Bromley House Library

4th - 10th October is Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week UK is an annual celebration of the right to read freely in the UK and beyond. At a time where books are being increasingly challenged, taken off shelves or targeted due to the ideas they hold, Banned Books Week UK brings literature lovers together to celebrate the freedom to read.

The annual event encourages everyone to take part – from readers and writers to libraries, schools, and bookshops.

Members may notice some ‘censored’ books around the library during this week, as we call attention to some of the titles in our collection that are currently facing challenges, censorship or bans somewhere in the world. Highlighted titles include The Silver Bone by Andrey Kurkov, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and China Dream by Ma Jian.

If you encounter any of our ‘banned’ books in the wild while browsing the library, you’ll also find some additional information regarding how, where, and why these works are facing censorship. And of course, you are free to read the books, in the library or at home!

Find out more about Banned Books Week UK at:
https://www.indexoncensorship.org/bannedbooksweek/

About today...we welcomed the brilliant investigative journalist John Sweeney to talk about his latest book The Real Nigel Farage - A Would Be Prime Minister On Trial. Superb interview by Martin Fitzgerald Martin Fitzgerald and a fantastic array of audience questions.

September Non-Fiction has landed! 📚

As we head into Autumn, there are so many new titles for Bromley House Library members to enjoy 🍂

Here are just a few of the books our team are looking forward to sharing with members this season.

If you are interested in becoming a library member, head to: www.bromleyhouse.org/membership

Could you help write the next chapter in the life of Bromley House Library by joining our board of trustees? Spread the word as we are keen to hear from people with a background in heritage and capital project management, fundraising and/or strong networks within the arts and literature sectors. Find out more here https://bromleyhouse.org/bromley-house-library-trustee-recruitment/

What a wonderful Heritage Open Day at Bromley House Library!

Yesterday, we welcomed children and their grown-ups to our booked-out Family Event, and what a lovely time we had!

From getting hands-on at our conservation station and learning about the Nottingham Meridian line, to stepping “through the wardrobe” into Narnia, meeting our Victorian photographer to create a carte de visite, and exploring our beautiful vintage book exhibition and garden trail, there was plenty for our young visitors to discover.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and took part. Your enthusiasm, curiosity and creativity brought Bromley House to life in a truly special way. 💚

We’d also like to thank all our wonderful staff, volunteers and everyone who helped make the day possible, allowing us to celebrate our heritage and share the library with the next generation.

If you missed your chance to visit the library this time, we have tours coming up on Sunday 1st November. Visit https://www.eventim-light.com/uk/a/638cf86b7e8bfe52ae3fd363
for more information and to book your place.

Join artist Paul Harraway on a tour of his Raw Material exhibition or come along to one of his Q&A sessions here at Bromley House Library.

Booking is essential and you can find out more at bromleyhouse.org > What's On > Book Tickets.

Artist led tours - 16th & 30th September
Artist Q&As - 23rd & 26th September

There is also the opportunity to submit a sealed bid for the paintings exhibited.

About the exhibition - Raw Material: Art in Response to the Alan Sillitoe Collection by Paul Harraway is a response to the personal library collection bequeathed to Bromley House Library following Sillitoe’s death in 2010.

A series of forty monotone and colour drawings, paintings and prints will be exhibited across the library, focussed on a singular location described within Sillitoe's 1959 short story The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

Exciting News! We have been awarded an Archives Revealed Grant from The National Archives and we cannot wait to share the stories, secrets and information our archive holds. What's Behind the Door? will give never before access to the archive for our members, researchers and wider general public - telling our story through new interpretation, tours, engagement activities and exhibitions. More updates soon, as this has only just been announced!
Read more here

2025 - 2026 - Portals Cataloguing Grants Awarded 2026 Bromley House Library – £46,335 Project – WHAT’S BEHIND THE DOOR? Unlocking 270 years of history from the Archive at Nottingham’s hidden library Bromley House Library’s archive is a rare example of a continuously operating subscription library. It contains ...

Tickets are now available for the Wading Through Treacle Poetry Masterclass with Paul Farley on Thursday 24th September at 2.30, Bromley House Library. See below for more details.

Tickets are available on our What's On pages at bromleyhouse.org

Poets are often asked: Where do your poems come from? How do they first see the light of day? And poets have often responded with all manner of rationales, rules of thumb, anecdotes and origin myths in the hope of making useful sense of it all—or blooms of chaff meant to deflect from what they consider to be an unanswerable question. But there is one form of hard evidence: drafts. What can drafts tell readers—and their original authors—about how a poem emerged and how it found its feet?

In this masterclass, Paul will share the trail of drafts that led to a single poem, along the way considering some of the intersecting forces that are in play when working with words. It also offers a chance for participants to discuss Paul’s approach to the art more generally, and to share their own experiences of working with drafts.
This Masterclass is for poets with some experience, ideally for those whose work has appeared in magazines, pamphlets or books.

This event takes place before the Desert Island Poems event as part of the Inspire Poetry Festival where Paul will be in conversation with our Library Director Clare at West Bridgford Library, also on 24th September, at 6.30pm. See our previous post for more details.

Join our Library Director Clare in conversation with acclaimed poet Paul Farley as part of the Inspire Nottinghamshire Libraries 2026 Poetry Festival. The headline event 'Desert Island Poems' is taking place at West Bridgford Library on Thursday 24th September at 6.30pm.

Find the full festival details at the Inspire website:
https://www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on/events/inspire-poetry-festival-2026/

Tickets are also available to join Paul Farley's poetry masterclass at Bromley House Library on Thursday 24th September at 2.30pm. Find out more and book at:
https://www.eventim-light.com/uk/a/638cf86b7e8bfe52ae3fd363/e/6a6211744418ad0203757f4c

We will be closed for August Bank Holiday on Monday 31st August and Tuesday 1st September.

We re-open on Wednesday 2nd September at 9:30am and are open as usual on Saturday 29th August.

We wish you all a great long weekend!