Hello
This month we're bringing you a colourful selection of delights to enjoy, including a celebration of International Women's Day, Women's History Month, LGBT+ History Month, Mini Playboxes, Leeds Lit Fest, Start-up Day and much more... your library is the place to be!
If you're not already, please make sure you're following us on social media to get the latest news and see what we're up to.
 Starting up? Start here!
Join our Business & IP Centre for a jam-packed day of free business support at Start-up Day. We’ll be joined by experts and inspirational speakers (including an Apprentice winner!) who’ll be sharing their start-up journeys, top tips and guidance to help you get your business off to a flying start.
Start-up Day will take place in the beautiful Tiled Hall Café and will include a range of talks, activities and support to take your ideas further.
Register for the event on 22 February here: bit.ly/SUDLeeds
If you're looking for extra information around starting or growing your own business, you can call the team on 0113 378 6010. If you'd prefer you can also email bipcleeds@leeds.gov.uk or sign-up to the BIPC newsletter.
 CreativeMind
Various Locations, March 2023
Hosted by Leeds Libraries, CreativeMind is a jam-packed programme of events taking place throughout the entire month of March.
Here are some of our highlights:
 Positive Patches – Embroidery Workshops
Otley Community Hub & Library, Thursday 9 March, 2pm
Moor Allerton Community Hub & Library, Saturday 18 March, 1:30pm
Take some time out to unwind and stitch your own positive message, inspirational quote, or feminist phrase. Artist Hayley Mills-Styles will guide you through the basics of cross stitch to create your own personal piece of embroidery.
Book your ticket.
Yes! You can Draw
Headingley Community Hub & Library, Tuesday 14 March, 5.30pm
Develop your creative skills with an introduction to drawing taster session, led by Boris Cruse.
Book your ticket.
Introduction to Printmaking - Learn Linocut
Pudsey Library in Pudsey Community Hub, Saturday 18 March, 10.30am
In this relaxing session with Megan Dobbyn you will be taught the basics of Linocut printing, inspired by women in Leeds Libraries collections.
Book your ticket.
Life & Legacy of Artist Elaine Cooper
Drawing Room, Leeds Central Library, Saturday 18 March, 1.30pm
Elaine Cooper was a talented and versatile artist, an expert on art history with a keenly critical eye. Her artistic career spanned decades during which she worked as a fashion artist, taught at the Leeds Polytechnic, and created hundreds of beautiful drawings and paintings. Local artist, Lydia Rain, invites us to celebrate her aunt Elaine Cooper’s life as many of her works on paper are newly deposited with Leeds Libraries Collections, ensuring her legacy lives on.
Book your ticket.
Children & Families
A rainbow spectrum of events and play for young readers.
 Introducing Mini Playbox
Various Locations
Leeds Libraries' colourful Mini Playboxes are packed with fun and engaging self-serve activities for children under five and their families to enjoy in the library.
Each box has six drawers full of open ended play activities which can then be recreated at home with objects you are likely to already have in the house, this open ended play supports early speech and language development, numeracy skills and encourages creative play.
Find a Mini Playbox in a Library near you.
 Little Listeners: Mini Vixen
Half term at libraries across Leeds
Based on the music and story of Janáček’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen and led by a cast of professional opera singers and musicians, expect an interactive and relaxed concert where singing and moving around is encouraged.
Book your ticket.
Superheroes Save The Day
Half term at libraries across Leeds
Turn yourself into a Stupendous Superhero with the help of your imagination and our magic masks!
Book your ticket.
Leeds Lit Fest
This month sees the return of Leeds Lit Fest. Leeds Libraries are host to the children and families programme with exciting events celebrating STEAM. An opportunity to meet bestselling authors and illustrators including Kate Pankhurst, Saviour Pirotta, Bethan Woollvin, Alex Falase-Koya, Paula Bowles and Lucy Hawking.
Join in at Libraries across Leeds from Saturday 25 February and a full day of science and books at Leeds Central Library on Saturday 4 March. Tickets are going fast, you can also drop in on the day to have a go at quizzes and craft activities.
View the full Leeds Lit Fest family friendly offer brought to you by Leeds Libraries here and some of our highlights below:
For updates on family friendly activities and events sign-up to Leeds Libraries Newsletters for Children and Families or visit our events page.
Literary Events
Find exciting author talks and events across Leeds as part of Leeds Lit Fest, CreativeMind and Publication Day.
Explore the Contemporary Gothic
Carriageworks Theatre, Saturday 25 February, various times
For those of you who like the darker things in life, join Leeds Lit Fest for a series of events to help you explore to contemporary gothic and talk horror, the uncanny, and the just plain weird. There are workshops, panel discussions and in-conversation events with a stellar list of award-winning writers including Dan Coxon, Lucie McKnight Hardy, Catriona Ward, Mark Morris and Alison Littlewood, so there’s plenty to get your teeth into.
Find full details of each event and book tickets here.
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Lemn Sissay – My Name Is Why
Carriageworks Theatre, Friday 3 March, 8pm
A rare chance to see poet, playwright, memoirist, performer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay OBE, who has performed his work all over the world and won the PEN Pinter Prize in 2019 after his memoir My Name is Why topped The Sunday Times bestseller chart. The book, which tells his life story, is infused with all the lyricism and power you would expect from one of the nation’s best-loved poets. This moving, frank and timely performance is the result of a life spent asking questions, and the redemptive power of creativity.
Tickets for this special show are available here.
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In Conversation with Gwendoline Riley
Leeds Central Library, Thursday 16 March, 6:00pm
Join prize-winning author Gwendoline Riley as she discusses her highly-acclaimed most recent novel.
Gwendoline Riley will discuss her novel about a tense mother/daughter relationship with Sarah Tyson from Books Up North.
Book your ticket.
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Celebrating Publication Day with author J. M. Hall
Riversmeet Café in Methley, Thurdsay 30 March, 6:30pm
Celebrate the launch of J.M Hall’s sequel to his bestselling cosy crime debut ‘A Spoonful of Murder’. In ‘A Pen Dipped in Poison’, retired schoolteachers Liz, Pat and Thelma are back at their usual table at the Thirsk Garden Centre café with a brand-new mystery to solve…
Book your ticket.
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Sign-up to the Readers' Group newsletter if you would like book recommendations, support with your Readers Group, and to find out about future author events.
Read, Talk, Share
Reading Well helps you to understand and manage your health and wellbeing using reading.
The books are all chosen and recommended by health experts, as well as people living with the conditions covered and their relatives and carers.
There are five book lists available:
Many of the Reading Well titles are available to borrow as e-books and audiobooks.
Search Leeds Libraries Health Collection books.
 Leodis Celebrates LGBT+ History Month
The Leodis website was relaunched in March 2021 and we are pleased to announce that the LGBT+ Leeds curated gallery is now back.
This was created in 2020 by West Yorkshire Queer Stories as a guide to LGBT+ history in Leeds. Featuring a variety of people, places and protests, the curated gallery includes some long gone Leeds LGBT+ friendly venues.
Take a look at the LGBT+ History Month gallery here.
Volunteer
Help others to enjoy reading as a Reading Friends volunteer. Reading Friends volunteers engage with participants, in their own home or within a community setting, to use reading (in any format) as a way of sparking conversations.
To find out more visit: volunteering-in-libraries
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Thank you for reading our newsletter, we are always happy to welcome you, get in touch or find your local library
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