The Ambassador and the Guardian Angel

23 November 2023

The Ambassador and the Guardian Angel

I said hello to Lilly the dog, whose eyes closed in contentment as I gave her sweet face a pet. “It’s so nice to see you again,” I said, and I meant it.

Author N West Moss offers a slice of Hawarden life, after spending a month in the community

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Shakespeare and Gladstone's Library - Four Hundred Years on from the First Folio

21 November 2023

Shakespeare and Gladstone's Library - Four Hundred Years on from the First Folio

Shakespeare and Gladstone’s Library – Four Hundred Years on from the First Folio Picture a November in 1623. Two actors, John Heminges and Henry…
The Book that Wasn't Written by a Writer

10 November 2023

The Book that Wasn't Written by a Writer

Peter Stanley is 90 years old, lives in Boughton, Chester, and is adamant that he is not a writer. Despite that, he has written and self-published a book, KISS: A Meditation on the Art of Wellbeing by Keeping It Simple, a part memoir, part self-help book based on his own life.

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Escaping the pitfalls of 3pm...

23 October 2023

Escaping the pitfalls of 3pm...

“These hours alone, stretched and prepared by all that came before them, seem limber enough to hold new words. At the end of a good day, duration disappears.”

by Jude Piesse

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Vaulted Ceilings and Well-Stocked Stacks

11 September 2023

Vaulted Ceilings and Well-Stocked Stacks

It turns out the ideal, for me at least, isn’t a room of one’s own: it’s a room of one’s own in a residential library and also a desk in said library’s nineteenth-century reading room. A blog by writer Laura Evans

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An alcove of your own with Margarita Gokun Silver

2 June 2023

An alcove of your own with Margarita Gokun Silver

“I came to Gladstone’s Library to finish the first draft of a play (hence the obsessive play reading), and by the end of my stay, I had all ninety-eight pages of it written, typed, and sent out for an initial read to those of my writer friends who don’t mind an occasional typo. I have never in my life been this productive.”

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A View from the Audience

13 February 2023

A View from the Audience

Welcome to Gladstone’s Library – a haven of respite in a busy life. Train to Chester, bus to Hawarden, such a warm greeting at the door. By Jill Courtnell 

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Christmas Letter From the Warden

16 December 2022

Christmas Letter From the Warden

The Christmas Newsletter this year is a chance for me to say thank you to you all for your support and commitment to the Library.

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Ancient English Christmas Carols

7 December 2022

Ancient English Christmas Carols

In this blog we’d like to highlight an item and writer from the collection, Ancient English Christmas carols, 1400-1700, collected by Edith Rickert

(by James, Reading Room Assistant)

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Being Together Alone - by author Guy Stagg

2 December 2022

Being Together Alone - by author Guy Stagg

I knew from the start where I wanted to sit…  So, each day I made sure I was the first person to arrive, occupying the spot before anyone else could claim it.

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