What’s on in York: Alison Weir presents Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen

May _10Alison WeirExplore York Library :

Thu 10 May :

6.00pm – 7.30pm :

£7.50

Join us as we welcome Alison Weir who will talk about her latest novel, a finely detailed and enthralling portrait of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third queen.

Acclaimed, bestselling historian Alison Weir draws on new research for her captivating novel, which paints a compelling portrait of Jane and casts fresh light on both traditional and modern perceptions of her. Jane was driven by the strength of her faith and a belief that she might do some good in a wicked world.

Eleven days after the death of Anne Boleyn, Jane is dressing for her wedding to the King. She has witnessed at first hand how courtly play can quickly turn to danger and knows she must bear a son . . . or face ruin. This new Queen must therefore step out from the shadows cast by Katherine and Anne – in doing so can she expose a gentler side to the brutal King?

History tells us how she died.

This spellbinding novel explores the life she lived.

Alison Weir is the top-selling female historian in the United Kingdom, and has sold over 2.7 million books worldwide. She has published eighteen history books, including Elizabeth the Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, The Lady in the Tower and Elizabeth of York, and seven historical novels. Her latest biography is Queens of the Conquest, and her latest novel is Anne Boleyn: A King’s Obsession, the second in her Six Tudor Queens series. Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen will be published in May 2018.

To book tickets please click here.

What’s on in York: Muse Hack

Muse Hack

York Explore Library :

Mon 7 May – Mon 2 Jul :

5.30pm – 7.30pm :

Free

Explore, create, tinker and design. Get stuck into all manner of digital maker tools and tech and learn some coding along the way.

Guided by professional artists & digital makers, come along and create amazing arts technology of the future.

For ages 10 – 14 years.

For more information contact York Library on (01904) 552828 or york@exploreyork.org.uk.

What’s on in York: YAYAS 175th anniversary celebration!

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York Explore Library :

Fri 4 May :

10.00am – 3.00pm :

Free

Did you know that Yorkshire Architectural & York Archaeological Society (YAYAS) is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year?

Come and join us to find out more about their key personalities and campaigns dating back to the 1840s. This exhibition in the Archives Reading Room at York Explore will include digitised images from of the Evelyn Core and Hanstock Collections in the possession of YAYAS, as well as slides from the late 19th century until the 1940s.

Plus there will be display boards, examples of the glass slides, and publications. Why not pop in – there’s lots to see!

For more information call the library on (01904) 552828 or york@exploreyork.org.

What’s on in York: Inkwell’s Big Freeze: an Antarctic exploration

29Oct _Inkwell

York Explore Library :

 

Sat 28 Apr :

2.30pm – 3.30pm :

Free

Inkwell is off to the Antarctic in this cool location adventure!

Come along as we’ll be trekking the icy home of penguins and seals as intrepid explorers and recording our journey through the snowy landscape.

What might we see on our adventures?

This event is aimed at ages 5-12 years.

For more information please call York Explore Library on (01904) 552828 or york@exploreyork.org.uk.

What’s on in York: Introduction to modern boardgames by Beyond Monopoly York

Apr _28BM GamesYork Explore Library :

Sat 28 Apr :

1.00pm – 4.30pm :

Free

Monopoly, Risk, Cluedo?  Modern boardgames go way beyond those.  Today’s classics include Settlers, Ticket to Ride, 7 Wonders, Pandemic, Friedrich and Agricola.

BM York, York’s boardgames Club, is based at the Bar Convent.  It invites you to an afternoon’s introduction to some of these (and more) at York Explore (Central Library)

Come and have an afternoon’s fun.  Experience face-to-face gaming – much better than computer gaming we think.

Entry Free. No need to book.

Open to York Residents 16+ or 12+ if accompanied by an adult.

What’s on in York: Finding the Words with poets Harry Gallagher, Judi Sutherland and Chérie Taylor-Battiste

Apr _26 Finding The WordsYork Explore Library :

Thu 26 Apr :

6.45pm – 8.00pm :

£3 (£2 with a YorkCard)

Finding the Words is a regular poetry evening every month at York Explore Library. Each evening brings together three poets and we aim to include both published writers and those working towards a collection. We’ll have a bar available and readings last around an hour. The evening is also a chance to share and chat, so please feel free to bring any news or information about poetry local, regional or national.
Harry Gallagher hails from Middlesbrough, though now lives on the coast near Newcastle. His latest book ‘Northern Lights’ (published by York press Stairwell Books) has just entered its 2nd run and Harry describes its contents as “a collective love letter to the people of the North East”. Poet John Hegley described it as containing “gems herein”, while the Yorkshire Times said “Gallagher excels at finding harmony in unlikely places, in juxtapositions; extrapolating subtleties of nuance towards an expression of love, he is, in the end, a poet of hope.” Harry is delighted to be coming to York, one of his favourite cities anywhere.
Judi Sutherland is a poet and would-be novelist living in Barnard Castle, County Durham. Her pamphlet ‘The Ship Owner’s House’ has just been published by Vane Women Press in Darlington and this will be its first ever airing at a poetry reading.
Chérie Taylor-Battiste. After graduating from SOAS with a degree in African Studies, Chérie  worked first in television production as a Researcher,  then  moved onto acting gaining various parts on stage and screen and with the BBC. Alongside this, she engaged in another passion, facilitating drama and video workshops in prisons PRUs and schools.
Finding herself a single parent of two, she was drawn back to her first love of writing, embracing the flexibility that allowed her to write around her baby daughter.  She  began by getting a prose piece published in the Tangled Roots anthology, then winning a competition to have a poem included in the Saboteur Award winning anthology Remembering Oluwale. After winning the Pitch and Pen event at the Headingley Literature Festival, she began talks with Valley Press.
She has just completed her debut collection “Lioness”, due to be published alongside an audiobook by Valley Press in Autumn 2018.

To book tickets please click here.

 

China in What’s on in York: Drag with Michael Bristow, BBC World Service editor

Apr _14China In DragYork Explore Library :

Sat 14 Apr :

2.00pm – 3.30pm :

£5

When the BBC’s Michael Bristow decided to write a history of modern China he turned to his language teacher for help and discovered a fascinating perspective on his host country.

Approaching the end of his eight-year stay in Beijing, Michael Bristow decided he wanted to write about the country’s modern history. To assist him he asked for the help of his language teacher, who was born just two years after the communist party came to power in 1949. The changing fortunes of his life have mirrored the ups and downs of his country, which has moved from communist poverty to capitalist wealth in just a single generation. It came as a surprise though, to learn that the teacher was also a cross-dresser. Michael gradually realised that the teacher’s story is the story of modern China.

Michael Bristow is Asia/Pacific editor for the BBC World Service in London. He appears on radio and TV, commenting on developments in the world’s fastest-changing region. For five years he was a BBC correspondent in Beijing, covering everything from earthquakes to the Olympics. Apart from his family, China is his great passion, an interest that began while at university in Newcastle. He’s spent much of his adult life trying to learn Mandarin; a task he imagines might take many more years. He lives in Yorkshire with his wife and their two children.

To book tickets please click here.

What’s on in York: CSIs in York: the truth about forensic investigating

Apr _7Csis In York

York Explore Library :

Sat 7 Apr :

2.00pm – 3.30pm :

£5

Crime writing duo Ashley Dyer will reveal the truth about forensic investigation with pictures, practical demonstrations, chat and laughter.

You will learn how forensic investigations happen, see how an expert ‘lifts’ fingerprints, and you can even try your hand at identifying footwear evidence. Known for her dramatic readings, the ‘writing arm’ of Team Ashley Dyer will chill you with the fictional art of murder, explaining how forensic science, research, location – and conversations with murder detectives, pathologists, and prosecutors – inspire plot and stories, and bring characters to life.

Ashley Dyer is the penname of novelist Margaret Murphy working in consultation with forensics expert, Helen Pepper.

Margaret Murphy is a former RLF Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector, past Chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), and founder of Murder Squad. A CWA Short Story Dagger winner, she has been shortlisted for the First Blood critics’ award for crime fiction as well as the Dagger in the Library. She has written novels under her own name, and as A.D. Garrett.

Helen Pepper is a Senior Lecturer in Policing. She has been an analyst, Forensic Scientist, SOCO, CSI, and Crime Scene Manager, and has co-authored, and contributed to, professional policing texts. In great demand with crime writers, she is a CWA Non-Fiction Dagger judge, and is Forensic Consultant on both the Vera and Shetlandtelevision series.

Splinter in the Blood: Utterly engrossing and filled with masterfully crafted surprises, Splinter in the Blood is a propulsive roller-coaster ride, filled with secrets, nerve-jangling tension, perplexing mystery, and cold-blooded murder, in which a police officer on the hunt for a macabre serial killer is brutally attacked, and only his partner knows the truth about what happened—and who did it. This debut thriller sold in multiple competitive auctions across Europe and in the US.

To book tickets please click here.

What’s on in York: York’s Museum Gardens: a history

Apr _5Museum GardensYork Explore Library :

Thu 5 Apr :

6.15pm – 7.45pm :

£6, or £5 with a YorkCard

Join Yorkshire Philosophical Society’s Peter Hogarth as he delves into the Society’s own archives, pictures and maps, answering some of the many questions about the history of York Museum Gardens and telling the story of the site through the eyes, and in the words, of those who were there.

We are all familiar with the Museum Gardens. The history of the land before the Yorkshire Philosophical Society came on the scene can be pieced together from the surviving remains – St Mary’s Abbey, the Multangular Tower – and historical sources: a patch of non-descript land outside a legionary fortress was shaped by the Romans, Earl Siward, William Rufus, the Benedictines, and Henry VIII, among others, until it eventually became available for the Society to create their own botanic garden.

Join Yorkshire Philosophical Society’s Peter Hogarth as he delves into the Society’s own archives, pictures and maps, answering some of the many questions about the history of York Museum Gardens and telling the story of the site through the eyes, and in the words, of those who were there.

To book tickets please click here.

What’s on in York: Finding the Words

York Explore Library :

Thu 22 Mar :

6.45pm – 8.00pm :

£3 (or £2 with a York Card).

Finding the Words with poets Jade Cuttle, Keith Hutson and Ruth McIlroy

Finding the Words is a regular poetry evening every month at York Explore Library. Each evening brings together three poets and we aim to include both published writers and those working towards a collection. We’ll have a bar available and readings last around an hour. The evening is also a chance to share and chat, so please feel free to bring any news or information about poetry local, regional or national.

Jade Cuttle  After reading literature at University of Cambridge, Jade Cuttle released her poetic-folk  debut album ‘Leaves & Lovers’ to BBC Introducing acclaim. She has performed her poetry on BBC Radio 3 in association with BBC Proms (‘The Art of Splinters’) and been commissioned for other BBC podcasts like celebrating Shakespeare’s 400th. She was appointed Poet-in-Residence for Ilkley Literature Festival 2017, mentored by Daljit Nagra, and a 2018 Ledbury Poetry Festival Emerging Poetry Critic, after winning competitions run by Ledbury Poetry Festival, BBC Proms, Poetry Book Society and Foyle Young Poets. She is also a journalist and has written for The Observer, The Guardian and The Sunday Times.

 

Keith Hutson has written for Coronation Street and many well-known comedians. His poetry has been widely published in journals including The Rialto, The North, Stand, Magma, The Manhattan Review, and he has had several competition successes, including in The YorkMix, The Troubadour, The Mclellan, and the Cornwall Contemporary. In February 2017 he was Carol Ann Duffy’s guest poet at the Royal Society of Literature’s TS Eliot Memorial event. His debut pamphlet Routines (2016) was published by Poetry Salzburg where he is now a co-editor. His latest pamphlet Troupers (smith | doorstop) is a 2018 Laureate’s Choice.

 

Ruth McIlroy will be reading from her pamphlet, Guppy Primer, the Poetry Book Society’s Winter Pamphlet Choice. She has spent most of her life in Edinburgh, and now lives with her family and works as a psychotherapist in Sheffield.

 

Booking

In person at any Explore York Library.

By phone: 01904 552828

Email: york@exploreyork.org.uk

Max: 50