by Gladstones Library | Friday, 20th May 2022

"For anyone aspiring to write the kind of poems that might reveal the movements of the imagination in words, the challenge is to keep moving."

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 08th November 2019

A couple of nights ago, at my Q&A event at the Library, an audience member asked a question along the lines of: If I cared about climate change, why wasn’t I writing political slogans instead of poems? A good question in these times of heightened worry for our world and our environment, and one that I answered briefly at the time, but which I think is very important to address more fully too. 

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 08th November 2019

William Gladstone (who lived until he was 88) read 22,000 books in his life. They like telling people this fact when they arrive at the Library, I suppose, because they like to see how their faces contort as they try to do the maths. Let me save you the trouble – it works out at around a book a day, for most of his adult life. 

by Gladstones Library | Friday, 08th November 2019

As the year draws to a close here at Gladstone’s Library and we begin our Christmas celebrations, we’d like to take the opportunity to welcome our Friends to a festive coffee morning on Thursday, 5th December from 10.30am. Your support has been invaluable this year so why not take the opportunity to escape your Christmas errands and enjoy a morning retreat at the Library with tea, coffee and festive treats.

by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 08th October 2019

Every few years, there is a gathering of a unique set of clans. In the UK, they are called ‘independent libraries’, while in the US they are ‘member libraries’; in Australia, they are ‘mechanics institutes’. All are libraries that make their own way in the world, with small budgets and even smaller staff numbers.