William Lever was an enthusiastic collector of Chinese porcelain and other Chinese art works. He selected objects mainly for their beauty and craftsmanship.
This talk will look at the key developments of ceramic production in China throughout its various dynasties.
They will consider what these objects tell us about the lifestyles and beliefs of Chinese people in the past, and how English people’s demand for Chinese ceramics and other art works was satisfied by an extensive trade from the East, resulting in cultural exchange and fusion.
Refractive Pool Meet the Artists – Join Refractive Pool exhibiting artists on the gallery from 1pm to hear more about their practice.
Artist Richard Meaghan lives and works in Liverpool and in 2009 was short-listed for the prestigious Liverpool Art Prize.
Free to attend, no booking required
Come ‘round to ours’ for tea with bestselling author Kit de Waal.
Experience a personal and friendly conversation between Kit and Jane Davis – talking about the difficulties and joys of growing up poor and mixed race, and her powerful belief in love and books.
Kit’s debut novel My Name Is Leon became an international bestseller, winner of the Irish Novel prize and was recently adapted for the BBC starring Sir Lenny Henry, Malachi Kirby, Monica Dolan, Olivia Williams and Christopher Eccleston.
They want to create a unique space for foster carers, and those involved in looking after care experienced children, to have tea with Kit, and listen to readings from My Name is Leon and Without Warning and Only Sometimes. There will be the opportunity to ask questions as you tuck into some home-made Scouse and crusty bread, the ultimate comfort food!
Want to attend this event, but have childcare issues? Bring children to the ‘Food for Thought’ event running alongside Tea with Kit de Waal so everyone can enjoy the evening and a bite to eat.
As a young woman growing up in the North West of England, Melanie Chisholm dreamed of a life performing on stage.
Little did she anticipate becoming part of one of the defining forces of British pop of any era: as one of the five member of the Spice Girls.
Defined in the public imagination as Sporty Spice, Melanie now tells her story: of the peaks and also the struggles that lie behind her public persona. Join them to hear her in conversation at the Everyman to celebrate the release of Who I Am.
A conversation centred in Katherine May’s wonderful meditation Wintering, a Reader bookshelf book for 2022, considering the question of how humans get through harder times.
“Wintering brings about some of the most profound and insightful moments of our human experience, and wisdom resides in those who have wintered.”
― Katherine May, Wintering: The power of rest and retreat in difficult times
Professor Philip Davis introduces the New York Times bestselling author and one of her biggest fans, Melissa Chapple, a post-graduate researcher into autism, reading and empathy at University of Liverpool. The conversation will include discussion of Katherine’s memoir The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her account of learning she was autistic as an adult.
If you have enjoyed Katherine’s work, or like the sound of it, or are part of the autistic community, you’ll find this a deeply engaging event. Katherine May will join via Zoom, Melissa and Philip will be live on stage.
If you have any extra requirements, please let them know by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk. Free essential companion tickets are available upon request.
Join this Gitanjali shared reading class at The Reader.
The publication of Gitanjali (1912) in English led Rabindranath Tagore to become the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Whether it is new to you or an old friend, open the book in the company of other readers, and see how different reading is when we share it.
It is The Reader’s great pleasure to welcome Liverpool author and screenwriter Tony Schumacher to this year’s Gravity festival.
Tony’s ground-breaking BBC1 drama, The Responder, featured a bravura performance from Martin Freeman as Chris, an unhappily corrupt police officer who wants to be a good man. Tony drew on his experience of breakdown to show the pressures on a man unable to talk about what he was going through.
The Reader’s Young Person’s Mentor, Greg Harwood-Jenkins has experienced tough times of his own, and might easily have previously been one of the characters in Tony’s drama. In this intimate and frank conversation, Tony and Greg will select some scenes to show and discuss, while opening up about what it is like to be a man with something on his mind that needs talking about.
If you have any extra requirements, please let them know by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk. Free essential companion tickets are available upon request.
Roosevelt Montás arrived in the US as a teenage immigrant from the Dominican Republic, and now teaches at Columbia University, where, in 2000, he won the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student.
His book Rescuing Socrates makes the case for the personal value of great literature, and argues for the continued teaching of Great Books, Classics and Philosophy perhaps especially for those to whom they may seem to have little immediate relevance.
Join hosts Pranav Sood and Neil Atkinson – trustees of The Reader and ardent Classics fans – live in the Mansion House as they talk to Roosevelt who will be joining from New York via Zoom.
If you have any extra requirements, please let them know by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk. Free essential companion tickets are available upon request.
BAFTA-winning television producer and author of novels for both adults and children, Lissa Evans joins Bootle-born author, screenwriter and Reader Patron, Frank Cottrell-Boyce to chat all things children’s books; their writing, their favourite reads from way back when and the power of the imagination.
They’ll be talking about how they tackle the most raw and painful experiences of being human when writing for children and the important role that humour plays when considering those parts of life that feel almost too overwhelming to put down on paper.
There will be readings, reflections and plenty of opportunities for questions from the audience.
If you have any extra requirements, please let them know by emailing tickets@thereader.org.uk. Free essential companion tickets are available upon request.
Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for an awe-inspiring ride!
Tim Peake is a European Space Agency astronaut. In December 2015, he became the first British astronaut to visit the International Space Station to conduct a spacewalk (and run a marathon!) whilst orbiting Earth. Now, join him on an epic and thrilling journey to the International Space Station as part of his first ever UK tour.
Tim will be your personal guide through life in space, with unprecedented access, breath-taking photographs, and never-before-seen incredible footage. It’s a fascinating insight into what it’s really like to be an astronaut; from training to launch, spacewalk to re-entry, Tim reveals the secrets, the science and the everyday wonders of how and why humans journey into space.
