28th July – 29th July 2017 Katherine Angel looks at the practice of first-person writing and memoir. How can you write well from your own life? What are the strategies and techniques for good first-person writing? What are the risks involved? Katherine Angel is the author of Unmastered: A Book On Desire, Most Difficult To …
View course details “A Masterclass with Katherine Angel”

24th July – 28th July 2017 Kalyan Dey returns following his successful re-interpretation of John’s Gospel and the writings of Paul to look at the most controversial and misunderstood book of the New Testament – The Book of Revelation. Kalyan will attempt to liberate this fascinating book from its many crude and frightening misinterpretations. Come …
View course details “Apocalypse Then and Now!”

18th July – 18th July 2017 7.30pm for 8pm Ruth’s history of the French Revolution was praised by Hilary Mantel as ‘the calmest and least abusive history of the Revolution you will ever read’ and chosen as one of the Times best books of the decade. Join the author and historian as she explores this …
View course details “The French Revolution: An Evening with Writer in Residence Ruth Scurr”

14th July – 16th July 2017 A firm favourite of the Gladstone’s Library calendar returns for another year! Whether you’ve grown up with a love of history and Victoriana or you’re an academic with a penchant for the ‘Grand Old Man’, no matter your background the Gladstone Umbrella is the conference for you. The event …
View course details “Gladstone Umbrella”

26th June – 30th June 2017 Three disturbing stories: Lot and his Daughters (Gen. 19) Dinah and Shechem (Gen. 34) Tamar and Judah (Gen. 38) Like all of the Book of Genesis, these three shocking stories represent a theology that is foundational to the theology of Jesus, but only if they are read symbolically with …
View course details “Genesis Redux: Divergent Readings”

13th June – 13th June 2017 7.30pm for 8pm Join our second Political Writer in Residence of 2017 for an evening considering Europe’s future. James Kirchick, author of The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues and the Coming Dark Age, argues that though Europe was once the world’s bastion of liberal, democratic values, it is now …
View course details “The End of Europe: An Evening with Political Writer in Residence James Kirchick”

26th May – 28th May 2017 ‘It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.’ – Albert Einstein Michael Nobbs believes that the secret to creative success and a happier life is to pick one simple thing to focus on, something he calls ‘Important Work’, and then to stick with …
View course details “Building a Sustainably Creative Life”

29th April – 29th April 2017 10am They might be thought of as a staple of children’s literature, but animals are as much at home in Chekov and Steinbeck as they are in Beatrix Potter and C.S. Lewis. Explore how animals in fiction can illuminate their human companions. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is a Japanese-British-Chinese-American author …
View course details “Illuminating Companions: A Masterclass with Writer in Residence Rowan Hisayo Buchanan”

4th March – 4th March 2017 10am In this practical writing workshop, poet Ian Parks will suggest ways in which stories can be told through poetry. Arrive with a blank page and go home with a narrative poem or two. Ian Parks’s first collection of poems was published in 1986 and received a Yorkshire Arts …
View course details “Stories in Verse: Narrative Poetry Masterclass with Ian Parks”

Hearth Festival – February 2017 4th February – 5th February 2017 Pull up a chair, gather around the hearth and indulge in a weekend of stimulating and entertaining conversation at our two-day micro-festival. Improve your writing, find out how to publish your novel, acquire hints and tips and find inspiration during our winter micro-festival, Hearth. The younger …
View course details “Hearth Festival 2017”