Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival 2025
 The 2025 Lambeth Readers and Writers Festival is back with a series of inspirational events to suit all tastes. Whether you enjoy reading, writing, discussions, or simply sitting back and listening. Come and join us and express yourself! You’ll be amazed at the fun you can have in your local library.
 Wednesday 7 May, 6.30pm
Lambeth Archives. SW2 1ET
Booking via Eventbrite
Join Shakespearean actor/director Adjoa Andoh. Adjoa will be giving a selection of her favourite readings from Shakespeare’s plays.
 Tuesday 13 May, 7pm
Carnegie Library, SE24 0DG
Bookings via Eventbrite
Join Louise to discuss From There to Here, her poetry collection exploring, with painful honesty, how a sibling relationship is shattered. Event organised by the Friends of Carnegie Library.
 Thursday 15 May, 6.30pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Booking via Eventbrite
Join Funmi Fetto and Emma Dabiri to discuss the launch of Hail Mary, Funmi’s powerful new collection of short stories.
 Saturday 17 May, 2pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Booking via Eventbrite
Join International Booker shortlisted author Vincent Delecroix to discuss Small Boat, a shocking, moral tale of our times, reminding us of the power of fiction to illuminate our darkest crimes.
 Tuesday 20 May, 6.30pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Booking via Eventbrite
Romance fiction is evolving beyond traditional tropes to explore identity, empowerment and unconventional love. This panel will discuss how modern love stories reflect cultural shifts, challenge stereotypes and give agency to diverse characters. Join BBC Radio 1Xtra Radio Presenter Fee Mak, Sareeta Domingo, Nadia El-Fassi and Taylor-Dior Rumble.
 Wednesday 21 May, 6.30pm
West Norwood Library, SE27 9JU
Booking via Eventbrite
Join Celia Silvani to discuss Baby Teeth - a story about the choices mothers make between having it all and losing everything.
 Friday 23 May, 7pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Booking via Eventbrite
Chris Salewicz wrote for the NME from 1975 to 1981 and was an intimate friend of Joe Strummer throughout. Join him to discuss all things Clash and Strummer.
 Tuesday 27 May, 6.30pm
Streatham Library. SW16 1PN
Booking via Eventbrite
Join Madeline Potter to discuss The Roma, a profoundly personal portrait of a people and their on-going journey.
 May has so much more, with reading groups discussing Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein (Friday 9 May) and The Love That Dares: An Anthology of Queer Love Letters (Friday 30 May), and if writing is your thing, don't miss out on The Role of a Literary Agent with Judith Murray (Monday 19 May) or if you want to give performance a try, we have an Open Mic with Tony B (24 May) for budding poets and spoken word artists.
 The festival runs into June with more writers, workshops and discussions... check out the brochure for a full listing.
For all bookings please visit Lambeth Libraries Eventbrite page.
Exhibitions
 Showing Saturday 3 to Friday 30 May
Brixton Library, SW2 1JQ
Exhibition available during Library opening hours
This exhibition, by students from BA Hons Painting at Camberwell College of Arts, explores the relationship between painting and poetry, word and image.
Exhibition Launch and Private View
Tuesday 6 May, 6pm
 During the Festival, guest poets Lola Oh, Akhera Williams and Leo Boix will be hosting workshops for students and the public sharing their own ways of working with word and image.
Book for workshops via Eventbrite
 Showing until Saturday 17 May
Durning Library, SE11 4HF.
Exhibition available during Library opening hours.
An exhibition of collages by Estefania Araujo Bianchi, a Buenos Aires-born, London-based visual artist whose work moves fluidly across collage, photography, printmaking, and textiles.
A graduate of the University of the Arts London (MA Printmaking, 2014), her practice explores memory, materiality, and the layered nature of personal and collective histories.
Further information:
www.estefaniaaraujo.com
 Showing until Friday 17 May.
Lambeth Archives, SW2 1ET
Exhibition available during Archive opening hours
A free exhibition at Lambeth Archives curated by Adesuwa Africa Charitable Foundation, including artists Melody Osagie and Sonia Ogbebor.
 Images: Celia Martin Perez, Edwina Hannam, Kate Newington and Patricia O'Malley
Showing until July
Clapham Library, SW4 7DB
Exhibition available during Library opening hours
MAG (Monday Art Group) is a group of five South London based, professional and recreational artists.
Further information:
edwinahannam@btinternet.com
celiamartinperez@googlemail.com |
|
Other Library Events and Activities
 Saturday 3 May, 11.30am and 2pm
Lambeth Archives. SW2 1ET
Booking via OutSavvy
Lambeth Archives are delighted to be working with Lambeth Links and independent Creative Practitioner Dan de la Motte to present this event.
Are you or have you ever been an LGBTQ+ Lambeth resident? Have you attended any Pride Marches that feature the borough? It could be Pride in London, UK Black Pride, Night Pride or EuroPride, which started in Brockwell Park in 1992!
What are your memories of Pride? What are your souvenirs or mementos? What are or were your outfits? Do you have any photos to share? We want to hear from you! Come along to one of the sharing events and help build Lambeth's LGBTQ+ representation in our Archive.
 Tuesday 13 May, 5pm to 7.30pm
Brixton Library, SW2 1JQ
Saturday 24 May, 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm
Streatham Library, SW16 1PN
Booking for all performances via Eventbrite
With a fantastic cast of performers, this interactive performance takes you into dimensions you have never seen, forcing you to consider the sometimes uneasy question of “what is needed to improve the lives of Black and Brown men in the UK?”
 Saturday 24 May, from 10am
Booking via links below. £5 fee per tour.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the London Borough of Lambeth, Lambeth Archives, in partnership with the Clapham and the Streatham Societies, has coordinated a triple “beating of the bounds” of the ancient parishes of Lambeth Clapham and Streatham – which are now combined within the modern borough.
The two walks and one bike tour all take place on Saturday May 24th, the day before Rogation Sunday, the day in the old church calendar when these ceremonies would take place in medieval times. Our tours in 2025, rather than beating small boys to make them remember the locations of parish boundary markers, will be led by knowledgeable and unthreatening local historians. Each tour starts at 10am with regular pauses to learn about the history of the area and with a break for lunch. The Lambeth parish tour is 16 miles by bike. The Clapham tour and the Streatham parish tours are 9 and 6.5 miles respectively on foot.
For more information, timings, start and finish points, book via Eventbrite at:
Lambeth cycle tour booking
Clapham walk booking
Streatham walk booking
 Thursday 29 May, 6.30pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Booking via Eventbrite
In the wake of the first Benjamin Zephaniah's International Day on 12 April, the Friends of Brixton Library are pleased to invite you to this celebration of Benjamin Zephaniah. We will look at the impact of his poetry, and generally speaking of his persona, on young artists, how this translates in their art, influences their surroundings and ultimately influences us all.
 Thursdays Fortnightly 10.30am to 11.30am. Online
Join us for a book at breakfast - a place to relax, a chance to make new friends and a new way to share reading.
You don’t have to read anything. You can simply drop in and enjoy having a good story or poem read to you - and chat about whatever you like.
For further info and Online joining links contact Sophia on email: sneizerawuku@lambeth.gov.uk
Events for Children, Young People and Families
 Thursday 1 May, 2pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
New parent? Come along to make a zine and do crafts and collaging with your baby. This month we will be finishing off our group zine – come along to make your page or send a submission (deadline 18 May) to Colette. The group zine will be presented at the Lambeth Zine fair in June. For more info and submissions, contact Colette at ctownend2@lambeth.gov.uk.
 Saturday 3 and 17 May, 11am to 1pm
Brixton Library. SW2 1JQ
Brixton Immortals Domino Club are running free workshops at Brixton Library in preparation for a Windrush Junior Dominoes tournament. The contest will take place in Brixton library in the run-up to Windrush Day on 22 June. It will celebrate cultural heritage, community engagement, and showcase strategic thinking, as well as being an exciting opportunity for young players to demonstrate their skills and compete in a structured setting.
 Thursday 22 May
All Lambeth Libraries
On Thursday 22 May, children all over the UK will dedicate the day to the magic of reading in the comfort of their pyjamas. Come along to your local library, with children (and maybe yourself!) suitably dressed, and join in all the pyjama fun! Speak to your local library about local plans.
 Fridays through to June
West Norwood Library, SE27 9JU
Booking via Website
Join us for these new exiting opportunities for 11 to 15 year-olds. The Dream BiG Performing Arts bring two programmes where young people can express themselves through either music or drama whilst coming together to have fun and develop key personal and social skills. Both projects will integrate to produce a short film around the important subject of Joint Enterprise/Guilty by Association to educate our youth about the law. Through this exciting project, all participants will develop important transferable life skills and a change mindset to positive outlooks with inspirational role models to help open doors!
Dream BiG Music Creation Workshop, Fridays, 5.15pm to 6.30pm
Dream BiG Urban Films Club, Fridays, 6.45pm to 8pm
Please register for one of these exciting projects by completing this registration form. If you have any enquiries, please contact us either by telephone on 0208 676 3480 or email info@bigcic.org
 Streatham Library. Tuesdays, 4pm.
Brixton Library. Wednesdays, 4pm.
West Norwood Library. Wednesdays, 4pm.
Minet Library. Third Monday of each month, 4pm.
Carnegie Library. Last Monday of each month, 4pm.
Calling all book-loving youngsters aged 7 to 11 - come and chatter, get involved in fun and creative activities and choose new books to read.
From our Friends
 Wednesday 14 May, 7pm
198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, SE24 0JT
Fee £5. Booking via Eventbrite
Throwing the spotlight on the work of pioneering black women in the arts in Britain whose stories need to be told.
 Lambeth Libraries are supporting this year’s prize - browse and borrow the titles from your library.
|
