Library News & Service Updates

Join us for our monthly music and performance event, 'Sound at Central'.

The extraordinary life of the radical MP you’ve never heard of… In 1929, Jennie Lee left her coal-mining family in Scotland to become Westminster's youngest MP - so young that, as a woman, she couldn't even vote for herself.

John shares his BBC Radio journey, from The Archers to political programs, Pebble Mill in Birmingham, and local stations in Derby and Nottingham, including interviews with celebrities like Dame Joan Collins and memories with Spike Milligan.

Explore Jonathan's dynamic career as a decorated police officer, spanning thirty years and culminating in the Community Police Officer of the Year Award, showcased through his captivating books, insightful columns, and passion for aviation and history.

Discover the impact of journalism on crafting gripping crime thrillers: an insight into Mark's authorial approach and research techniques.

Carol Thompson will be reading from her children's book 'My Daddy's a Silly Monkey' and facilitating a creative craft session for children.

What makes a great short story? Frances Thimann and Giselle Leeb discuss this versatile form and some of their favourite stories.

Fantasy stories come from the imagination, but what about ghosts? Are they fantasy or real? Let's create worlds, create people, create situations where you might find ghosts, but find out how to stay within credible boundaries when writing stories; making the imaginary realisti

Nottingham born creative writing facilitator Fiona, reads a couple of her autobiographical pieces and invites you to join her in a workshop modelling how to begin your own mini memoirs. Perhaps you can use her title as a life mantra to promote well-being? Come along to reflect upon an important snapshot of time in your life.

Tahmima Anam’s grandfather, Abul Mansur Ahmed, was born in a village in colonial India, and went on to become a political satirist and short story writer. In this lecture, she will explore themes of identity and storytelling through the lens of inheritance, both familial and national.

Chris McCormick will be discussing these forces as two colliding ends of a central pressurizing machine, intent on revealing the innermost soul of a character. Although the lecture will include examples ranging from Anton Chekhov to Kazuo Ishiguro to Leslie Nneka Arimah, he’s particularly interested in these forces within the cultural contexts of immigrant and diasporic writers like Bharati Mukherjee and Bernard Malamud. Because Mukherjee was a teacher of Chris, and because Malamud was a teacher of hers, the lecture will also include a thread about mentorship in the art form. Lastly, he’ll discuss the application of these theories to his own short stories, where thematic and aesthetic questions have been shaped by his Armenian heritage.