Nottingham's new and long-awaited Central Library opened on November 28th 2023. Take a look:
Saturday 16 December 2023
Friday 1 September 2023
Writing and Literature Courses
Learn about different elements of writing such as narration, description, dialogue, voicing internal thoughts and action. Discover how to draft and edit, and write with purpose.
Creative Writing - Short Stories for Beginners - Mansfield Central Library
11 September - 16 October 2023, Mondays: 1pm - 3pm, FREE - £36
This course is a relaxed exploration of short stories, including writing practice. It includes finding story ideas and creating characters, as well as how to structure and develop your stories.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Exploring Nottinghamshire Writers – Mansfield Woodhouse Library
2 September - 17 October 2023, Tuesdays: 2pm - 4pm, FREE
Develop your creative writing skill by exploring the work of Nottinghamshire authors from different eras and cultures.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - How to Write for Children - Newark Buttermarket
12 September - 17 October 2023, Tuesdays: 2pm - 4pm, FREE - £36
This course is for anyone who wants to understand more about children’s books. It provides the opportunity to try your hand at writing for different ages and reading stages.
13 September - 18 October 2023, Wednesdays: 1pm - 3pm, FREE - £36
The course is for people who want to try out creative writing for the first time. We will focus on short writing exercises using pictures, different topics and prompts.
Details and booking
In Other Words - Developing your Poetry Writing - Beeston Library
14 September - 19 October 2023, Thursdays: 1pm - 3pm, FREE - £36
The course is aimed at beginners and those who have done some poetry writing but are not consistently published and will focus on developing learners’ skills so that they become more confident and are able take their poetry writing to the next level.
Details and booking
Creative Writing for Beginners - Newark Buttermarket
14 September - 19 October 2023, Thursdays: 2pm - 4pm, FREE - £36
This course is for people who want to try out creative writing for the first time. We will focus on short writing exercises, and also use images and prompts to kickstart your writing.
Details and booking
Grammar and Punctuation Explained - Online Course
14 September - 12 October 2023, Thursdays: 9:30am - 11:30am, FREE - £30
If you could never understand the difference between a colon and a semi colon, or between their and there and they’re, then this is the course for you!
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Polish Your Writing Skills - Arnold Library
15 September - 20 October 2023, Fridays: 6pm - 8pm, FREE - £36
You will learn about different elements of writing such as narration, description, dialogue, voicing internal thoughts and action. They will look at the use of language in detail, considering how to draft and edit, and write with purpose.
Details and booking
19 September - 17 October 2023, Tuesdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £30
This course offers you the opportunity to use colours to start and develop poetry and/or prose.
Details and booking
DH Lawrence and Nottinghamshire - Eastwood Library
21 September 2023, Thursday 10am - 12pm, FREE - £30
Discover DH Lawrence’s time in Nottinghamshire, from his childhood in Eastwood and his education in Nottingham, to his many other links to various places within the county.
Details and booking
Exploring Nottinghamshire's Literary Locations - Arnold Library
23 September - 14 October 2023, Saturdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £24
Nottinghamshire is awash with literary locations from the Arboretum to the Zara building. In this course you’ll discover many of the places that have influenced the life and work of our writers.
Details and booking
Work with our skilled writing expert to create your first piece of prose or a poem based on the theme ‘Where would I like to be in 2 years’ time?’
Details and booking
Take a look at the poet Lord Byron’s connections to Nottinghamshire. We explore why, as a boy, he first came to Nottingham, and explore his links with Newstead, Annesley, Southwell, Newark and Hucknall.
Details and booking
Discover DH Lawrence’s time in Nottinghamshire, from his childhood in Eastwood and his education in Nottingham, to his many other links to various places within the county.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Exploring Nottinghamshire Authors - Ravenshead Library
21 October - 11 November 2023, Saturdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE
Develop your creative writing skill by exploring the work of Nottinghamshire authors from different eras and cultures.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Fireside Stories - Online Course
6 November - 11 December 2023, Mondays: 9:30am - 11:30am, FREE - £36
Considering atmospheric stories told around a fire, you will create your own fireside story.
Details and booking
Creative Writing Short Stories - Next Steps - Mansfield Central Library
6 November - 11 December 2023, Tuesdays: 1pm - 3pm, FREE - £36
If you want to find out what it takes to write a publishable short story, this course is for you.
Details and booking
Getting Cosy with Poetry - Bingham Library
7 November - 12 December 2023, Tuesdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £36
As the blazing days of Autumn give way to the longer nights of winter, we often reflect on the seasons: what it means to the natural world as it prepares to rest, and what it means to us.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Writing a Children's Story - Newark Buttermarket
7 November - 12 December 2023m Tuesdays: 2pm - 4pm, FREE – £36
This is an intermediate course. It is helpful to have done the previous Inspire course How to Write for Children.
Details and booking
Creative Writing Next Steps - Online Delivery
8 November - 13 December 2023, Wednesdays: 1pm - 3pm, FREE - £36
This course will help build on foundations from the beginners' course or for those who already have some experience in writing and need a refresher. Come and try techniques used to “keep a reader interested”. This course will also help you with your writing ability as a hobby or for publication.
Details and booking
Getting Cosy with Poetry - Southwell Library
9 November - 14 December 2023, Thursdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £36
As the blazing days of Autumn give way to the longer nights of winter, we often reflect on the seasons: what it means to the natural world as it prepares to rest, and what it means to us.
Details and booking
Discover the poet Lord Byron’s connections to Nottinghamshire. We explore why, as a boy, he first came to Nottingham, and explore his links with Newstead, Annesley, Southwell, Newark and Hucknall.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Short Stories for Beginners - Stapleford Library
9 November - 14 December 2023, Thursdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £36
Do you want to write short stories but don’t know where to start? Or have you been writing short stories for a while yet would appreciate a helping hand? This course is a relaxed exploration of short stories, including writing practice. The course includes finding story ideas and creating characters as well as how to structure and develop your short stories.
Details and booking
Creative Writing for Beginners - Next Steps - Newark Buttermarket
9 November - 14 December 2023, Thursdays: 2pm - 4pm, FREE - £36
This course is for people who want to try out creative writing for the first time. We will focus on short writing exercises, and also use images and prompts to kickstart your writing.
Details and booking
Creative Writing - Fireside Stories - Arnold Library
10 November - 15 December 2023, Fridays: 6pm - 8pm, FREE - £36
Join this course and consider atmospheric stories told around a fire, looking at origins and development, to create your own fireside story.
Details and booking
Exploring Detective Fiction - West Bridgford Library
11 - 25 November 2023, Saturdays: 10am - 12pm, FREE - £18
Do you enjoy detective stories? Would you like to learn about the history of detective fiction and discover new sleuths? If so, don your deerstalkers and join a published crime writer for an enjoyable exploration of detective fiction, from the early days of real crime and the introduction of the detective novel to modern crime thrillers.
Details and booking
Saturday 26 November 2022
In Search of James Prior
In the new publication from Spokesman Books, In Search of James Prior, Ailish D’Arcy has rediscovered one of the great Nottinghamshire writers, 100 years after his death.
In this study, James Prior emerges as an accomplished poet and novelist with a body of work that has been neglected for too long, a man who made a contribution to the study of Notts dialect that is unsurpassed.
On Saturday 26th November 2022, Bingham erected its first ever blue plaques. Prior’s two Bingham homes, on Fisher Lane and The Banks, now proudly mark where he lived and wrote his great novels between 1891 and 1922.
There’s also an exhibition inside Bingham Library.
Ailish D'Arcy with John Baird |
Publisher Tony Simpson reading from Forest Folk
It was on Mapperley Road near the centre of Nottingham that
Prior was born. His first major novel, Renie, opens in Bingham (Bawton), and
the local connections keep coming.
Ripple and Flood features Caythorpe and Hoveringham (both
renamed) in a story about Prior’s beloved river, the “smug and silver Trent”.
Forest Folk is set around the Blidworth countryside during an eventful period of history that covers the Napoleonic Wars and Luddite riots.
Hyssop, his weakest book, is set in Burton Joyce.
A Walking Gentleman, which includes a ramble that passes
through Notts, is the story of a gentleman who decamped on the eve of his
wedding, making escape from the “madding crowd” and encountering many strange
adventures on the way.
Fortuna Chance features Sherwood Forest.
Prior's grave |
In Search of James Prior is available from Five Leaves Bookshop and The Bookcase in Lowdham, priced £7.
Bingham finally pays tribute to Prior |
Wednesday 16 November 2022
Exploring Detective Fiction
A new Inspire course starts Sunday 20th November at West Bridgford Library.
Here's the LINK to book your place
Do you enjoy detective stories? Would you like to learn about the history of detective fiction and discover new sleuths? If so, don your deerstalkers and join a published crime writer for an enjoyable exploration of detective fiction, from the early days of real crime and the introduction of the detective novel to modern crime thrillers.
What will be covered on the course?
- You’ll be guided through the history of this most popular genre. Whilst looking at the life and work of the most famous crime writers, we’ll also feature groundbreaking novels as you get to share your favourites, discussing different books and characters, including TV crime dramas.
- Beginning with the origins of detective fiction, from Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin and his influence on that most famous of detectives, Sherlock Holmes, through the interwar years of Britain’s Golden Age, of Christie et al., and America’s Hardboiled PIs like Philip Marlowe, to today’s best-sellers, we will investigate the characteristics of the great detective novel in all its forms, and consider why the genre remains so widely read and appreciated.
Sunday 30 October 2022
Adult Reading Scheme
Inspire are offering adults free 1-to-1
help with their reading
1 in 6 adults* in England never learnt to read when they were younger.
There may be many reasons for this, but the good news is that it’s never too late to learn and there are people who can help. By learning to read, adults improve their employment opportunities, confidence and self-esteem, and general well-being. Many adults are also motivated by wanting to be able to read with their children or grandchildren and there's now help to develop these skills.
How it works
Inspire will match a local adult who wishes to improve their reading to a volunteer coach and arrange for them to meet each week in one of he Notts libraries to work through a reading manual designed for adults. You would start with the basics and then as your confidence grows you'll be given more support to access some of the beginner reading books from the libraries.
Who is it for?
This scheme is suitable for any adult who wants to learn to read English. Whatever a person’s starting point they will go back to basics and work at their own pace.
This scheme is not intended for adults learning English as a second language, Inspire would instead recommend one of their Inspire Adult Learning ESOL courses as being more appropriate.
Where would it be held?
Readers and coaches will meet in one of the Notts Inspire libraries. Currently the scheme is offered at
A weekly hour-long, 1:1 session will take place in a quiet corner of the library. Readers will not be over-looked but there will be other people around.
If there are any additional requirements, these will discussed this with both the reader and the coach before the first session.
How long will it take?
Reading sessions will take place for an hour each week at a time that suits the coach and reader.
Inspire will initially set up the sessions for 10 weeks and then review this. Some people may complete the course in as little as nine months for others it may take longer.
Tuesday 16 August 2022
Charles Birkin #NottsWriters
During the Second World War he served as a Captain in the
Sherwood Foresters and married the Australian actress Janet Johnson. Their son,
John Birkin, directed/produced many TV comedies including Mr. Bean, French and
Saunders, and Harry Enfield's Television Programme.
It wasn’t until 1963 that Birkin resumed his writing career
after being contacted by Hutchinson (Stanley Middleton’s publisher) requesting
new stories. Nearly 100 stories followed, in seven collections, from The Kiss
of Death (1964) to Spawn of Satan (1971). They now fetch quite a fee, though
they come with a warning, Birkin writing of murder, rape, torture, mutilation
and concentration camps. His prize-winning story Fairy Dust was admired by Noel
Coward, and, according to Mike Ashley (not that one), writing in 1999, “invokes
the darker side of Peter Pan and Never-Never Land.”
There's a warning on the cover: 'Not For the Squimish!' |
In the early 1970s Birkin lived in Cyprus, fleeing after the Turkish invasion, an experience he reflects upon in A Low Profile (1977). Birkin and his wife retired to Sulby on the Isle of Man.
Wednesday 13 April 2022
Cecil Roberts #NottsWriters
Cecil Roberts (1892-1976) |
“At 15, with a mother and myself to keep, I began writing,” said Roberts after his father died suddenly. Working as a weights and measures inspector he learned to operate a typewriter, using it to type out poems and articles. In 1912, after winning the annual Henry Kirke White prize with his long poem The Trent, Roberts had five books of verse published in five years, then, “I had a living to earn with my pen, and turned to more remunerative work,” he said.
Reflecting in later life, he wrote: “The beginning was tough but I was never a beatnik nor saw any merit in the kitchen sink” (he hated Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning). “In this marvellous world all my writing has been an expression of joy in the journey.”
After work as a war correspondent, and alongside work as a journalist and editor at the Nottingham Journal (he welcomed Graham Greene to Nottingham), it was the success of his first novel Scissors (1923) that launched his career as a novelist.
John Betjeman wrote: “Many a more pretentious author could take a lesson from Mr Cecil Roberts. He writes with a trained journalist’s gift of readability…he can tell a story.”
Pilgrim Cottage presents a picture of Russia in the first enthusiasm of the revolution, contrasted with traditional England.
Cecil Roberts was a snob and a proper name-dropper, but it’s for good reason that he had a room named after him at Angel Row’s Central Library and he was the first Nottingham novelist to become a Freeman of the City. His novels often skillfully blend history, information and romance. If we ever enter another lockdown, try his five volume autobiography, too, when Roberts' incredible memory comes into its own.