Category Archives: Author Event

Marlowe Russell

Join author Marlowe Russell to discuss her new novel Bantling.

Tue, 9 Apr 2024 19:00 - 20:30 BST - in the Carnegie library

Bantling (Archaic): a young or small child, a brat. Formerly = bastard. OED

Who are you if you don’t know where you come from? Where do you fit if your past is make-believe?

1923. South London. Unmarried, pregnant and determined to keep her child, Violet accepts help from Ellen, a vicar’s wife. When their relationship turns sour, Violet and her baby, Sam, are forcibly separated. Sam is brought up as somebody else by a woman who loves him and a man who doesn’t. Ellen and Violet each have to reshape their hopes as the world changes around them. In London, Hull, Sydney and aboard an aircraft carrier, through the turbulence of war and the uncertainties of peace, Violet and Sam search for each other and try to build lives that make sense.

Join Marlowe Russell to discuss her novel and writing process.

Marlowe Russell

Born in Sydney, Australia and raised in north London, I studied social anthropology in Hull, fine art in Sydney and cultural history and fiction writing back in London. I have fingers in various creative, political and social pies. Nowadays, I am mostly preoccupied with the South London Botanical Institute, a plant and environmental education charity in south London (where I live), planning the colour-blazing future of my blank-canvas garden and completing a further novel. Bantling is my first published novel.

Event organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library

Reserve a spot on Eventbrite - admission free

View the livestream for up to 30 days on the Carnegie Library Facebook page. (Go to the video page - no need to sign in)

Inspirational Women of Lambeth with Jenni Bowley

Tuesday evening, 12 March 7pm to 8:30pm

The women of Lambeth have been trailblazers and pioneers and occasionally notorious. From the thirteenth to the twenty-first century, Lambeth women have excelled in many spheres, from the medieval wife, Margaret FitzGerold, who challenged the king’s right to determine her life to Adele, world famous queen of pop music.

Here you will find female mountaineers, artists, architects, actors, politicians, doctors, nurses, novelists, theatre directors, businesswomen and campaigners across the centuries.

Glass ceilings have been shattered.

Event organised by The Friends of Carnegie Library

Admission free - reserve a spot

The event will be live-streamed from the Carnegie Library facebook page and available to view for 30 days afterwards.

Lost Places

Tuesday evening , 13 Feb 2024 19:00 - 20:30 pm - at the library

Join editor Jeffrey Doorn and contributing authors to discuss this LGBT+ anthology of stories & poems and significant places in our lives.

19 prose and poetry pieces by 14 authors recollects places now lost, either through physical alteration, changed character, redevelopment or demolition.

It is important not only to recall the venues and facilities of the past, but also to record these markers of our history and heritage before they are completely forgotten - they form part of a legacy to younger and future generations who might not otherwise have any idea such places existed or what part they played in our development as individuals or communities.

Presented by The Friends of Carnegie Library

Admission free - reserve a spot

The event will be live-streamed from the Carnegie Library facebook page and available to view for 30 days afterwards.

Author Sue Hubbard

Tuesday evening, 9th of January - 7pm to 8:30pm

At the library (or online)

We are delighted to welcome back novelist and freelance art critic Sue Hubbard to discuss Flatlands – her latest novel - a moving tale of friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild landscape of the Fens during the Second World War.

Presented by the Friends of Carnegie Library

Reserve a spot on Eventbrite

You can also view the event online from the Carnegie Library facebook page (videos)

Art is Magic: Jeremy Deller

Tuesday evening - 12 December 7pm to 8:30 pm

Presented by the Friends

Turner Prize winner in 2004 for Memory Bucket.

55th Venice Biennale (2013), represented Britain.

His projects over the past two decades, Battle of Orgreave (2001), We’re Here Because We’re Here (2016) as well as the documentary Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992 (2019) have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art.

Jeremy Deller enjoys critical acclaim in the UK and across the world. Art is Magic is the first book in which the artist reflects on the entirety of his career, his life and his art.

Art is Magic is a holistic and revealing account of the inspirations, passions and practices of one of the UK’s foremost contemporary artists, playful, political, provocative, borrowing from many forms and produced over many mediums.

Reserve a spot so you don't miss out.

The talk will also be livestreamed from the Carnegie Library facebook page (videos)

Dr Oriel Prizeman: History and Ethos of Carnegie Libraries

Saturday, 25 November - 2:30 to 4:00 pm

Presented by the Friends

Dr Oriel Prizeman is an expert on sustainable building conservation and Victorian architecture.

Carnegie Libraries in particular.

MA (Cantab) AADip PhD (Cantab)

She will talk to us about the past, present, and future of Carnegie Libraries.

  • Andrew Carnegie, the man and the ethos behind his bequests.
  • The history of the creation of the libraries, leading onto recent history.
  • The importance of the role the libraries have played in Britain over more than a hundred years.
  • Relations between Carnegie Libraries.
  • Architectural and heritage considerations.
  • A look towards the future.

"How great architecture from the past was designed to work with rather than fight the environment, and how well-informed sensitivity can both protect and enhance our most precious built heritage."

"Prizeman challenges long-held assumptions about Carnegie Libraries by arguing that their environmental performance was was more significant than their function as libraries."

Reserve a spot by registering with Eventbrite

(This talk will not be livestreamed - please attend in-person)