Events are listed alphabetically by town or city. London events are grouped by venue.
Events are listed alphabetically by town or city. London events are grouped by venue.
2019
Bedford
Thursday 9th May
Rogans Books
Cathy Newman: Bloody Brilliant Women
Bloody Brilliant Women is the new book from journalist Cathy Newman, a freewheeling feminist history of Britain exploring the motivations of the women who played a crucial role in the dramatic transformations that took place in British women’s lives from the mid-19th century onwards. Join Cathy as she talks about these uncompromising women who refused to be bowed by tradition, or their generation’s hostile, entrenched views about gender.
A celebration of the women who paved the way from the 1918 Representation of the People Act through to Thatcher’s 1990 ousting from Downing Street, Bloody Brilliant Women seeks to restore these pioneering women to their rightful place in British history.
Cathy is one of Channel 4 News’ main studio presenters and also presents other Channel 4 programmes including the recent Alternative Election Night.
Price: £16.58 This ticket includes a paperback copy of the book.
Please note the venue for this event is not the bookshop. More information and book your ticket here
Cheshire
Friday 3rd May (school event)
Reading Matters Bookshop 
An audience with Jamia Wilson
A Very Special event by Skype from New York with year 7 and 8 pupils. Listen up little sister! You’ve heard about heroes and read about the greats, but how do you actually get there yourself? This book shows you how to make your big dreams a big reality. Learn from the lived experience of author Jamia Wilson and illustrator Andrea Pippins as they mentor you through growing up in the modern world, and teach you how to STEP INTO YOUR POWER.
‘Slay your fear!’ ‘You’ve got this!’ ‘Take heart and trust your gut!’ In this friendly guide, ‘big sister’ Jamia Wilson helps you achieve your dreams and know your rights with caring advice and actions you can take and make your very own. Explore what it means to know and trust your insights and capabilities with stories, images, activities, resources and action prompts that you can interact with on your own time and, most importantly, on your terms.
Unlock your power and be yourself – you may just change the world!
Jamia Wilson is a leading voice on feminist and gender justice issues whose words have appeared in and on the New York Times, The Guardian, BBC News, The Today Show, CNN, The Washington Post, Elle, Teen Vogue and more. Jamia is the co-author of Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All. She is also a columnist for Rookie Magazine and has contributed to several books such as Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution. Jamia is an adjunct professor at the John Jay School for Criminal Justice and travels across the US – and beyond – to to talk about race, feminism, leadership, and so much more.
Venue: Ponyton High School Cheshire with Reading Matters Bookshop from Chapel-en-Le-Frith
Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, Ireland
Saturday 18th May, 8pm
Sheelagh na Gig Bookshop
An evening with publisher, writer and activist Sarah Davis-Goff
As part of Feminist Book Fortnight, join us at Sheelagh na Gig bookshopin conversation with Sarah Davis-Goff, co-founder of the award-winning Tramp Press and author of Last Ones Left Alive.
We’ll be talking about the extraordinary success of Tramp Press and what they do differently, and how authors and readers can use fiction to imagine possible futures and, perhaps, even change the future.
Sarah Davis-Goff’s writing has been published in the Irish Times, the Guardian and LitHub. Last Ones Left Alive is her first novel. In 2014, she co-founded the award-winning publisher Tramp Press. She was born and lives in Dublin.
Tickets here but space limited so please do book your place.
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Corbridge, Northumberland
Wednesday 15th May 7.30pm
Gosforth Civic Centre in partnership with Forum Books
Kerry Hudson, author of brave, campaigning memoir Lowborn and Jessica Andrews, author of lyrical debut novel Saltwater will be in conversation about class and poverty in literature with Claire Malcolm, founding Chief Executive of New Writing North.
More details and tickets here.
Cromford, Derbyshire
Saturday 4th May 7.30-9pm
Scarthin Books
Jo Bell reads poetry
Join us for a poetry reading with Jo Bell (other potential poets to be announced) and readings from attendees at Jo’s workshops with us in April. Jo Bell is the co-author of the acclaimed How to Be a Poet, her book with Jane Commane and published by Nine Arches Press.
For the April events in the run-up to Feminist Book Fortnight see Scarthin’s website, but here are the dates:
Thursday 4th April, A Writing Workshop with Jo Bell, open to everyone, 6-9pm. £20pp.
Thursday 18th April, A writing Workshop with Jo Bell, for Women Only, 6-9pm. £20pp.
Saturday 27th April, A Writing Surgery, Jo Bell will be in our Art room from 11 onwards writing tailor made poems for our customers.
Sunday 5th May 11am to 4pm
Scarthin Books
Writing Surgery with Jo Bell
Writing Surgery: Jo Bell will be in our Art room from 11-4pm writing tailor made poems for our customers. Jo Bell is the co-author of the acclaimed How to Be a Poet, her book with Jane Commane and published by Nine Arches Press.
Edinburgh
Events at Lighthouse Bookshop
Tuesday April 30th 7.30-9pm
The Doll Factory: Elizabeth Macneal talks art & fiction in the garden
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
Lighthouse kicks off Feminist Book Fortnight early with this event….and it’s in their garden!
A recurring theme woven throughout our program is Women & Art, whether literature performance or fine art. With that in mind we actually kick things off a little early with the launch of Elizabeth Macneal’s Doll Factory on April 30th, at which we will unveil a specially commissioned exhibition of art by women in Scotland that will run through Feminist Book Fortnight.
Sunday May 5th 11am-6pm
Leith’s May Day Book Fair
Venue: Leith Community Centre
Feminist presses will have a special display, over 80% of speakers will be women, including events with an all women economist panel on the future of labour and women in the gig economy
We’re thrilled to bring together Lighthouse – Edinburgh’s Radical Bookshop, Sfbbooks, Lavender Menace & Elvis Shakespeare for some bookish May Day celebrations!
A FREE one-day festival of ideas, celebrating community and working class voices on everything from the Arts to Environmentalism!
Our May Day Book Fair will include book stalls with new and second-hand books on all subjects for all ages with a rich offering of left and progressive publishing!
More details here.
Monday 6th May 7-8pm
Welcome to our monthly Women in STEM Book Club!
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
This book club aims to bring students and professionals of STEM subjects together, to discuss books related to women in STEM, to share views and experiences, to network and to help each other overcome the barriers in the male-dominated STEM environments. It is organised and moderated by Athina Frantzana and her spreadtheword_project. The Women in STEM Book Club is open to all genders.
This month, we are discussing Cordelia Fine’s “Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds” in an effort to understand the role of hormones in gender stereotypes and inequality. With Athina Frantzana. The Women in STEM Book club is part of her spreadtheword_project, aiming to raise awareness and share knowledge on women in STEM matters. Booking here or in the shop.
Tuesday 7th May
Inky Feminists – An Inky Fingers Special
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
Our monthly spoken Word Open Mic Night with a special MC & line up!
More details to follow
Wednesday 8th May 8pm-9.30pm
To Exist is To Resist: Black Feminism in Europe with Akwugo Emejulu and Francesca Sobande
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
Motherhood and the home, friendships and intimate relationships, activism and community, literature, dance and film: These are spaces in which To Exist isTo Resist imagines a Black feminist Europe.
Akwugo Emejulu and Francesca Sobande have edited a brilliant collection bringing together activists, artists and scholars of colour to show how Black feminism and Afrofeminism are being practiced in Europe today. They explore how women of colour across Europe are undertaking creative resistances to institutionalised inequalities, imagining radical new futures outside and against the neo-colonial frames and practices of contemporary Europe. We’re thrilled that Akwugo Emejulu and Francesca Sobande join us to launch the collection in a special Feminist Book Fortnight event chaired by Jess Brough. Black Feminism in Europe is published by Pluto Press.
Dr Emejulu is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, whose work has been widely published. She focuses on political sociology, including inequalities across Europe and grassroots campaigns for women of colour. Dr Francesca Sobande is a Lecturer in Digital Media Studies at Cardiff University. She is the author of the forthcoming book The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (2019).. Jess Brough isa psycholinguistics PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. Jess is a Black feminist and a founding member of the Resisting whiteness collective, which aims to facilitate discussions of and strategies for anti-racist action.
You can book tickets here or in the shop.
Thursday 9th May
Poetry: Miriam Gamble launches What Planet!
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
More details to follow
Saturday 11th May 7-8pm
An evening with feminist illustrator Tallulah Pomeroy
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
Hilarious, revolting, and relatable – Tallulah Pomeroy’s book of true stories and wonderfully grotesque illustrations shows the awkward and sometimes embarrassing parts of everyday life as a woman.
Part of our Feminist Book Fortnight, we’re thrilled to launch this irreverant exploration of the feminine! The Girl’s Guide project unearthed the gross things girls do and don’t tell anyone about. It started as a facebook group, where Pomeroy invited women to share their dirty habits, with the aim of revealing the many faces of femininity – not clean and floral, thankyouverymuch. From hundreds of stories she curated and illustrated those that make up the book.
Pomeroy joins us to talk about how and why this book came to be, its contribution to the contemporary landscape of feminist publishing and why it’s important, gleeful, gross, subversive and beautiful, all at once. We women are many and varied, and this book celebrates many of our lived realities – It’s sure to be a side-splittingly funny evening!
You can book here or in the shop.
Wednesday 15th May
Moder Dy – Land & sea in music and poetry
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
More details to follow
Thursday 16th May 7.30-8.30pm
Mother: An Unconventional History with Sarah Knott
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
What was mothering like in the past? Historic accounts of motherhood are hard to find – For centuries, historians have concerned themselves with wars, politics and revolutions, not the everyday details of carrying and caring for a baby. Much to do with becoming a mother, past or present, is lost or forgotten.
As part of Feminist Book Fortnight we are thrilled that acclaimed historian Sarah Knott joins us to unpack this fascinating question!
Using the arc of her own experience, from miscarriage to the birth and early babyhood of her two children, Sarah Knott explores the ever-changing habits and experiences of motherhood across the ages. Drawing on a disparate collection of fascinating material – interrupted letters, hastily written diary entries, a line from a court record or a figure in a painting – Mother vividly brings to life the lost stories of ordinary women.
Sarah Knott is professor of history at Indiana University and a fellow of the Kinsey Institute. She is the author of Sensibility and the American Revolution and numerous articles on the histories of women, gender, and emotion. Knott has served as an editor of the American Historical Review, the American Historical Association’s flagship journal, and sits on the editorial board of Past and Present.
You can book tickets here or in the shop.
Friday 17th May 7.30pm-9pm
Time & Tide: Feminist Magazines, then and now
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
What does it mean to be a feminist magazine? What role has feminist print played in our movement? What are the origins of the feminist presses, magazine and zines we read today?
As part of Feminist Book Fornight we welcome the brilliant Catherine Clay to discuss one of the most significant periodicals for an interwar generation of British women writers and readers – the twentieth century feminist magazine Time and Tide.
Unique in establishing itself as the only female-run ‘journal of opinion’ in what press historians describe as the golden age of the weekly review, Time and Tide both challenged persistent prejudices against women’s participation in public life, and played an instrumental role in redefining women’s gender roles and identities. Contributors included Vera Brittain, Winifred Holtby, Virginia Woolf, Emma Goldman, D. H. Lawrence and George Orwell.
Drawing on extensive new archival research Catherine offers insights into the history and workings of this periodical that no one has dealt with to date, and makes a major contribution to the history of women’s writing and feminism in Britain. In a special Feminist Book Fortnight discussion we take this history into the present, considering the continued relevance of and challenges for feminist magazines.
You can book here or in the shop.
Sunday 19th May
Hollaback! Feminist Zine Making morning
Venue: Lighthouse Bookshop
More details to follow.
Glasgow
Events at Glasgow Women’s Library
This year Glasgow Women’s Library are participating in Feminist Book Fortnight! As an organisation that celebrates the lives, histories and achievements of women year-round, we’re delighted to take part in an event that shines a spotlight on feminist books.
Warm Welcome
Suffragette Umbrella Stand Credit: Heather Gibson
GWL Warm Welcome drop-in days take place on projects, and get a full tour and your questions answered.
The Warm Welcome drop in sessions this Spring will take place on: Saturdays 2nd March, 6th April, 4th May and 1st June between 12pm and 2pm.
These drop in sessions are a great way to learn more about what goes on in the library. These monthly special warm welcoming sessions, on the first Saturday of each month, are for visitors who can’t make Programme Launches or are new to Glasgow, new to the Library and want to get to grips with what we have on offer.he first Saturday of every month. If you are new to GWL this is a relaxed way to find out about borrowing, volunteering, our collections, programmes and
Booking
These drop in sessions are free to attend, open to all, and there is no need to book. For general GWL opening times and how to get here see the ‘Where to Find Us’ section of the website.
Thursday 16th May 12.30-2.30pm
Story Café
Venue: Glasgow Women’s Library
Immerse yourself in tales and poems from around the world at Story Cafe, as we rediscover the joy of being read to. From wild and windswept wonderlands, to fearless feminist fairytales, Story Café will spark your curiosity and freshen your perspective.
It’s great if you’re new to reading, are struggling to find the time to read, or just want to sit back, relax and enjoy listening to stories and poems being read aloud. It’s the perfect way to try new types of writing, and it’s also a brilliant way to meet new people! We love to see new faces around the table, so top up your cuppa and become part of the story. Packed lunches welcome!
‘Loved being here, sitting down, slowing down, and letting my mind wander as I listened.’ Story Café participant
Find out about the other Spring Story Cafés here.
Booking
This event is for women only* and there is no need to book. This event costs £2 full price and you can pay on the day. We offer subsidised and/or free places for students, people on a low income, unemployed or those in receipt of benefit and Friends of GWL.
*All women-only events are inclusive of Trans and Intersex women, as well as non-binary and gender fluid people.
Liverpool
Saturday 4th May 12 noon-1pm and 2pm-3pm
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) 88 Wood Street Liverpool L1 4DQ
Fairy Tale Liberation Club
Join us for a fairy tale-inspired storytime where two stories, rewritten by women from the Merseyside Women’s Liberation Movement in 1972, will be acted out and read aloud. Collectively written by Audrey Ackroyd, Marge Ben-Tovim, Catherine Meredith and Anne Neville and illustrated by Trevor Skempton, the stories were produced as a series of Once and Future Tales have been retold with surprising twists and endings. Rapunzel uses her hair to save herself from the tower, and Snow White unionises the Dwarves!
Free but please book and select your performance time. Each performance will last for one hour and begin at 12noon and 2pm.
Wednesday 8th May 6-8pm
FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) 88 Wood Street Liverpool L1 4DQ
Once and Future Tales
Join us for a conversation and reading group with the women who rewrote the fairy tales for the future. Find out how and why they reimagined the stories and who the women behind this political and artistic action are.
In 1972, four women from the Merseyside Women’s Liberation Movement endeavoured to rewrite a series of traditional fairy tales, exploring their belief that “our society can never be fundamentally changed while children’s imaginations are imprisoned by its myths”.
Collectively written by Audrey Ackroyd, Marge Ben-Tovim, Catherine Meredith and Anne Neville and illustrated by Trevor Skempton, the stories have been retold with surprising twists and endings. Free but please book.
Thursday 16th May 5pm
News From Nowhere
Girl, Women Other: Bernadine Evaristo Book Launch
Girl, Women, Other, the latest novel by award-winning Nigerian author Bernadine Evaristo, a love song to black womanhood that crackles with life, follows the lives and struggles of modern black British women and their stories of families, friends and lovers. In partnership with News from Nowhere for Feminist Book fortnight.
Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.
Bernardine Evaristo is the Anglo-Nigerian award-winning author of seven other books of fiction and verse fiction that explore aspects of the African diaspora: past, present, real, imagined. Her writing also spans short fiction, reviews, essays, drama and writing for BBC radio. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature. As a literary activist for inclusion she has founded several successful initiatives including Spread the Word writer development agency (1995 – ongoing); The Complete Works mentoring scheme for poets of colour (2007-2017) and the Brunel International African Poetry Prize (2012 – ongoing).
Tickets: £4/£2 (Students/Over 60s/Unemployed) Book here
London
Thursday 9th May
Bookseller Crow on the Hill
Tallulah Pomeroy in conversation with Lauren Bravo
Events at Housmans Bookshop, London
Wednesday 8th May
Illustrating Women’s Bodies with Tallulah Pomeroy, author of A Girl’s Guide to Personal Hygiene
Venue: Housmans Bookshop
So you think you’re the only one? A Girl’s Guide to Personal Hygiene is an illustrated collection of women’s stories about their secret bodily habits. It’s opened our eyes to the private physical worlds we never knew we shared. In this workshop we’ll be encouraged to come into our bodies, open up, loosen up and connect. We’ll learn techniques for uninhibited drawing, connecting to our bodies and our body-image. We’ll break free from perfectionism and self-censorship. It’s a fun, immersive way to have the conversations we need, about shame, social pressure, and fanny farts. It’s funny, warm, visceral and eye-opening. All are welcome.
Tuesday 14th May 7pm
4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE (with FEM Press)
Venue: Housmans Bookshop
4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE—Roshni Goyate, Sharan Hunjan, Sunnah Khan, and Sheena Patel—began their collective performing together across London, and have put their work on the page for the first time in this vibrant new collection of poems.
Their four voices collide and diverge beautifully in this book, with poems divided into four lyrically rich chapters; ‘Silk’, ‘Saffron’, ‘Smoke’ and ‘Temples’. The book explores the spaces we inhabit: the city, the home, our skins, our sexuality, and what it means to navigate these as women of colour.
“Sunnah, Sharan, Roshni and Sheena have given us verse patterned in henna, garlanded with gold thread, alive and alert to the complicated intersections of being both brown and a woman in the world’s gaze. Read this collection to see what the contemporary goddess says when she opens her mouth.We’re in a glorious new age of Asian women’s writing; work like this confirms it with confidence and promising fire.”—Shivanee Ramlochan, author of Everyone Knows I am a Haunting
Monday 20th May 7pm
This Chair Rocks: Women and Ageing with Ashton Applewhite
Venue: Housmans Bookshop
From childhood on, we’re barraged by messages that it’s sad to be old. That wrinkles are embarrassing, and old people useless. Author and activist Ashton Applewhite believed them too—until she realized where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does.
Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces Applewhite’s journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-aging radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. The book explains the roots of ageism—in history and in our own age denial—and how it divides and debases, examines how ageist myths and stereotypes cripple the way our brains and bodies function, looks at ageism in the workplace and the bedroom, exposes the cost of the all-American myth of independence, critiques the portrayal of olders as burdens to society, describes what an all-age-friendly world would look like, and concludes with a rousing call to action.
It’s time to create a world of age equality by making discrimination on the basis of age as unacceptable as any other kind. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life. Age pride!
“This Chair Rocks is radical, exuberant, and full of all sorts of facts that erase many of the myths and beliefs about late life. As Applewhite defines and describes ageism, new ways of seeing and being in the world emerge, empowering everyone to see things as they really are.”—Laurie Anderson, artist
Events at The Women’s Library, LSE, London
Tuesday May 7th 6-7.30pm
In Your Defence with Sarah Langford
Venue: LSE Library Gallery (an event with The Women’s Library, LSE), marked LRB on map.
Barrister Sarah Langford gives an account of 11 cases that shine a light on the current state of the legal system in the UK and the lives affected in the criminal and family courts.
More details and booking here.
Thursday 9th May 6.30-8pm
The Women in the Room: Labour’s Forgotten Women
with Nan Sloane
Venue: Wolfson Theatre (marked NAB on map)
Nan Sloane tells the story of the remarkable women who were present at the origins of the Labour Party and contributed to its earliest campaigns, many of whom have been forgotten.
More details and booking here.
Wednesday 15th May 12.30-2pm
Kitty and the Cats: Mrs Pankhurst’s Suffragette Bodyguard and the London Police with Emelyne Godfrey
Venue: LSE Library Gallery (marked LRB on the map)
The story of Katherine (Kitty) Willoughby Marshall, who was a member of the “Bodyguard”, the group of women who protected Mrs Pankhurst from re-arrest under the notorious “Cat and Mouse Act”.
More details to follow.
Map of LSE here.
Events at Pages Cheshire Street, London
Thursday 9th May 7-9pm
Can we all be Feminists?
Venue: Pages Cheshire Street
Join us for a discussion of contemporary feminisms and intersectionality featuring Eishar Kaur and Wei Ming Kam, contributors to CAN WE ALL BE FEMINISTS? (Little Brown, 2018).
Why is it difficult for so many women to fully identify with the word “feminist”? How do our personal histories and identities affect our relationship to feminism? Why is intersectionality so important? Can a feminist movement that doesn’t take other identities like race, religion, or socioeconomic class into account even be considered feminism? How can we make feminism more inclusive? In CAN WE ALL BE FEMINISTS?, seventeen established and emerging writers from diverse backgrounds wrestle with these questions, exploring what feminism means to them in the context of their other identities. Edited by the brilliant, galvanizing, and dazzlingly precocious nineteen-year-old feminist activist and writer June Eric-Udorie, this impassioned, thought-provoking collection showcases the marginalized women whose voices are so often drowned out and offers a vision for a new, comprehensive feminism that is truly for all.
Eishar Kaur is a twenty-five-year-old Londoner working in children’s publishing by day, and writing by night.
Wei Ming Kam has written for the bestselling essay collection THE GOOD IMMIGRANT (Unbound, 2016), the graphic novel anthology WE SHALL FIGHT UNTIL WE WIN (BHP Comics, 2018), Media Diversified and gal-dem. She works in publishing and is the co-founder of BAME In Publishing, a network for people of colour who work in publishing in the UK, and Pride in Publishing, a network for queer people who work in publishing in the UK.
Wednesday 15th May 7pm-9pm
Rebecca Tamas & Lucy Mercer
Venue: Pages Cheshire Street
We’re very excited to be welcoming poets Rebecca Tamás and Lucy Mercer to the shop as part of Feminist Book Fortnight. Rebecca will be reading from her new collection, WITCH, Lucy will be reading a selection of her recent work, and then both poets will be joined by Olivia Sudjic for a discussion of their work.
WITCH by Rebecca Tamás is a raw, strange book of poems that merges feminist exploration with occult expression and ecological language. At turns lyrical, philosophical and obscene, Tamáss astonishing debut evokes the sexual prowess of nature as an organism that swallows and consumes. These are poems that unsettle the reader, taking them to dark, magical places where earth and blood, politics and pornography, intermingle; they celebrate poetry as a small, bright, filthy song.
A visceral, unflinching and darkly witty first collection that introduces a major new voice in British poetry.
Book here.
Thursday May 16th 7pm
Ink@84 Books
London Undercurrents: Poems Celebrating London’s Unsung Heroines
London Undercurrents is a collaboration by two London poets Joolz Sparkes (North) and Hilaire (South) who will read from and discuss their inspiration for this collection based on the lives of London’s unsung heroines: extraordinary, ordinary, famous or forgotten. A fascinating collection that captures the spirit and diversity of London and casts women as the central characters of their own story.
Come along to hear poetry inspired by the women of Highbury, Drayton Park, and Holloway Road! FREE, but please reserve in shop or by email: orders@ink84bookshop.co.uk
More info here.
Nottingham
Events at Five Leaves Bookshop
Friday 3rd May 7pm-8.30pm
Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers with Anita Sethi and Jodie Russian-Red
Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop
The first Five Leaves event for Feminist Book Fortnight. Join us in celebrating the publication of this crowd-funded anthology, edited by Kit de Waal.
Common People brings together thirty-three established and emerging writers who invite you to experience the world through their eyes, their voices loud and clear as they reclaim and redefine what it means to be working class. Common People is a collection of essays,poems and memoir written in celebration, not apology: these are narratives rich in barbed humour, reflecting the depth and texture of working-class life, the joy and sorrow, the solidarity and the differences.
We are delighted to welcome two of the contributors to the book, Anita Sethi and Jodie Russian-Red. They will be discussing how the book came to be published and reading from their pieces in the book. We will also be discussing the new phenomenon of crowdfunding as a way of getting books published.
Anita Sethi is an award-winning writer, journalist and broadcaster who has written for the Guardian,Observer, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Independent on Sunday, New Statesman, Granta, Times Literary Supplement, Harpers Bazaar and BBC, among others. She has appeared as a guest panellist and commentator on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, and ABC Australia including the Richard Bacon Show, Simon Mayo Show, The Strand, Today, ABC Australia’s ‘The Conversation Hour’ She has been published in anthologies and books including From There to Here, Solstice Shorts, Roads Ahead, and The Book Club Bible and is currently completing a book.This year she is also a judge of this year’s Costa Book Awards. (She’s also been birdwatching with Margaret Atwood!).
Jodie Russian-Red. Jodie is a Hull-born writer, poet, artist and part-time office administrator based in Nottingham. She has presented spoken word shows at Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester, Adelphi in Hull, Rough Trade in Nottingham and elsewhere. In 2018 she was selected to be part of Penguin Random House’s under-represented writers programme and now also features in in Kit de Waal’s Common People anthology. Jodie writes short stories of life between the working-classes and the bohemian, being the proud owner of both a biodynamic allotment and a massive flat-screen TV. Jodie is appearing with the support of Writing East Midlands.
There will be readings from the book as well as a discussion of the use of crowdfunding as a way of getting diverse books published.
Tickets on the door, £3.00, includes refreshments. Please let us know you are coming on events@fiveleaves.co.uk
Wednesday 8th May 7pm-8.30pm
Waymaking: An anthology of Women’s Adventure Writing, Poetry and Art
Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop
Books about being active in the outdoors have been largely dominated by male writing. We are delighted to celebrate the publication of Waymaking, published by Vertebrate Publishing and edited by Helen Mort, Claire Carter, Heather Dawe and Camilla Barnard. For this event we are delighted to welcome:
Camilla Barnard editor at VP Publishing and artist
Ruth Wiggins poet, blogger (Mudpath,) hiker
Genevieve Carver poet and surfer and musician
This book is an anthology of prose, poetry and artwork by women who are inspired by wild places, adventure and landscape. Published in 1961, Gwen Moffat’s Space Below My Feet tells the story of a woman who shirked the conventions of society and chose to live a life in the mountains. Some years later in 1977, Nan Shepherd published The Living Mountain, her prose bringing each contour of the Cairngorm mountains to life. These pioneering women set a precedent for a way of writing about wilderness that isn’t about conquering landscapes, reaching higher, harder or faster, but instead about living and breathing alongside them, becoming part of a larger adventure. The artists in this inspired collection continue Gwen and Nan’s legacies, redressing the balance of gender in outdoor adventure literature.
Tickets on the door, £3.00, includes refreshments. Please let us know you are coming on events@fiveleaves.co.uk
Wednesday 15th May 6.15pm
PRESENTED BY FIVE LEAVES BOOKSHOP IN ASSOCIATION WITH BROADWAY CINEMA
WORLDS OF URSULA K. LE GUIN (CERT TBC) + INTRODUCTION
A special screening for Feminist Book Fortnight.
A decade in the making, this film explores the remarkable life and legacy of the late feminist author Ursula K Le Guin.
Screening as part of Feminist Book Fortnight, the film tells the remarkable life story of writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 88. Le Guin’s books defy gender norms, societal expectations and patriarchal gate keeping. A defiantly independent writer known for her science fiction and fantasy novels from the 1960s such as A Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness.
The screening will be introduced by Jane A. Adams, a crime writer who also acts as a literary mentor and Royal literary Fund Fellow. And Kathleen Bell who is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at De Montfort University, Leicester and has published both poetry and fiction. Both are long-term fans of Ursula K Le Guin’s work.
Director: Arwen Curry Country: US Year: 201 Duration: 68m Normal prices apply. Booking through Broadway.
Venue: Broadway Cinema, Nottingham
Thursday 16th May 7-8.30-pm
The Women in the Room: Labour’s Forgotten History with Nan Sloane
Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop
‘All too often the achievements of working class women have been excluded from the history books. Yet it was these women who often fought the hardest and had the most to lose. It is up to us to bring to life the hidden history of working class women and their great achievements. Nan Sloane takes up that challenge. She unearths the stories of women who, long before the campaign for women’s suffrage, fought for workers’ rights and played a key role in the birth of the Labour Party.’ Dawn Butler MP
Come and join us for a talk by Nan Sloane followed by a discussion. Nan is a writer and activist with extensive experience of politics, feminism and the Labour Party. As the Director of the Centre for Women and Democracy she campaigned to increase women’s participation in both civil society and politics. She has worked with women political activists in the Middle East, the Balkans and Africa as well as in the UK.
The Women in the Room: Labour’s Forgotten History is published by I B Tauris.
Tickets on the door, £3.00, includes refreshments. Please let us know you are coming on events@fiveleaves.co.uk
Friday 17th May 6-8pm
Poetry Workshop
A Nottingham Women’s Library event at Nottingham Women’s Centre
Nottingham Women’s Centre (30 Chaucer Street, Nottingham, NG8 5LP), with support from the brilliant Nottingham Women’s Library housed in its eaves, is hosting a poetry workshop (the event will be on the ground floor so access for wheelchairs and those with other mobility issues should not be a problem).
Clare Stewart and Jenny Swann will be leading the workshop and invite women to bring along a favourite poem written by a woman, to read and chat about in the workshop. Also bring a Biro and paper, because you’ll be doing some writing too. And if you can’t think of a favourite poem or don’t want to write a poem yourself – come anyway and join in the discussions!”
Free – no need to book. Just turn up.
Enquiries to jennyswann55@gmail.com
Sunday 19th May 6.30pm
Nottingham Playhouse
Organised with Penguin Live, The Bookcase in Lowdham, The Party Somewhere Else.
Join Scarlett Curtis, Candice Carty-Williams and June Sarpong as they dive into a live podcast discussion on all things feminism and beyond. Expect frank and honest conversation with belly laughs, fun and games. An evening where you will undoubtedly be left in high spirits with much food for thought.
Candice Carty Williams is the author of the critically acclaimed novel ‘Queenie’. June Sarpong is a broadcaster, diversity expert and activist.
Curated by journalist and activist, Scarlett Curtis, Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (and other lies), was a must read for 2018, winning The Sunday Times Bestseller and the National Book Award 2018. Described by Reese Witherspoon as “brilliant, hysterical, truthful and real,” these essays include incredible pieces by the likes of Emma Watson, Dolly Alderton and Liv Little, to name a few.
Book here.
Saltburn-by-the-Sea
Saturday 4th May 2pm
Book Corner, Saltburn-by-the-Sea
Ruth Estevez reading from her new book ‘Jiddy Vardy’.
On tumultuous waters a girl is born as pirates board the ship . . . Jiddy Vardy is a survivor.
Jiddy Vardy is the latest novel by Ruth Estevez, based on a real life female smuggler in Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire. For Jiddy, feminist simply meant being female. Fighting for women’s rights came later for women like her in this small fishing village.
But can you be a feminist without hearing or knowing the word? What was life like for young women like Jiddy Vardy? Jiddy wasn’t born in Robin Hood’s Bay yet she became a loyal, valued member of the smuggling community. How did she manage that?
Ruth weaves a story of identity, belonging and the question of what constitutes a crime with the experiences of being a young woman, coming of age, in a dangerous, undercover world.
Rescued at birth, she grows up in Robin Hood’s Bay, a community which harbours a dangerous secret that could get you killed. Yorkshire author Ruth Estevez previously worked as a scriptwriter for major BBC young people’s programming and has worked in Theatre-in-Education. She has also been a stage manager on ITV’s Emmerdale. She now works for The Portico Sadie Massey Awards with The Portico Library, Manchester, working with schools to encourage a lifelong love of reading and writing.
Jiddy Vardy is published by independent publisher ZunTold.
Southampton
Saturday May 4th 4-5.30pm
October Books
Lost Women of Rock with Helen Reddington
Join us for this very special event as part of Feminist Book Fortnight 2019. Helen Reddington was one of the original punks in 1977, not in London but in Brighton, where she played bass in bands as part of the Brighton punk scene. Much to her surprise, this led to a seven year career in bands under the moniker of Helen McCookerybook, with both The Chefs and Helen and the Horns recording numerous sessions for John Peel. Later she worked as a composer to film sound tracks and a songwriting facilitator on housing estates in South London, before moving into academia.
The book The Lost Women of Rock Music was her response to the fact that there were no histories of women punk musicians in University libraries. She continues to write on women in punk, and has just completed a book on women producers and engineers, which will be published shortly. The film Stories from the She-Punks, made in conjunction with Gina Birch of The Raincoats, adds to the history of women’s activity as instrumentalists in punk. Helen continues to play live and release music, now as a solo artist, and will be touring the UK in summer 2019. BOOK HERE
Friday 17th May 7-10pm
October Books
White Privilege: The Myth Of A Post Racial Society with Kalwant Bhopal
In ‘White Privilege: The Myth Of A Post Racial Society’ Kalwant Bhopal explores how neoliberal policy making has increased rather than decreased discrimination faced by those from non-white backgrounds. She also shows how certain types of whiteness are not privileged; Gypsies and Travellers, for example, remain marginalised and disadvantaged in society. Drawing on topical debates and supported by empirical data, this important book examines the impact of race on wider issues of inequality and difference in society. Join us for a discussion of these issues with Kalwant Bhopal.
Kalwant Bhopal is Professor of Education and Social Justice, Professorial Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education in the School of Education.
Free but please do book here. And remember, October Books have recently moved to 189 Portswood Rd, Southampton, SO17 2NF!
Stockton-on-Tees
Thursday 9th May 7-9pm
Drake – The Bookshop
Tees Women Poets do Feminist Book Fortnight
Brought to Drake by @applesnorth Apples and Snakes-North, the sisters of the TWP poetry collective return to celebrate Feminist Book Fortnight 2019 with a selection of original poems written in response to a wide range of feminist texts, from classic theory to contemporary podcasts. There will be plenty of space to chat, discuss, and buy books!
Our performers are:
Lisette Auton
Dianne Casey
Jade April
Caroline Walling
Esther Harrington
Julie Easley
Ann Cuthbert
with honorary TWP sisters
Sky Hawkins
Charley Reay
Venice, Italy
Venice celebrates FEMINIST BOOK FORTNIGHT
Various venues – see their website and Facebook
page.
There are numerous events for Feminist Book Fortnight at Libreria Marco Polo, a bookshop in Venice. You can see all there events on their Facebook page here.
Conversations and book presentations in different places in the city, including the Marco Polo Library, the Palazzo Grassi Theater, the SALE DOCKS, the Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà of the Ca ‘Foscari University and the Giudecca Women’s Prison.
18 authors, 12 events
Here’s a summary but check their website for details:
SATURDAY 4TH MAY at 8pm at MarcoPolo Bookshop BECOMING FEMINISTS
Conversation with Giulia Blasi, Giusi Marchetta and Assia Petricelli
SUNDAY 5TH MAY at 8pm at MarcoPolo Bookshop THE FOREIGN (La Nave di Teseo)
Book presentation by and with Claudia Durastanti and withBarbara Leda Kenny
TUESDAY 14 MAY at 8.30pm Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi IDENTITY AND BELONGING
Conversation with Michela Murgia, Elvira Mujčić and Vincenzo Branà
WEDNESDAY 15 MAY at 8pm at MarcoPolo Bookshop WORDS AND PRACTICES OF TRANSFEMMINISTA ACTIVISM The Venetian Assembly of Non Una di Meno day it is told starting from its own path of struggle and inaugurates the collective writing of a glossary against violence and gender stereotypes.
During the evening screenprints in support of Iside anti-violence centers .
THURSDAY 16 MAY at 5pm at Giovanni Morelli Classroom – Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà (Ca ‘Foscari University) FEMINIST MANIFESTOS: A CONTEMPORARY VIEW
Conversation with Deborah Ardilli, Barbara Bonomi Romagnoli and Marina Turi
then, at 8 pm at MarcoPolo Bookshop BESIDE MYSELF (Marsilio)
Book launch (Marianna Salzmann, Beside Myself, published also in the UK) and with Annalisa Sacchi
Consecutive translation by Barbara Del Mercato
FRIDAY 17 MAY at 5pm at Giovanni Morelli Hall – Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà (Ca ‘Foscari University) CONVERSATION ABOUT MATERNITY Conversation with Marta Baiocchi, Caterina Botti and Silvia Ranfagni
then at 8pm pm at S.ALE DOCKS
BOOK LAUNCH: GIRLS AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC (Arcana)
Book presentation by and with Johann Merrich and with PAS-E
and at 9.30 pm S.ALE DOCKS FBFDJSETwith Johann Merrich, Alice Oceanicmood, LECRI
SATURDAY 18 MAY at 4 pm at Giudecca women’s prison IAS – Writing Questioning Veronica Raimo Meeting with mandatory registration and limited numbers.
at 5.30 pm at S.ALE DOCKS QUEER STORIES AND REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES
Conversation and comics with Julie Maroh and Flavia Biondi
at 8 pm at MarcoPolo Bookshop AGAINST THE KIDS (La Nuova Frontiera)
Book launch with Lina Meruane Consecutive translation by Carla Toffolo
2022
Brighton
The Feminist Bookshop, BN1 3FH
Tuesday 7th May 12noon Virago Speakeasy: What I Didn’t Know about Motherhood
Join us at midday on Tuesday May 17th to chat all things parenting with Jessica Cornwell and Kate Maxwell at The Feminist Bookshop.
B.Y.O.B. = Bring Your Own Baby! This event is for everyone, but we especially want to make it accessible to new parents, hence the midday kick-off. Please feel free to attend with babes in arms and toddlers in tow.
There are still many truths, fears and secrets that only hit home at 4 am, alone, doing the third feed of the night. Join us for an afternoon of honesty, love and breaking taboos as authors Jessica Cornwell and Kate Maxwell discuss maternal mental health, miscarriage and solo parenting and you’ll realise: you are not the only one who feels this way. You don’t need to have read their books, or had a child, to enjoy the conversation, and there will be interactive crowdsourcing on advice for new parents.
Tuesday 17th May 2022 7pm FIX THE SYSTEM with Laura Bates
This explosive book, by feminist writer and activist Laura Bates, exposes the system prejudice at the heart of our five institutions: education, politics, media, policing, and criminal justice.
Combining stories with shocking evidence, ‘Fix the System, Not the Women’ is a blazing examination of injustice and a rallying cry for reform.
We are delighted to have Laura Bates joining us at The Feminist Bookshop on the 17th May to launch her new book, in a special conversation with Caitlin McCullough, Head of Communications and Public Fundraising at Glitch.
Corbridge
Forum Books , NE45 5AW
Thursday 19th May 2022 An Evening with Louise Hare
You are cordially invited to Forum Books on 19th May at 7:30pm for our talk with Ms. Louise Hare about her latest elegant novel, Miss Aldridge Regrets.
Miss Aldridge Regrets is an exquisite murder mystery – it also explores class, race and pre-WWII politics, and will leave readers reeling from the beauty and power of it.
Louise Hare is a bold new talent on the rise, having been selected as one of the Observer’s top 10 debuts of 2020. Her debut novel This Lovely City received widespread acclaim, was short-listed for a number of prizes as well as being a BBC2 Between The Covers pick.
‘This is a cracker. A thoroughly absorbing and thought-provoking historical crime novel that oozes glamour’ Cathy Rentzenbrink
Tickets are a snip at £6 and include a signature cocktail on arrival.
Get tickets here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/forumbooks/an-evening-with-louise-hare/e-ampreg
Crediton
The Bookery, Crediton EX17 3AH
To celebrate Feminist Book Fortnight 14-28 May 2022 The Bookery is proud to be hosting Rebellious Sounds: exploring one hundred years of women’s activism in the South West.
The Rebellious Sounds Archive of women’s contemporary stories of activism in the South West region. A mobile listening booth built like a voting booth toured the South West in 2018 to museums and locations to gather and share contemporary stories of women’s activism, whilst also looking back 100 years to discover local stories and connections to the women’s suffrage campaign. Supported by HLF (Heritage Lottery Fund).
Edinburgh
Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh EH8 9DB
Wednesday May 25th 7pm start Girl Online with Joanna Walsh
In person and on line event. Booking details here
What happens when a woman goes online? She becomes a girl.
Invited to self-construct as “girls online,” vloggers, bloggers and influencers sign a devil’s bargain: a platform on the condition they commodify themselves, eternally youthful, cute and responsibility-free, hiding offline domestic, professional and emotional labour while paying for their online presence with “accounts” of personal “experience.”
A highlight of Feminist Book Fortnight, Joanna Walsh joins us in the bookshop to launch Girl Online, a thought-provoking, playful, and witty exploration of all the above!
Told via the arresting personal narrative of one woman negotiating the (cyber)space between her identities as girl, mother, writer, and commodified online persona, Girl Online is written in a plethora of the online styles, from programming language to the blog/diary, from tweets to lyric prose, taking in selfies, social media, celebrity and Cyberfeminism.
London
The Bookseller Crow, London SE19 3AF
Thursday 26th May 7.30-9pm THE PEANUT FACTORY: LIFE OF COUNTERCULTURE AND SQUATS IN 70S CRYSTAL PALACE WITH AUTHOR DEBORAH PRICE
The Peanut Factory by Deborah Price – the true story of a young woman living in squats in South London (Crystal Palace) in the late 70s during the emerging counterculture scene. Squat life was sex, drugs, and punk rock, but it wasn’t all fun and games. The Peanut Factory shows Deborah navigating a male-dominated scene, moving every few months and living with drug dealers, sex workers, and working-class kids like her. Despite the chaos, the squatters were a family. They were kids creating their own rules. Making art. Living life on the fly. The Peanut Factory is an ode to the youthful rebellion of the 1970s and to London itself.
“A beautifully grungy coming-of-age memoir set in the squats of 1970s London. Deborah Price is a gifted storyteller whose formative years will remind readers how it feels to be young, broke, uncomfortable and marginalised, but gloriously hopeful and madly in love with life. A must-read for anyone who was there or wishes they had been. — Nikki Sheehan, author of Goodnight, Boy
Malton
Kemps Bookshop, MaltonYO17 7LP
Wednesday May 25th7.30-9pm Rebel Women Between the Wars – Talk by Sarah Lonsdale
Women in the interwar years faced enormous obstacles to fulfilling their dreams. They had only just won the vote, they faced discrimination in education, the workplace and sexist attitudes generally that assumed women were less able than men. But some women did manage to break into the masculine world of politics, activism, engineering, mountaineering and journalism.
Who were they and how did they do it?
In this talk Sarah Lonsdale tells you of the struggles, and the triumphs of a group of women who refused to bury their dreams, from the ‘lady’ driver who drove around the world, to the mountaineer who pioneered ‘manless’ climbing, to the Jamaican who would become the first black woman producer at the BBC.
Tickets available via Eventbrite.
General admission: £10 Book & Ticket: £25
Nottingham
Five Leaves Bookshop, NG1 2DH
Tuesday 10th May 7pm Feminist Book Fortnight: A Short History
Join us for this launch event just before Feminist Book Fortnight kicks off.
In 2018, Feminist Book Fortnight was held in the UK and abroad for the first time in twenty-seven years. But where did the idea to hold a Feminist Book Fortnight come from? The original Fortnight, which ran from 1984-1991, was an annual British book trade promotion which grew out of the flourishing women’s movements of the time. Join radical bookseller Jane Anger, who participated in the original Fortnight and led its revival in the 21st century, and Dr. Eleanor Careless, author of Feminist Book Fortnight: A Short History for a discussion of the Fortnight’s history, its activist aims, distinctive regionalism, and relationship with the capitalist literary marketplace.
Eleanor’s groundbreaking research and tonight’s event couldn’t have happened without the funding and enthusiasm of the Business of Women’s Words project (BOWW), led by Margaretta Jolly. BOWW explores the dramatic story of the feminist publishing revolution that unfolded during the UK Women’s Movements [WLM] of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, and their legacies for social movement inspired creative industries today.
The evening will take place both in the shop and online. You must register via Eventbrite to attend.
Register for the in-person event at the bookshop here.
Register for the online livestream here.
Tuesday 17th May Speculative Fiction and Feminism
Speculative fiction/sci-fi/fantasy – whatever you call it, there has been a huge upsurge of interest in books that challenge norms using this genre of writing. Here at Five Leaves we have gone from one shelf in the shop to a whole bay devoted to speculative fiction.
Books dealing with feminism, social justice issues, written by a diverse range of writers and featuring an equally diverse range of characters are driving discussion of social issues for our readers. Modern feminist retellings of older myths (Madeleine Miller, Natalie Haynes) also fall in to this area of interest for our customers.so are included too.
Come along and join us for a chat about books in this genre. Bring your favourite book!
Tickets £3. Booking essential as space will be limited. Register here via Eventbrite
Wednesday 18th May – Kim Slater and Helen Cooper in conversation
A free event in the bookshop, in association with Nottingham Creative Writing Hub
Advance booking please, to ensure your seat – register via Eventbrite
Kim Slater’s debut multi-award-winning Young Adult novel, Smart, which began life as a short story for her MA Creative Writing at NTU, was published in 2014. Thus far, this has been followed by three other hugely successful books: A Seven-Letter Word, 928 Miles from Home, and The Boy Who Lied. Kim has also written 15 bestselling psychological thrillers.
Helen Cooper is a writer of psychological thrillers. Her debut novel, The Downstairs Neighbour, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in February 2021. It tells the story of three families sharing a converted Georgian townhouse in south-west London, whose lives drastically unravel after the disappearance of the 17-year-old girl from the top floor flat. Her second novel is due later this year. She has also written two books on academic writing for students, and is a graduate of NTU’s MA Creative Writing.
Support will come from two of our exceptional current NTU Creative Writing students, including MA student Rebekah Hemmens. The readings will be followed by an audience-led Q&A. The event is chaired by David Belbin, novelist and Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at NTU, who taught Kim and Helen when they were students on NTU’s MA Creative Writing.
Tuesday 24th May – The Tide Comes In: Feminist Magazines, Past and Present
A joint event with Nottingham Trent University (Print Culture Research Group).
What does it mean to be a feminist magazine? What role have feminist magazines played in the remaking of feminism for successive generations? And what are the origins of the feminist magazines – online and in print – we read today?
To discuss these questions, we welcome Dr Laurel Forster (University of Portsmouth) and Dr Joanne Hollows (writer and researcher) in conversation with Dr Catherine Clay (Nottingham Trent University), editor of Five Leaves publication, Time and Tide: Centenary Issue (2020). Looking back to this iconic feminist magazine, founded in May 1920 in the wake of the women’s suffrage movement, this event will explore the role of feminist magazines in the making of feminism through the ‘second wave’ to the present, focusing on titles showcased in the recent volume co-edited by Forster and Hollows, Women’s Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1940s-2000s (EUP 2020). Ranging from 1970s publications including Spare Rib (1972-93) and Womens Voice (1973-81) to more recent magazines including The Vagenda (2012-15) and The Feminist Times (2013-14) this conversation will invite reflection upon the changing face of feminism over the decades and feminist agendas today.
£3 entry. Booking essential as spaces will be limited. Register via Eventbrite here for the in shop event and here for the livestream event
Machynlleth
Pen’rallt Gallery Bookshop, SY20 8AJ
18th May 6 for 6.30pm Menna Elfyn reads from her new poetry collection Tosturi,
Menna will be performing in Welsh from her latest book of poetry at Siop Lyfrau’r Senedd-dy, Machynlleth
In her new book of poetry, Tosturi, Menna responds with elegies and eulogies, to transgressions against women over the centuries. With striking illustrations by artist Meinir Mathias, and featuring an imagined portrait of Catrin Gwyndŵr on its cover, the collection comprises poems that challenge and poems of compassion; autobiographical, political and nature poems and poems inspired by Covid lockdowns.
Tosturi is published by Barddas, 07/04/22
/ Cyfrol newydd o gerddi gan y bardd Menna Elfyn. Casgliad o gerddi sy’n marwnadu ac yn moli, yn herio ac yn tosturio yw’r gyfrol hon wrth i’r bardd ymateb i’r camweddau a wnaed yn erbyn menywod dros y canrifoedd. Mae yma gerddi hunangofiannol, cerddi wedi’u hysgogi gan y cyfnodau clo diweddar, cerddi gwleidyddol a cherddi am fyd natur. Ceir hefyd ddarluniau trawiadol gan Meinir Mathias.
https://www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/events-/-digwyddiadau-mai-/-may-2022
tickets: £3 in advance https://www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/contact
or email: penralltbooks@gmail.com or sioplyfrau2.senedd.dy@gmail.com
——————–
25th May 6pm for 6.30pm – Caryl Lewis talks about her latest book Drift , her first written in English.
Early on in her writing, Caryl Lewis’s aim was to create strong women characters, finding them lacking in literature in Welsh. Now, from this acclaimed Welsh author comes, Drift; a hauntingly atmospheric English-language début: a love story between a young Welsh woman and a Syrian mapmaker, rich with magic, mystery and the wonder of the sea. Moving between the wild Welsh coast and war-torn Syria, Drift is a love story with a difference, a hypnotic tale of lost identity, the quest for home and the wondrous resilience of the human spirit.
Caryl Lewis is a multi-award-winning Welsh novelist, children’s writer, playwright and screenwriter. Her breakthrough novel Martha, Jac a Sianco (2004) is widely regarded as a modern classic of Welsh literature, and sits on the Welsh curriculum. The film adaptation – with a screenplay by Lewis herself – went on to win six Welsh BAFTAS and the Spirit of the Festival Award at the 2010 Celtic Media Festival. Lewis’s other screenwriting work includes BBC/S4C thrillers Hinterland and Hidden. Lewis is a visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at Cardiff University, and lives with her family on a farm near Aberystwyth.
https://www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/events-/-digwyddiadau-mai-/-may-2022
tickets: £3 in advance https://www.penralltgallerybookshop.co.uk/contact
or email: penralltbooks@gmail.com or sioplyfrau2.senedd.dy@gmail.com
Manchester
The Portico Library & Gallery, M2 3FF
Thursday 19th May The Empress and the Doctor 6.30 – 8pm, £4 or free with pre-ordered book £20. £5 on door. This event will have live BSL interpretation.
Join Lucy Ward to hear about her new book on Catherine the Great, vaccination and smallpox – history with contemporary resonance for Feminist Book Fortnight.
Lucy Ward tells the story of how Catherine II of Russia (the Great) summoned a physician from Hertford, Thomas Dimsdale, to inoculate herself and her son against smallpox, then promoted inoculation (the forerunner of vaccination) across her empire. Catherine and many others saw inoculation not only as a lifesaving procedure but as a symbol of the triumph of reason and scientific observation over superstition.
The empress’s inoculation took place in 1768, but the book tracks back to the arrival of inoculation in Britain some 50 years previously, thanks to another extraordinary woman, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and the beginnings of anti-inoculation sentiment (the term ‘anti-inoculators’ came into use 300 years ago this year). Lucy draws on the example set by yet another visionary woman, Princess Caroline of Ansbach (the Princess of Wales), in having her daughters inoculated and publicising their safe recovery, again 300 years ago this year.
Catherine and Thomas became close friends and maintained their friendship till the end of their lives, but were never lovers. Their relationship was remarkable: it was founded on mutual intellectual respect and trust.
Lucy Ward is a writer and journalist. Growing up near Manchester, she studied Early and Middle English at university, before training as a journalist with the Bradford Telegraph & Argus. Moving south, she covered education for the Independent before becoming a Lobby correspondent for the Guardian during Tony Blair’s premiership. Despite an attempt by Peter Mandelson to sack her, she spent over five years at Westminster, campaigning for greater female representation. Lucy lived in Moscow from 2010-2012. A chance meeting led her to a barely-known story combining eighteenth century Russian history, female political leadership and public understanding of science. That story is the subject of her first book.
Booking here via Eventbrite Venue not fully accessible. Contact organiser for details
Smethwick
Bear Bookshop, Smethwick B66 4BW
Friday 27th May Everything You Really Need to Know about Politics with Jess Phillips 12noon
We are excited to announce that Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley and Shadow Minister for domestic violence and safeguarding, will be joining us for a special event as part of Feminist Book Fortnight.
Jess is an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and bestselling author of 3 books. She will be reading from her entertainingly honest book “Everything You Need to Know About Politics: My Life as an MP” and taking audience questions.
Southampton
October Books, Portswood, Southampton SO17 2NF
Saturday 14th May Held In Contempt with Hannah White 3pm
As part of Feminist Book Fortnight, join Hannah White in the shop to hear a perceptive critique of the shortcomings of the House of Commons.
From attending parties during the Covid-19 lockdown to taking payment for lobbying, MPs undermine their credibility by acting as if the rules they set for others should not apply to them. Still far from representative of the country they govern from the ancient and crumbling Palace of Westminster, MPs appear detached from the lives led by their constituents – conducting their business according to rules and procedures that have become too complex for many of them to understand.
In this timely book, Hannah White offers a perceptive critique of the shortcomings of the House of Commons, arguing that the reputation of the Commons is in a downward spiral – compounded by government attempts to side-line parliament during Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. At a time of populist challenge to representative democracy, this book is an essential rallying cry – for MPs to reform the House of Commons – equipping it to fulfil its important role as a cornerstone of our democracy – or see it fade into irrelevance.
Hannah White is the Deputy Director of the London-based think tank the Institute for Government. She is a regular commentator on Westminster and Whitehall for radio and television in the UK and internationally, and writes for publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and Prospect. She received an OBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the Constitution.
Please register via Eventbrite if you wish to attend so we can manage numbers on the day.
This is a free entry event, but if you’d like to sling October Books a donation, please do.
Sat 21st May 12-1.30pm Once A Mother, Always A Mother with Annette Byford at October Books
Becoming a mother is not just a question of learning how to bring up a child – it brings a profound change of identity. The same happens years later, when children grow up and leave home and the mother’s job is, supposedly, ‘done.’ Yet this phase of motherhood rarely gets attention.
This book focuses on the practical and emotional challenges and tasks of being a mother of adult children, from the experience of the empty nest through being a mother-in-law, grandmother and negotiating growing old. The author uses interview material, case studies and short stories and draws on her own experiences, both as a mother, a grandmother and as a psychotherapist, to discuss how mothers navigate the twists and turns of this journey. Also included is an exploration of images and depictions of mothers-in-law, grandmothers etc in literature and media.
Annette Byford has worked as a psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice for the last 25 years and as a lecturer and clinical supervisor in NHS, University and the voluntary sector. She is a chartered counselling psychologist and a senior practitioner on the Register for Psychologists Specialising in Psychotherapy. Annette is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren. She is the author of ‘A Wedding in the Family. Mothers tell their stories of joy, conflict and loss’.
Please register via Eventbrite if you wish to attend so we can manage numbers on the day.
This is a free entry event, but if you’d like to sling October Books a donation, please do.
Sat. 21st May 3pm-4.30pm Talk with Ethel Carnie Holdsworth with Jenny Harper
As part of Feminist Book Fortnight, join Jenny Harper in the shop to learn about Ethel Carnie Holdsworth.
Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, was one of the first British working-class women to be published. Born in 1886 and despite a prolific career as a poet, novelist and journalist, and having even produced a best-seller (Helen of Four Gates), she died in 1962 almost entirely forgotten. Not only a great writer, but also a fierce social activist who campaigned for the equal rights of women, against British involvement in WW1, and against compulsory conscription as a staunch pacifist. In the 1920s she edited an anti-fascist journal The Clear Light. Through her powerful writing she sought to change opinion when it came to important issues such as poverty, class and gender prejudice and the poor conditions that workers laboured under in the cotton mills at the time.
Jenny Harper is a University of Southampton alumna, and recently completed her English MA at the university, before embarking on a collaborative PhD project at the University of Reading. This is a SWW DTP-funded PhD project in conjunction with Pendle Radicals and Mid Pennine Arts to recover, research, and celebrate this great writer who is of both literary and historical significance. Jenny has lived in Southampton for 25 years, although her Lancashire ancestors were working-class millworkers like Ethel Carnie Holdsworth.
Please register via Eventbrite if you wish to attend so we can manage numbers on the shop floor.
This is a free entry event, but if you’d like to sling October Books a donation, please do so here
Stockton on Tees
Drake, The Bookshop, TS18 1SX
Thursday 19th May I, Mona Lisa with Natasha Solomons 6pm
‘[A] lively, tender tale . . . In her zingy new novel [Solomons] gives the Mona Lisa . . . power, casting her as the fanciful narrator of her own story’ THE TIMES
Over the centuries, few could hear her voice, but now she is ready to tell her own story, in her own words – a tale of rivalry, murder and heartbreak. Weaving through the years, she takes us from the dazzling world of Florentine studios to the French courts at Fontainebleau and Versailles, and into the Twentieth Century. I, Mona Lisa is a deliciously vivid, compulsive and illuminating story about the lost and forgotten women throughout history.
Do join us! Tickets are £5.00 and copies of I, Mona Lisa will be available to be purchased and signed on the night, tickets also allow 15% off all book purchases on the evening.
Please Note: this is a ticketless event – remember to select ‘collect from shop’ at the checkout – you will receive an email receipt to confirm your payment and event booking.
More details here: https://www.drakethebookshop.co.uk/product/an-evening-with-natasha-solomons-feminist-book-fortnight/
Feminist Book Fortnight 