by Amy Sumner | Friday, 11th October 2019
A couple of nights ago, at my Q&A event at the Library, an audience member asked a question along the lines of: If I cared about climate change, why wasn’t I writing political slogans instead of poems? A good question in these times of heightened worry for our world and our environment, and one that I answered briefly at the time, but which I think is very important to address more fully too.
by Amy Sumner | Tuesday, 08th October 2019
Every few years, there is a gathering of a unique set of clans. In the UK, they are called ‘independent libraries’, while in the US they are ‘member libraries’; in Australia, they are ‘mechanics institutes’. All are libraries that make their own way in the world, with small budgets and even smaller staff numbers.
by Amy Sumner | Tuesday, 08th October 2019
Happy Libraries Week!
From 7th to 11th October, libraries of all kinds across the country will be celebrating the valuable work we do and the valuable spaces and collections (and readers!) we look after.
by Amy Sumner | Monday, 16th September 2019
We are delighted to announce the names of the five winners of our Writers in Residence award and the two winners of our Politics in Residence prize 2020.
by Amy Sumner | Thursday, 12th September 2019
Did you know that Gladstone's Library is a member of the Independent Libraries Association?
by Amy Sumner | Wednesday, 11th September 2019
At Gladstone’s Library, we know Virginia Woolf’s quote, ‘one cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well’ to be true.
by Amy Sumner | Wednesday, 28th August 2019
Perhaps you have encountered ‘lending libraries’ in the far corners of the Hebrides or on the bays of Cornwall. These could take the guise of a box perched on somebody’s wall, a wheelbarrow sprouting copies of childhood classics or those big red boxes with well-worn coin inlets, repurposed for reading and the exchange of ideas.
by Amy Sumner | Monday, 29th July 2019
In an age of single use and throw-away products, we can often find ourselves yearning for something with a sense of permanence. No sooner have we bought the newest, shiniest iPhone than Apple releases the newer, shinier version, rendering our new phone a technologically competent, but intrinsically second-best space-filler. The same is true of cars, of clothes, of practically everything manufactured these days. The only thing that seems not to fit this mould? Books.