by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 17th December 2024

As the year draws to a close and I look back over the past 12 months the two words that come to mind are hope and joy. That is not to say that there have not been challenges this year - leaky roofs, wobbly drains, cracks appearing where there should not be cracks and all the usual ups and downs of life at the Library! But alongside this there has been so much joy...

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 06th December 2024

The truth is, there’s no-one else to do this for you. You show up at your desk, or your laptop, or your notebook and pen, or your dream head, and you live in constant fear that the words themselves will fail to show up: that what you’d thought of as a partnership, or a tacit agreement that the words will quite reasonably stick to their side of the bargain, is only ever provisional - Karen Lloyd

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 22nd November 2024

Literature fans are invited to explore a line-up of poetry, fiction and nonfiction writing events.

The 2025 events calendar at Gladstone’s Library in Flintshire, Hawarden launched this week.

It includes talks, writing masterclasses and Hearth, an all-day mini literature festival.

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 18th November 2024

Karen, an acclaimed nature writer and journalist, challenged masterclass attendees to write short pieces inspired by scenes from nature. Now, we are pleased to share what they wrote. 

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 11th November 2024

Fiction, memoir and poetry will feature at our Hearth mini literature festival on Saturday 1st February 2025.

Hearth festival, named because it is held beside the fireplace in the Library’s Gladstone Room lounge, has taken place annually since 2013.

by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 30th October 2024

Mellt the Storyteller will bring us Tales for Midwinter and the Festive Season on Saturday 7th December from 3pm-5pm. There has already been high demand for tickets, but who is Mellt, teller of tales?

by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 15th October 2024

That’s how I came to bite the bullet and restructure my novel during my residency at Gladstone’s and I couldn’t have found a better place to do it. The calm of the Reading Rooms, full of other people quietly beavering away, was the change of scene I needed - Sarah Smith

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 11th October 2024

We are pleased to announce that Gladstone’s Library has launched a new online bookshop thanks to bookshop.org.

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 26th September 2024

We are delighted to reveal the names of our 2025 Writers in Residence. 

More than 150 writers applied for the opportunity to stay at the Library for up to a month to work on their next book.

Today, we can announce that the 2025 Writers in Residence at Gladstone’s Library are...

by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 24th September 2024

From January 2025, Gladstone’s Library will be changing the Reading Room opening hours. 

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 02nd September 2024

"When I visit a new place, I often gravitate towards the local churchyard. It helps me get my bearings, and it’s an obvious choice for someone who writes historical fiction. All the memorials inscribed with dates and places and the graves of people who lived and died here. It’s a good place to start to understand the history of a place."

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 30th August 2024

Building work has been carried out on the Library grounds over the last two weeks. We commissioned specialist contractors to repair the drainage at the front of this Grade I listed building and to stabilise the ground beneath the main porch.

by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 27th August 2024

Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden, Flintshire is taking part in Open Doors 2024, which takes place on Saturday 14th September.

by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 21st August 2024

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 19th August 2024

If one walks past the statue towards Gladstone’s Library, one may observe four other sculptures placed in niches around its frontage. These commemorate Gladstone’s four ‘doctors’ - the writers he singled out as the intellectual mentors who guided his thought throughout his life.

An article by Jonathan Hopson

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 12th August 2024

Hope and activism are coterminous, or to use a more natural metaphor, they exist in symbiotic relationship. 

An article by Writer in Residence Karen Lloyd

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 18th July 2024

Ten writers have been shortlisted for a prestigious residency award at our unique Library.

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 05th July 2024

Are you a member of Sea of Faith, or were you in the past?

Contribute to the Sea of Faith Archive at Gladstone’s Library, and to have your views recorded for the future.

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 04th July 2024

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 28th June 2024

"I’ve always written. I loved English at school, read widely and I went to University to study English in the mid-1980s. I originally trained as an English teacher but through a series of life events I fell into working for a range of projects which were all about supporting Disabled people moving into education and employment." - author Sarah Smith (Hear No Evil) on finding her authorial voice.

by Rhian Waller | Tuesday, 25th June 2024

"Here is my highly opinionated guide on how to get the most from Gladstone’s Library, in big ways and small." - by Dan Kaszeta, author of Toxic

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 20th June 2024

Our Engagement and Learning Officers have been in post for a little less than a month and they are already hard at work. Now the dust has settled following their arrival, we thought it was time to catch up with them about their project.

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 13th June 2024

This week, the team at Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, Flintshire, announced the addition of the esteemed Diamond Dagger Award to its archives.

This prestigious award, presented annually by the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) alongside twelve other Dagger awards, is a lifetime achievement award recognising outstanding contributions to crime writing in the English language.

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 17th May 2024

"The service that Gladstone’s Library offers to seekers of knowledge puts it in the legacy of the Bayt al-Hikmah and other similar illustrious spaces of learning that existed throughout history." - Imran Visram, recipient of the Vera Stantan Scholarship

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 25th April 2024

"I felt extremely lucky to receive this scholarship because I knew my research would be greatly enhanced by the huge and varied array of resources on offer at the Library, but I was also really looking forward to having an idyllic workspace to study away from all of life’s distractions!" - Hannah Helm

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 19th April 2024

It is done!

by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 17th April 2024

The Gladstone Monument - by Jonathan Hopson

Hawarden has a monument to the troubled history of Anglo-Irish relations, paying tribute to Gladstone and his heroic, thwarted mission to pacify Ireland...

by Rhian Waller | Wednesday, 20th March 2024

History: What it is and isn’t

An article by Dan Kazseta, Writer in Residence in February and March 2024 and author of Toxic.

"History is not simply chronology and stenography, although those are basic building blocks. The uninitiated claim that “you can’t rewrite history” but that is literally not true. History is more than chronology, but even sometimes the chronology is wrong and has to get updated. History is also more than single-perspective accounts..."

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 18th March 2024

The project will empower young people (aged 16-24) to explore and discuss universal Gladstonian themes of religious tolerance, human rights, and democracy, and more challenging historical and contemporary topics such as slavery, colonialism, and minority rights.

by Rhian Waller | Monday, 18th March 2024

The project will empower young people (aged 16-24) to explore and discuss universal Gladstonian themes, including religious tolerance, human rights and democracy, and challenge historical and contemporary topics such as slavery, colonialism, and minority rights.

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 15th March 2024

The puzzle is progressing, though Dan describes the Demotic section as ‘tetchy’.

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 12th January 2024

Thanks to a £777,246 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) Covid-19 Response Fund, our focus in 2024 will be on making major repairs to our historic Library.

by Rhian Waller | Friday, 05th January 2024

"It was a pleasure to meet Mr Drakeford and talk to him about the archives and the special collections here, about the Library as it is today and about its future."

by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 04th January 2024

We are saddened to share the news of the death of playwright Oliver Emanuel, who was Writer in Residence here in March 2019.