Paul Westmoquette

Tuesday evening, 11 November - 7 pm to 8:30 pm, at the library (6:30 for tea & cake)

Astronomer Mark Westmoquette explores the cosmos through a direct mindful experience.

Dr. Westmoquette invites us to explore the cosmos through a direct, mindful experience. Drawing on his background in astrophysics and Zen practice, he reveals how the vastness of space can become a gateway to presence, curiosity and awe.

Mark will share stories and insights from the book, weaving together astronomy, philosophy and contemplative practice to show how science and mindfulness together can deepen our sense of belonging in the universe.

Organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library in cooperation with the librarians.

Please register for a place on Eventbrite.

This event will be live-streamed from the Carnegie Library Facebook page where it will also be available to view for a limited period.

Free admission

Tuesday evening, 7pm (6:30 for tea & cake) - 14 October

Maud Blair will discuss her book, making sense of her mixed identity in the midst of political unrest in 1950's Zimbabwe (Rhodesia).

What does it mean to grow up with an African mother and European father in racially segregated 1950s Rhodesia? For Maud Blair it meant being sent, aged four, to a ‘Coloured’ boarding school run by Christian nuns. It meant being taught in English rather than her native language, which she was encouraged to forget. It meant only seeing her family for two weeks during the school Christmas holiday, where Maud longed for the sense of belonging, she once had.

Labelled as neither African nor European, Maud tries to make sense of her mixed identity in the midst of political unrest and de facto apartheid, taking her to England via South Africa and back to post-independence Zimbabwe. The result is a strikingly original memoir that confronts privilege, prejudice and the place we call home.

Free admission.

Please register for a place on Eventbrite.

Organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library in cooperation with the librarians.

This event will be live-streamed from the Carnegie Library Facebook page where it will also be available to view for a limited period.

13 Park Lane

Tuesday evening, 9 September - 7 pm (6:30 for tea & cake)

At the library (also live-streamed)

On 29 April 1872 a group consisting of a 29-year-old Belgian cook and two English and two French detectives left the train discreetly at Herne Hill station. Marguerite Diblanc, who had been arrested in Paris and extradited, was then taken by cab to police cells in central London. Within weeks she was tried for her life at the Old Bailey. The victim was her employer Madame Riel, a French widow with a shady past, whose actress daughter was the mistress of the Third Earl of Lucan.

The murder had all the elements of a huge scandal, so why did the press fixate instead on the alleged perpetrator's physical appearance?

Historical crime novelist Naomi Clifford digs into theories about criminality and physiognomy and asks whether they played a part in the Diblanc's treatment in the popular press and in the criminal justice system.

13 Park Lane, her novel about the Diblanc case, is published by Bloodhound Books and is available online (multiple platforms) as a paperback, ebook and audiobook and can be ordered from bookshops.

Organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library, working with the Lambeth Library Service

Admission is free, but please register your interest on Eventbrite (this helps with planning).

If you can't make it to the the library, you can watch the livestream on the Carnegie Library Facebook page (no sign in needed). The recording will be available to view for a limited period (usually about 30 days)