Poetry Readings & Book Signing Event

Next week the Martin Hall is hosting an evening of poetry readings, book signings and Q+A with two young poets with brilliant debut publications.

Shruti Chauhan (pictured) is a Loughborough English graduate of and has previously performed at the University as part of the Three the Hard Way national tour with Jean Binta Breeze and Lydia Towsey. She won the prize for Best Spoken Word Performer at the Saboteur Awards 2018, as well as the National Poetry Library’s Instapoetry competition in the same year.

Her debut collection is from Burning Eye Books, which has a reputation for publishing work by the best spoken word poets.

Nellie Cole recently graduated from Birmingham University. After publishing work in a couple of anthologies, her debut publication is Bella: “a work which blends factual evidence with folklore, superstition, hearsay and the imagination, these poems explore the Worcestershire murder mystery ‘Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?’”

She read from the publication at 2018’s Verve Poetry Festival, and is a workshop leader and writing mentor.

The event takes place next Tuesday, 19th March, from 6pm-7.30pm in the Stanley Evernden Studio in Martin Hall. Admission is free, but space is limited. To book a place email Kerry Featherstone.

World Book Day Book Exchange

To celebrate World Book Day next Thursday (7th March) the School of Arts, English and Drama will be running a book exchange in the Martin Hall.

Simply show up at the Martin Hall Office on 1pm with a (preferably used) book of any genre that you really love, and that you are willing to part with, and you will gain a new book to read from others donations.

If you want to drop books off before this, they have a box in the Martin Hall PGR Office. It’s a great opportunity to have a spring clean of those cluttered book shelves and recycle some well-loved texts.

World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

To find out more, visit this link: https://www.worldbookday.com/

‘Reading Ahead’ Launch – Book Reading Event

The Student Union will be visited by an acclaimed literary guest at the launch of a new reading initiative next week in the form of alternate history, fantasy and contemporary crime author Rob Duncan, whose novels have been shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award, the East Midlands Book Award and the John Creasey Dagger of the Crime Writers’ Association. 

Rob will be reading an excerpt from his brand new novel The Outlaw and the Upstart King followed up with an exclusive interview and Q&A conducted by Loughborough University academic Deirdre O’Byrne.

Reading Ahead is an initiative spearheaded by the Reading Agency which is run in different workplaces by UNISON. The launch event will be a chance to browse their book selection, receive a complementary reading diary and meet other people from the challenge, plus the chance to enter a prize draw. There will also be literary-themed activities, a mystery book raffle and refreshments will be available.

All staff, students and friends and family are welcome to attend, though booking is necessary – check this link for further details: https://loughboroughuniversity.unison.site/events/unison-reading-ahead-2019-launch-event/

The launch commences at 12pm on Wednesday 9th January in Cognito at the Student Union. Rob will be presenting between 12:30pm and 1:30pm.

Take Something Horrible Home This Halloween!

Trick or treating not your thing? Then why not experience the spooky season from the comfort of your armchair by taking a dip into our very own Twilight Zone of horror & the supernatural here in the Library… if you dare!

We have an ever-expanding stock of horror novels among our Leisure Reading collection upstairs on Level 4, including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman and Iain Banks, as well as graphic novels such as Alan Moore’s From Hell and the first book in the ever-popular Walking Dead series, as well as a wide selection of more classic spine-chillers downstairs in our literature section on Level 2 including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and a wide range of classic supernatural tales by M.R. James, H.P. Lovecraft and Algernon Blackwood.

If your taste for the macabre is more visual than textual, then we have a comprehensive selection of books exploring every aspect of the horror genre on the big (and small) screen among our cinema & television collection down in the 791 section on Level 2, ranging from Alfred Hitchcock to Hannibal Lecter and Dr Jekyll to Dr Who.

Don’t forget that you can also explore the cobwebbed vaults of the British Film Institute and Box of Broadcasts (BoB) online if you’re looking for something creepy to watch… just don’t watch it alone!

Roll Up, Roll Up! Dip into our Exciting New Resource!

We’re thrilled to bring you our new acquisition, Victorian Popular Culture from Adam Matthew Digital. This primary source archive is an important research resource for historians, social scientists and literary scholars, spanning the period from 1779 to 1930 and showcasing popular entertainment in Britain, America and Europe.

Explore a wealth of media history in the form of printed books, early film, posters, playbills, photographs, objects and ephemera as well as contextual essays and an interactive chronology. Collections include: Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema; Music Hall, Theatre and Popular Entertainment, Spiritualism, Sensation; Magic and Circuses, Sideshow and Freaks.

Access is via IP address. To begin searching go to:

www.victorianpopularculture.amdigital.co.uk

Database Trials – Adam Matthew Resources

This month the Library is trialing four databases from the Adam Matthew stable.

Gender: Identity and Social Change

Essential primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations from the nineteenth century to the present. This expansive collection offers sources for the study of women’s suffrage, the feminist movement, the men’s movement, employment, education, the body, the family, and government and politics.

To begin searching go to www.genderidentityandsocialchange.amdigital.co.uk – access is via IP address and the trial runs to 4th July 2018.

Literary Manuscripts Berg

The Berg Collection is recognised as one of the finest literary research collections in the world, and the Victorian holdings are the undisputed jewel in its crown.  A broad range of authors from across the nineteenth century make this an essential research tool for all scholars and students researching Victorian literature.  Most of these unique manuscripts are unavailable in any medium elsewhere. They are supplemented by some rare printed materials, including early editions annotated by the authors. Each author collection is included in its entirety, allowing users to browse and search the manuscripts as they would in the Berg Reading Room.

To begin searching go to www.literarymanuscriptsberg.amdigital.co.uk– access is via IP address and the trial runs to 27th June 2018.

London Low Life

London Low Life is a full-text searchable resource, containing colour digital images of rare books, ephemera, maps and other materials relating to 18th, 19th and early 20th century London. It is designed for both teaching and study, from undergraduate to research students and beyond.

In addition to the digital documents, London Low Life contains a wealth of secondary resources, including a chronology, interactive maps, essays, online galleries and links to other useful websites.

To begin searching go to www.londonlowlife.amdigital.co.uk – access is via IP address and the trial runs to 27th June 2018.

Leisure, Travel and Mass Culture: The History of Tourism

This resource presents a multi-national journey through well-known, little-known and far-flung destinations unlocked for the average traveller between 1850 and the 1980s. Guidebooks and brochures, periodicals, travel agency correspondence, photographs and personal travel journals provide unique insight into the expansion, accessibility and affordability of tourism for the masses and the evolution of some of the most successful travel agencies in the world.

To begin searching go to www.masstourism.amdigital.co.uk– access is via IP address and the trial runs to 27th June 2018.

Please note that PDF download options are not available from these databases during these trials.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn (s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk) with your comments.

Database Trial – The Stationers’ Company Archive

We dip into the history of publishing with our latest database trial courtesy of Adam Matthew Digital.

The Stationers’ Company Archive is one of the most important resources for understanding the workings of the early book trade, the printing and publishing community, the establishment of legal requirements for copyright provisions and the history of bookbinding. Explore extremely rare documents dating from 1554 to the 21st century in this invaluable resource of research material for historians and literary scholars.

To begin searching go to:

www.literaryprintculture.amdigital.co.uk

Access is via IP address and the trial runs to 2nd January 2018. Please note that PDF download options are not available during this  trial.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk with your comments.

Database Trial – 17th and 18th Century Nichols Newspapers Collection

We’re dipping into the past again for our latest database trial courtesy of the Gale Company.

17th and 18th Century Nichols Newspapers Collection features London newspapers and pamphlets gathered by antiquarian and printer John Nichols. This collection, sourced from the Bodleian Library, spans the years 1672 to 1737 and complements the titles and issues found in 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers.

To begin searching go to http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/loughuni?db=NICN

Access is via IP address and the trial runs to 2nd January 2018.

We welcome feedback – good or bad – on this trial, please contact Steve Corn s.c.corn@lboro.ac.uk with your comments.

Congratulations to Kazuo Ishiguro

Congratulations to British author Kazuo Ishiguro, who was today announced as the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Best known for the 1989 Booker Prize winning novel The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Japan in 1954 but emigrated with his family to England in 1960. His first novel, A Pale View of Hills (1982) actually started life as his masters thesis! He has published 8 novels in total so far, and two – Remains of the Day (1993) and Never Let Me Go (2010) – have been successfully adapted for cinema.

The Library holds copies of several of his novels among our literature section on Level 2, along with a broad spectrum of representative and critical works of the greatest authors of all time.

Got Some Unwanted Novels? We Want Them!

When you’re packing up for the Summer Vacation in the next couple of weeks and discover you don’t quite have room for those novels you’ve been reading in your down time, don’t sling them – we’ve got room for them!

Have you come across the BookCrossing baskets of donated novels situated in various buildings across campus? The purpose of this initiative is to encourage everyone to take advantage of the recognised benefits and joys of reading for pleasure. We’re always in need of more books to ensure the baskets are refreshed and restocked throughout the year – and that’s where you can help us!

Please drop off at the Library any paperback novels you no longer need. The genre doesn’t matter – the broader the range the better! All we ask is that the books are in good condition.