by Administrator | Jul 9, 2018 | Quick Reads
There has been a flurry of activity in Nottingham this summer term as more than 50 “BookBenches” have been painted by local primary schools as part of Hoodwinked, a city-wide art trail, and its education programme “Robin’s Tales”. The benches, designed to look like... 
by Administrator | Jul 5, 2018 | Quick Reads
1945 The Escape by Clare Harvey (2018) In a winter morning of 1945 a translator for a Nazi-run labour camp for French workers passes a group of exhausted prisoners of war marching westward. The following day she receives an urgent message to contact the local priest... 
by Administrator | Jul 4, 2018 | Readers & Writers
Originally published 65 years ago, Someone at a Distance was Whipple’s final full-length novel. It was less commercially successful than her other eight books, but acknowledged as perhaps her best written. Author Sarah Waters describes it as ‘A quiet masterpiece of a... 
by Administrator | Jul 3, 2018 | News & Press
Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature will hold its first open meeting on Saturday July 7th, three years after the city submitted its successful bid for this permanent award. NUCoL’s director, Sandeep Mahal, and chair, David Belbin, will report back on NUCoL’s... 
by Administrator | Jun 29, 2018 | News & Press
Nine UK cities attended the XIIth Annual Meeting of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network which took place in Krakow and Katowice, Poland, earlier this month (12 – 15 June 2018). The event attracted over 350 participants, including a large number of mayors and... 
by Administrator | Jun 28, 2018 | Quick Reads
1942 One Small Candle by Cecil Roberts (1942) During the war Cecil Roberts worked for Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador in Washington, and he gave speeches on behalf of the British Government, whilst still managing to have several books published. His 1942... 
by Administrator | Jun 27, 2018 | Readers & Writers
Lob the confetti, yank the party poppers, trumpet out the fan-fair, it’s National Writing Day! So, like sharing cake on a birthday, what better time to grab a few new tips in celebration of our writerly status? I love hearing from other writers about their tricks of... 
by Administrator | Jun 26, 2018 | Quick Reads
The literary history of Nottingham is all about male writers, right? Lawrence, Sillitoe, Byron…I thought I knew all the authors linked to my adopted city, until I discovered Dorothy Whipple. Described as the ‘Jane Austen of the twentieth century’ by JB Priestly,... 
by Administrator | Jun 22, 2018 | Quick Reads
To mark the XII UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) Meeting in Krakow and Katowice last weekend, we contributed to the project ‘Poetic Encounters’, initiated by Heidelberg UNESCO City of Literature and Fabriano UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art, to produce a... 
by Administrator | Jun 21, 2018 | Quick Reads
1939 A Great Adventure by Muriel Hine Muriel Hine (1873-1949), the daughter and granddaughter of important Nottingham architects, wrote several works of popular fiction, some of which are set in Nottingham, or Lacingham as she names it. One of these, set in the 1880s,... 
by Administrator | Jun 15, 2018 | News & Press
Lost Words – words which bring to life our natural world, but which are disappearing from children’s dictionaries, and from their awareness – need to be saved. This is what the book The Lost Words sets out to do. Writer Robert Macfarlane has chosen words, such as... 
by Administrator | Jun 15, 2018 | Quick Reads
1936 A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene (1936) Nottwich – the city a few hours from London in which A Gun for Sale is set – is Nottingham; the ‘gun’ for hire is Raven; his hit a Czech Minister for War. After returning to England Raven is paid in stolen notes.... 
by Administrator | Jun 11, 2018 | Quick Reads
EmpathyLab is a new organisation passionate about the power of empathy to make the world a better place and the power of stories to build empathy. They believe that as a society, and from within our education system, we are massively under-exploiting the power of... 
by Administrator | Jun 8, 2018 | Quick Reads
1933 New Harrowing by Mollie Morris (1933) Nottingham born Katharine ‘Mollie’ Morris was 23 years old when she wrote New Harrowing, decades before she penned most of her light stories set in England’s green and pleasant land. The daughter of a lace manufacturer... 
by Administrator | Jun 4, 2018 | News & Press
We have some fine writers for older children and young adults in Nottingham, so it was no surprise to see Kim Slater and Paula Rawsthorne well represented when we asked local school kids to send us their reviews. It was a surprise to see such a high-standard....