its workers’... 
by Administrator | Nov 5, 2019 | Readers & Writers
Twenty-four hours after leaving Nottingham, I took a bus from El Dorado International Airport and found myself in Parque Simón Bolivar beneath a paling sky filled with triangles of luminous plastic. I had landed in Bogotá in the midst of a kite festival. At almost... 
by Administrator | Nov 4, 2019 | Quick Reads
Stanley Middleton was a popular teacher and prize-winning novelist from Nottingham. He was born in Bulwell in 1919 and lived in the city his whole life, moving once from his birthplace to Sherwood. Middleton published his first novel in 1958, and was the author of 44... 
by Administrator | Oct 30, 2019 | Quick Reads
As it’s Halloween there no better place to visit for this week’s literary location than a place that’s reputed to be the most haunted in Notts. In fact, it featured on the TV show Most Haunted, with Yvette Fielding and everyone’s favourite... 
by Administrator | Oct 29, 2019 | Opportunities
Bali Rai has written over forty novels about teenagers and children. Born in Leicester, his writing is inspired by his working-class multicultural background. a leading voice in UK teen fiction, Bali is a passionate advocate of libraries, reading for pleasure and... 
by Administrator | Oct 27, 2019 | Interviews
Few writers can claim to have had a start in life quite like Jasbinder Bilan. It’s safe to say Alan Sillitoe or Jon McGregor never counted a monkey among their childhood pets. Kim Slater and Dorothy Whipple probably didn’t encounter many violent cyclones in their... 
by Administrator | Oct 25, 2019 | Quick Reads
Situated between Newark and Southwell, and set around the crossroads of Staythorpe Road and the old Main Road, is the small village of Averham, home to the Robin Hood Theatre. As a member of the Oxford Union Dramatic Society, Joseph Cyril Walker acted and produced... 
by Administrator | Oct 11, 2019 | Quick Reads
It’s May 16th 1966 and a black Daimler limousine pulls up outside the gates to Nottingham Castle. Men get out. One is holding a photographic camera; another has a cine camera and microphone. They are both focused on a third man. He is sporting a curly mop of hair,... 
by Administrator | Oct 7, 2019 | News & Press
Learning Day: 27th November 2019 On 27th November, children in KS2 and KS3 get involved in exploring their local, regional and national heritage. We offer a range of 45 minute workshops for groups of 15-20 children, bringing them closer to significant people and... 
by Administrator | Oct 3, 2019 | Interviews
Henry Normal is researching when I call him and keen to share something he’s been reading about “We only know what 5% of the Universe is made of’ he tells me, with evident awe in his voice ‘The rest is still a mystery” This might seem like an unlikely...