Poetry legend Michael Rosen celebrates his 80th birthday with a brand-new live show!
Michael looks back at a lifetime in poetry, performing beloved classics including Hot Food, No Breathing and Chocolate Cake, along with never-before-heard poems from his new collection Peas On Your Knees.
NICE! Is a show for all ages, from the young to the young at heart.
The Windows ProjectWRITING ADVICE DESK
WEDNESDAY 3rd DECEMBERat Liverpool Central LibraryWilliam Brown Street L3 8EW
Drop in between 5.30pm and 7.00pmfor one-to-one appraisal of scripts, stories, poemsand details of publishing opportunities, performance venues, workshops and courses
with
ALISON DOWN Screenwriter and poetBAFTA Rocliffe’s Emerging Children’s Writer.
DAVE WARDAuthor and poetEditor ‘Smoke’ magazineNominated for Carnegie Medal
Please book in on arrival. Each individual session usually lasts 20 minutes.
The Windows ProjectWRITING ADVICE DESK
WEDNESDAY 12th NOVEMBERat Liverpool Central LibraryWilliam Brown Street L3 8EW
Drop in between 5.30pm and 7.00pmfor one-to-one appraisal of scripts, stories, poemsand details of publishing opportunities, performance venues, workshops and courses
with
ALISON DOWN Screenwriter and poetBAFTA Rocliffe’s Emerging Children’s Writer.
DAVE WARDAuthor and poetEditor ‘Smoke’ magazineNominated for Carnegie Medal
Please book in on arrival. Each individual session usually lasts 20 minutes.
The Definitions is a short, thoughtful, and ultimately terrifying novel about the vitality of language. How we use it, how we weaponise it, and what happens when we rely on other to define ourselves.
Join us at Dead Ink Books on the 15th of October to celebrate author Matt Greene and his phenomenal novel. Matt will be joined in conversation with journalist and writer Jess White.
Matt Greene is an author, teacher, former screenwriter, and stay-at-home dad. His first novel, Ostrich, won a Betty Trask Award and his memoir Jew(ish) was described by Booker-shortlisted author Nadifa Mohamed as ‘wonderful’ and ‘acerbically funny’. He teaches critical and creative writing in South London, where he lives with his partner and two sons.
Jess White is a writer and researcher who has written for Dazed, The F Word, i-D, among many others. You can keep up to date with what she’s reading on her substack.
Tickets are available HERE.
Join Professor Stephen Small as he shares insights from his forthcoming book, tentatively entitled, Black Liverpool. “The real thing”. West African, West Indian and Afro-American culture at the end of the twentieth century (Liverpool University Press, 2026). Born and raised in Liverpool, Stephen will draw on a wealth of research, exploring how Black communities in Liverpool transformed African, Caribbean and Afro‑American cultural patterns. Hosted by Liverpool University’s Dr Leona Vaughn, Stephen will consider the impact of soul, reggae and African music and nightclubs, Black nationalist ideologies, Rastafarian activities, Black Studies courses and the experiences of Black women and Black women’s organisations, to highlight the rich and distinctive history of Black Liverpool, often overshadowed by London narratives.
This event accompanies the lates series of Small Talk articles which are being released weekly throughout October and beyond.
Join acclaimed US author Attica Locke for her debut WoW appearance as she explores the themes of her latest novel, Guide Me Home. In the third and final novel in the Highway 59 trilogy, Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is forced out of early retirement to investigate the disappearance of a Black college student from her all-white sorority despite his disillusionment in an America forever changed by the presidency of Donald Trump. Known for her award-winning works from Bluebird to Pleasantville and powerful writing for Emmy-nominated TV shows like When They See Us and Little Fires Everywhere, Locke masterfully blends crime fiction with powerful social commentary. Hosted by Des Freedman, Professor of Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, this event offers a compelling insight into Locke’s storytelling and the issues shaping her work.
Join us for the launch of Queue Up and Dance new book celebrating Quadrant Park, the legendary Bootle club with speakers artist Dave Evans, author and archivist of DIY movements Emma Warren, and DJ Melissa Kains.
Queue Up And Dance features a collection of interviews with a variety of people, from those who went to the club, to the DJs that played there, about their experiences of ‘the Quad’. Together, these highlight the club’s particular social and cultural context, why it was so important to so many, and how its legacy lives on 35 years later.
The book also contains an introduction by writer and researcher Emma Warren, author of Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the Dancefloor, and an afterword by Melissa Kains, the founder of female and non-binary DJ collective Sisu Crew.
Queue Up And Dance is the outcome of a year-long, artist-led project of the same title. It invited those who went to the club in its heyday, and young people living in Bootle today, to collaboratively develop an archive, exhibition, and other creative projects inspired by Quadrant Park and the early DIY culture of rave.
Please note this event takes place at Rough Trade, Hanover Street, Liverpool
Reserve your free ticket via DICE here
At The Library produce a programme of artist-led workshops, projects, commissions and happenings in Sefton Libraries. Email us on hello@atthelibrary.co.uk with any questions, access needs or for a chat about any of our projects.
The Windows Project
WRITING ADVICE DESK
WEDNESDAY 1st OCTOBER at Liverpool Central LibraryWilliam Brown Street L3 8EW
Drop in between 5.30pm and 7.00pmfor one-to-one appraisal of scripts, stories, poemsand details of publishing opportunities, performance venues, workshops and courses
withALISON DOWN Screenwriter and poetBAFTA Rocliffe’s Emerging Children’s Writer.
DAVE WARDAuthor and poetEditor ‘Smoke’ magazineNominated for Carnegie Medal
Please book in on arrival. Each individual session usually lasts 20 minutes.
The Great War to Race Riots tour explores anti-Black race riots that occurred in Liverpool and other seaports across the country in 1919.
This tour covers the area now known as Chinatown and the Baltic Triangle, which at the beginning of the 20th century was a densely populated and multicultural neighbourhood known locally as ‘sailor town.’ The tour follows the last journey of Charles Wotton, a young Bermudan seafarer who was murdered during the race riots. It finishes at the Queens Dock where Charles was chased into the River Mersey.
During the tour we present press reports from the run up and aftermath of the riots which, although over 100 years old, echo the fear-mongering of today. The tensions around the immediate post WWI economic slump, industrial unrest and mass demobilisation were manipulated so that Black people become the scapegoat, culminating in the racial violence on the streets of Liverpool. In August of this year, history was repeated when race rioting broke out, fuelled by the ‘divide and rule’ tactics of the politicians and the mainstream media. The events of 1919 contain important lessons for today.
The Great War to Race Riots book is available here, containing the full archive and original documents surrounding the 1919 riots.
Starting point: Chinese Arch, Nelson Street, L1 5DW
End point: Queens Dock, L3 4BX
*These are difficult times. We know some people may struggle to afford full price tickets. If you would like to attend this event but can’t afford to, please contact info@writingonthewall.org.uk. All queries will be treated in confidence.
The Liverpool & Slavery Walking Tour was developed and inspired by our Dorothy Kuya Archive Project, in collaboration with National Museums Liverpool. During the project our team revealed the extent of Dorothy’s involvement in the establishment of the Atlantic Slave Trade Gallery, Slavery Remembrance Day and the International Slavery Museum. Along with Liverpool activist and historian Eric Scott Lynch (1932-2022), Dorothy delivered slavery walking tours in collaboration with NML in the mid 1990s. It is local Black activists like Dorothy and Eric that have played an integral role in how Liverpool remembers and commemorates its heavy involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
On this tour we explore the many sites and streets with direct links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Liverpool city centre. We discuss the depth of the city’s connections to the trade of enslaved Africans and the goods they produced long after its abolition in Britain. This tour also considers the legacies of the Atlantic Slave Trade, the origins of anti-Black racism and white supremacy, which in the 18th and 19th centuries were seen as justifications for horrific oppression and continue to encourage racial hatred violence in the present day.
Starting at The Pump House, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AN, the tour will then cover the L1 and L2 districts, ending at Liverpool Town Hall.
Starting point: The Pump House, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AN
End point: Liverpool Town Hall, High St, Liverpool, L2 3SW
Testimonials
“Found the walk very interesting and enjoyable.”
“Wonderful event! Please have a lot more of these through the year, if possible.”
“Fascinating walk and talk. Thank you!”
“Really interesting topics, anecdotal stories really brought me into the life.”
*These are difficult times. We know some people may struggle to afford full price tickets. If you would like to attend this event but can’t afford to, please contact info@writingonthewall.org.uk. All queries will be treated in confidence.