Archive for August 5, 2010
14 October: Jenny Eclair – Chin Up Britain
1 year ago
Thursday 14 October
Jenny Eclair: Chin Up Britain!
The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ
6.45 – 8pm
Now is the time to embrace a new austerity. Can’t afford a holiday? With coconut sun tan lotion, at least you’ll smell like you’re on holiday. Don’t know what to do with a left-over half a banana? Discard it on the floor of a government-owned building, ‘accidentally’ slip on it and claim compensation. Or why not sell your children on Ebay?Chin Up Britain! brings you helpful and hilarious tips for austere living, including identifying your swappable skills (burying dead animals, tuning a freeview box) and improving manners on public transport. A much-loved stand-up comedian, Perrier Award winner Jenny Eclair is also a successful novelist, and co-creator of the Grumpy Old Women brand.
Tickets: £7 (£5) Includes tea and cake!
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
14 October: Flarestack Poetry Showcase
1 year ago
Thursday 14 October
Flarestack Poetry Showcase
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7-8.45pm
Launched in 2009, Birmingham poetry press Flarestack Poets saw one of its first titles named pamphlet of the year in the prestigious Michael Marks Awards. As well as discussing Flarestack Poets and their plans for the future, co-editors Meredith Andrea and Jacqui Rowe will be introducing readings by the authors of their latest pamphlets. Herb Robert is the stunning debut collection from Laura Seymour, a former Foyle Young Poet of the Year. Nights Sifnos Hands, by internationally acclaimed, award-winning poet Mario Petrucci represents three divertissements from his monumental sequence i tulips, reflecting his devotion and commitment to both science and language.
Tickets:£5 (£4)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October: Philip Barclay – Zimbabwe’s Years of Hope & Despair
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
Philip Barclay : Zimbabwe: Years of Hope & Despair
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.15 – 8.30pm
Arriving to work at the British Embassy in Zimbabwe, Philip Barclay found a temperate paradise and a sophisticated population. Then, during three years in what used to be Africa’s finest country, he saw it ruined by violence and grotesque economic mismanagement.
Zimbabwe’s people voted against Robert Mugabe, but their desire for change was denied by vicious squads loyal to the ageing dictator. In the wake of such terror, the country’s economy collapsed, leading to widespread poverty and disease epidemics that Zimbabwe had not seen in living memory.
Join Philip for a sensitive and perceptive account of Zimbabwe’s turbulent political history.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October : Being a Refugee in Birmingham
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
Being a Refugee in Birmingham
The Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, B3 3HQ
6– 7pm
In Association with Celebrating Sanctuary & Birmingham Libraries
Birmingham has a long history of offering asylum – from Jewish refugees seeking protection from the persecution of eighteenth century Russia to those escaping conflict in Vietnam, the Gulf and the Sudan – or new independent rule in East African nations – in the twentieth century. In the last few years arrivals have increased from Africa, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Seeking asylum is a long and often terrifying process.
Join writers, community workers and refugees for a frank discussion of the refugee community in our city, and the contributions it makes to the artistic and cultural heritage of Birmingham.
Tickets: FREE
Entry is free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
13 October: John O’Farrell – An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain
1 year ago
Wednesday 13 October
John O’ Farrell: An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain: or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.30-8.45pm
An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain is a hilarious ‘how did we end up here?’ which informs, elucidates and laughs at all the bizarre events, ridiculous characters and stupid decisions that have shaped Britain since 1945; leaving the Twenty-First Century reader feeling fantastically smug for having the benefit of hindsight.
John O’Farrell has published three novels, a memoir and three collections of his popular Guardian column. A former scriptwriter for such shows as Spitting Image and Smith and Jones, and founder of the satirical website NewsBiscuit, he can occasionally be spotted on such TV shows as Grumpy Old Men, Newsnight Review and Have I Got News For You.
Introduced by John Dolan.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
12 October: The Life of Thomas Betterton
1 year ago
Tuesday 12 October
David Roberts & Robert Lister : The Life of Thomas Betterton
Library Theatre, Birmingham Central Library, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3HQ
7 – 9pm
Restoration London’s leading actor and theatre manager Thomas Betterton worked with all the best-known playwrights of his age and with the first generation of English actresses. He was also intimately involved in the theatre’s responses to politics. His innovations in scenery and company management, and his association with the dramatic inheritance of Shakespeare, changed the culture of English theatre.
Join Professor David Roberts (author of Thomas Betterton) and Robert Lister (Lewis, The Archers) for a one man play and lively lecture on the life of one of England’s greatest performing artists.
Tickets: £5 (£4)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
12 October: Short Story Competition Prizegiving
1 year ago
Tuesday 12 October
The Birmingham Book Festival’s Short Story Competition: Prizegiving.
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7 – 8pm
Join the winners and runners up along with members of the Birmingham Book Festival team to celebrate the writing produced for the Festival’s first ever short story competition. The theme was ‘Loss’, and readings from the successful entrants will show a wide range of interpretations.
Tickets: FREE
Entry is free but please reserve a place with the box office.
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
With Thanks to:
12 October: Catherine O’Flynn – The News Where You Are
1 year ago
Tuesday 12 October
Catherine O’Flynn : The News Where You Are
Birmingham Conservatoire, Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG
7.30 – 8.45pm
Catherine O’Flynn was born and raised in Birmingham, where her parents ran a sweet shop. She worked briefly in journalism, at a series of shopping centres, as a postwoman and a mystery shopper. Her first novel, What Was Lost, won the 2008 Costa First Novel Award, was longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.
The News Where You Are is her second novel, about a Birmingham TV news presenter haunted by disappearances: the mysterious hit and run that killed his predecessor; the demolition of his father’s post-war brutalist architecture; and the unmarked passing of those who die alone in the city.
Tickets: £6 (£4.50)
Box Office: 0121 303 2323 or BOOK ONLINE
