What’s on in York: Finding the Words with poets Duncan Chambers, Suzannah Evans and Pippa Little

York Explore Library :

Thu 22 Nov :

6.45pm – 7.45pm :

£3/£2 with a YorkCard

Nov Finding The WordsFinding 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.

Duncan Chambers is a University health researcher living in York and working in Sheffield. He has been writing poetry (with gaps) since the 1980s and has been published in various magazines including Ambit, The Rialto, Stand, The Interpreter’s House, Magma and The North. He was shortlisted for the Poetry Business pamphlet competition in 2017 and won the Poetry Society’s Hamish Canham Prize in 2018.

Suzannah Evans lives in Sheffield and her pamphlet Confusion Species was a winner in the 2012 Poetry Business book and pamphlet competition judged by Carol Ann Duffy. Her debut collection Near Future will be published by Nine Arches Press in November 2018.  She has had poems published in The Rialto, The North, Magma and Poetry Review and her poem ‘Helpline’ has been ‘Poem of the Week’ on the Guardian website. She has been a Hawthornden fellow and was one of the 2015 Aldeburgh Eight. Suzannah works as a teacher of creative writing and a poetry editor.

Pippa Little lives in Northumberland where she is a Royal Literary Fellow at Newcastle University. Her second full collection, Twist, came out last year and was shortlisted for the Saltire Best Poetry Book of the Year Award. Her work has appeared in film, on radio and in magazines including Poetry Review, TLS, The North, The Scotsman, New Statesman and Rialto.

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York: The Changing Streetscape of York

Nov _20York

York Explore Library

Tue 20 Nov :

6.15pm – 7.45pm :

£6, or £5 with a YorkCard

Have you ever wondered what York used to look like in the past?

Are the buildings you see today the same ones from years ago?

Join Ian Drake in this illustrated talk as he takes you through some York’s key streets and buildings, showing the changes that have happened to those areas over time.

This event will take place in The Marriott Room and cost £6, or £5 with a YorkCard.

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York: Introduction to Local History

Nov _17History

York Explore Library 

Sat 17 Nov :

1.00pm – 4.00pm :

£25

Are you interested in finding out about the history of your local area, but unsure as to where to start?

Join Explore’s Archivist (Access and Engagement), Laura Yeoman, in this hands-on introductory session.

The session will cover commonly-used materials including maps, trade directories, photographs and archival documents. There will be an opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the archives, and to get your burning questions answered!

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York: The Understated Ladybird – puppets, poetry and animation

Ladybird

York Explore Library 

Sat 17 Nov :

10.00am – 4.00pm :

Free

Visual artist Stephen Hodgkins and poet Henry Raby need you to bring Stephen’s children’s story book “The Understated Ladybird” to life.  We will be using puppets, writing poetry and creating animation on an interactive digital table so we need 6 – 12 year olds to help us at this free event!

The project will use the latest touch screen technologies to produce an interactive digital experience displayed on Explore York’s interactive digital table.

For a free ticket book in person at any York library or by calling (01904) 552828 or email arts@exploreyork.org.uk.

What’s on in York: Caring for historic documents

Nov _17Caring

York Explore Library 

Sat 17 Nov :

9.30am – 11.30am :

£18

Do you have family papers hidden away in your loft or cupboards?

Are you unsure what to do with them, what to keep, or how best to preserve them for your family?

Join Explore’s Archivist (Access and Engagement), Laura Yeoman, to learn the best ways to care for your paper documents at home (and parchment if you have any!).

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York: Singing for Health and Wellbeing

Nov _15Sing

York Explore Library 

Thu 15 Nov :

1.00pm – 3.00pm :

Free

A fun and uplifting singing session open to all.

Come along and join in singing a range of songs in a group which will help relieve stress and improve your feeling of wellbeing.

Free, but please book a place.

This event will take place in The Marriott Room.

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

What’s on in York: Ben Aaronovitch – Lies Sleeping

Nov _14Ben

York Explore Library :

Wed 14 Nov :

6.30pm – 7.45pm :

£7.50

Join us as we welcome Ben Aaronovitch to talk about his seventh Rivers of London Novel, Lies Sleeping

Lies Sleeping is the seventh novel in the best-selling Rivers of London urban fantasy series and we are delighted that its author Ben Aaronovitch is coming to York Explore on the week of publication to talk about it.
The Faceless Man, wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity, has been unmasked and is on the run. Peter Grant, Detective Constable and apprentice wizard, now plays a key role in an unprecedented joint operation to bring him to justice.

But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that the Faceless Man, far from being finished, is executing the final stages of a long term plan. A plan that has its roots in London’s two thousand bloody years of history, and could literally bring the city to its knees.

To save his beloved city Peter’s going to need help from his former best friend and colleague–Lesley May–who brutally betrayed him and everything he thought she believed in. And, far worse, he might even have to come to terms with the malevolent supernatural killer and agent of chaos known as Mr Punch….

Author’s Biography:

Ben Aaronovitch was born in London in 1964 and had the kind of dull routine childhood that drives a man either to drink or to science fiction. He is a screenwriter, with early notable success on BBC’s legendary Doctor Who, for which he wrote some episodes now widely regarded as classics, and which even he is quite fond of. After a decade of such work, he decided it was time to show the world what he could really do, and embarked on his first serious original novel. The result is Midnight Riot, the debut adventure of Peter Grant and the first in the Rivers of London series. Lies Sleeping, the seventh is published on 13 November 2018

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York – Nightmares and Dreamscapes: Writing York in the Eighteenth Century

Nov _13Nightmare

York Explore Library 

Tue 13 Nov 

6.00pm – 7.30pm 

£5

Matt Haig’s blackly comic The Radleys taps into a rich strain of contradictions that have characterised representations of the city in literature since at least the eighteenth century. Showcasing a range of eighteenth-century accounts, from the novels and travel writing of Daniel Defoe to the prison poetry of James Montgomery, this talk will reveal that York was seen as simultaneously radical and conservative. It was a place where the transgression of traditional boundaries were both passionately advocated and fiercely policed. It was a field of dreams, and a heavily fortified prison. Together we will unpack these paradoxes and explore to the extent to which York’s history of literary representation continues to inform its literary future.

Author’s Biography:
Dr Adam James Smith is a Lecturer in English Literature at York St John University. Adam’s work explores the relationships between politics, news and literature, typically within the context of eighteenth-century print culture. His doctoral research examined eighteenth-century periodicals covertly sponsored by political parties. Subsequently, in 2016 he co-edited Poetry, Radicalism and Conspiracy in Sheffield, a volume of late eighteenth-century protest poetry. At York St John University, amongst other things, Adam lectures on science fiction and literary theory.

Please visit our ticketing website to book a place.

What’s on in York: Ghost Walks

Nov _12GhostYork Explore Library :

Mon 12 & Thu 15 Nov :

6.00pm – 7.00pm :

£4

With over 500 verified accounts of paranormal activity, York is the most haunted city in Europe.

During the evening walk you will hear about haunted places, headless ghosts, pestilence and plaintive cries as we wander around our narrow streets and into a few dark alleyways.

This is suitable for all ages and includes some kindly phantoms, too!

Author’s Biography:
Yorktour is the oldest walking tour company in the city

Please click on the day below to book a place

Monday

Thursday

What’s on in York: WWI Chocolate Letters Archives Hack

Oct _5WWI Ancestors - Yortime

York Explore Library :

Sun 11 – Sat 17 Nov :

Library Opening Times :

Free

Artist Stephen Hodgkins brings Explore York’s unique collection of WWI Chocolate Letters to life on our interactive touch screen.

Come and interact with this fascinating collection of personal letters from York soldiers stationed across the world to the Lord Mayor and Sherriff and get an insight into the life and spirit of soldiers in those early months of the Great War.

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