Pyjamarama is all about celebrating bedtime stories and sharing fantastic books and rhymes.  National Bookstart Week 2019 celebrations take place from 3rd - 9th June.

This year’s copies of Car, Car, Truck, Jeep by Nick Sharratt will be given away FREE  at  library rhymetimes and storytimes across East Sussex during the week.

Discover your closest rhymetime and storytime across East Sussex to join in the fun.

Fun at Home If you can’t make it along to a rhymetime or storytime, you can still take part! There are plenty of Bookstart competitions and games on the Book Trust Website and look out for our video recording of Car, Car, Truck, Jeep on Facebook.

We would like to take the opportunity during Volunteers’ Week to thank all of our volunteers for the wonderful work they do for East Sussex Libraries. The time and commitment our amazing volunteers give to help support library users and staff is hugely appreciated.  We simply couldn't do everything we do without you!

If you'd like to meet new people, learn new skills and give something back to your community, we have a variety of volunteering opportunities from helping people improve their IT skills to delivering books to people unable to visit the library.

For further information and an online application please visit our website or email library.volunteers@eastsussex.gov.uk  

On 5th June the winner of the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction will be announced. Previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Baileys Women's Prize, this prestigious award celebrates excellence and originality in women's writing from around the world.

Chair of the judges professor Kate Williams said: “It’s a fantastic shortlist; exciting, vibrant, adventurous. We fell totally in love with these books and the amazing worlds they created. These books are fiction at its best – brilliant, courageous and utterly captivating.”

Fall in love with the shortlist yourself and discover all the titles at East Sussex Libraries:

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Milkman by Anna Burns

Ordinary People by Diana Evans

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Circe by Madeline Miller

Inspired by one of these brilliant books or unsure why it made the shortlist? Let us know what you think and write a book review. It may even feature in one of our newsletters and entice other library users to read it!

Simon Armitage will be following in the footsteps of the brilliant Carol Ann Duffy as the 21st UK Poet Laureate.

The honorary royal title of Poet Laureate is awarded to a poet whose work is of national significance. This incredible British literary honour began in the 17th Century when John Dryden was given the title by King Charles II.

With his role as Laureate for the next 10 years, Simon wants to inspire young writers by exploring poetry in a "multi-faceted, multi-vocal and multi-media age".

Discover the Simon's brilliant and acclaimed poetry collections on our library catalogue including his recent book Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic which includes much of his previously unpublished work.

This month East Sussex Head of Communications, and regular library user, Warwick reviews The Great Sea by David Abulafia.

"If only all history was this good.

This complete story of the Mediterranean and the peoples who’ve lived around its islands and shores is absorbing and stimulating. From the strange stone temples which appeared on Malta over 5,000 years ago to the modern-day deadlock of Israel and Palestine, the book traces the civilisations rising and falling across the sea which links Africa, Asia and Europe.

You might already know something of the empires of Greece, Rome, Venice and the Ottomans but how about the Phoenicians, Amalfi, Pisa or Catalonia – all naval and cultural powers in their day? The author is a history scholar and his style is lively and lucid. He weaves in the stories of fascinating individuals – pirates, pilgrims and merchants – each of which could make a Hollywood adventure film in their own right, as well as illustrating the great themes of the Mediterranean’s history.

It’s a story that’s best told not just as a political history but through the networks of people criss-crossing the sea in pursuit of trade, conquest, religion, culture or family-life. It’s this approach which holds such a sweep of history together in one book and which makes The Great Sea such an engrossing read."

Reserve your copy from East Sussex Libraries now.

Looking for more reading inspiration? Our librarians review their monthly top five picks for June on the Your East Sussex website.

Inspired by the BAFTAS and want to catch up on the award-winning titles?

Judge them for yourself; visit your local library to discover the best of British film and television including the multi-award winning Killing Eve and the captivating Vanity Fair.

DVDs can be borrowed from as little as £2, and from £3.50 for the latest releases.