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Special events for adults

Information about events for adults at your libraries in the borough. Booking is required for most events.

Special events for adults

We host a variety of special events and workshops in our libraries for adults throughout the year such as author events, history talks and craft workshops.

Register to attend an event

You can book to attend an event by emailing libraries@rbkc.gov.uk, phoning Librariesline on 020 7361 3010 or registering online if the event is on Eventbrite.

Subscribe to receive event information

Follow us on social media for updates and news; or sign up to receive the Library Service’s monthly e-newsletter.

Special events for adults: highlights

Grenfell Community Day

Join us at Kensal Library for a day full of community love and support. Enjoy some refreshments, catch up with new and old friends and give something diferent a try. There will be plenty of activities to keep the entire family entertained.

No booking is required, just pop along and visit us.

Crowd-write a novel with Joy Rhoades

Participants in this 90-minute workshop will together create the outline for a novel in three acts. The fast-paced and fun workshop is for beginners, as well as for those who want to learn more about shaping a story. The workshop is designed to inspire and unleash your creativity.

It will be led by Joy Rhoades, the London-based author of The Woolgrower's Companion, a best-selling fiction debut in Australia in 2017, which will be released in paperback in the UK in June 2018.

Book your free place for Crowd-write a novel with Joy Rhoades via Eventbrite

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The lost world of Irish London

Professor Patrick Joyce is the guest speaker for this fascinating local history talk on the West London Irish followed with a slideshow by Tom Vague on Notting Dale. Professor Joyce, from Manchester University, writes about the history of power and social relations in Britain and elsewhere from the 18th century onwards.

Book your free place for The lost world of Irish London via Eventbrite

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City of Stories creative writing workshops

Join us for a free City of Stories writing workshop with writer Rachel Long.

City of Stories celebrates London’s writers, readers and libraries. In these workshops you’ll have the opportunity to be creative, craft your writing, and explore new ideas - all in a safe and friendly environment. For more information or to see work from previous years visit the City of Stories website

Book a place for the City of Stories creative writing workshops via Eventbrite

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Parties, presents and peers: an A to Z of London’s mid-century models

From debutantes to teddy girls, and from carnival queens to couture stars, writer John-Michael O’Sullivan explores the lives of the women whose images shaped Britain’s beauty ideal in the 1950s, and continue to do so today. 

Book your free place for Parties, presents and peers via Eventbrite

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Meet Dr Abby Waterman

Meet 85-year-old Dr Abby Waterman and hear her talk about her autobiography, 'Woman in a White Coat'.

Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, she survived the Great Depression, rat-infested cold water tenements in London’s East End, World War Two and the Blitz. Despite poverty, sexual harassment and discrimination, she becomes in turn a Harley Street dentist, a doctor, and entrepreneur, a consultant pathologist and director of a cancer research laboratory, as well as the mother of four.

Book your free place for Meet Dr Abby Waterman via Eventbrite

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In search of the miraculous - with Gary Lachman

In this talk, author Gary Lachman will explore P.D.Ouspensky's 'search for the miraculous' and his influence on contemporary spirituality and culture. As Russia collapsed into the Bolshevik Revolution Ouspensky and his teacher, Armenian-Greek esoteric teacher G.I. Gurdjieff, were washed to Europe's shore, where they would eventually settle - Gurdjieff in Paris, Ouspensky in London.

Ouspensky lived and worked in London from 1921 until his death in 1947. Here he lead an 'esoteric school' devoted to understanding and practicing the system of psychological development known as The Fourth Way. He was a 'secret teacher', a kind of grey eminence on the English literary and intellectual scene, influencing the work of Aldous Huxley, Algernon Blackwood, A. R. Orage, J. B. Priestely, and others. His novel of 'eternal recurrence', Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, was the model for the popular film Groundhog Day.

Gary Lachman is the author of twenty-one books on culture, consciousness, and the western esoteric tradition. He was founding member of the pop group, Blondie, and he's an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Book your free place for In search of the miraculous - with Gary Lachman via Eventbrite

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GDPR: how to stay within the law

It's never to late and on the eve of GDPR, we are here to help. You do not have to be completely compliant by the 25 May but you have to have a plan of action and this is something you can still achieve by the deadline.

With all the fear tactics and cost implications of not being compliant, a lot of businesses are either terrified of it coming into force or taking the "it doesn't apply to me" approach.

GDPR is not something to be worried about, it's a legislation that is for us, to protect our data and to take back control. It's also a great way companies can streamline their business and become more efficient in everything from Marketing to Sales.

Whether you are a one man band or an established large organisation, GDPR is relevant to you and your business.

Book your free place for GDPR: how to stay within the law

The secrets of ageing well

Do you have questions about how to prevent premature ageing of the skin and how to look your best in the most natural way? Would you like to know more about Botox and fillers? And what are chemical peels and microneedling?

Join Dr Quian Xu, the founder of Skin Aesthetics, where she provides holistic skincare and anti-ageing treatments in her Harley Street clinic. She will be able to answer these questions and more.

Book your free place for The secrets of ageing well via Eventbrite

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Whistler, Chelsea's greatest artist

Author Antony Clayton will give an illustrated talk about one of the greatest artists of the Victorian London scene.

Painter, printmaker, teacher, critic, polemicist, flamboyant dandy, acerbic wit, ebullient self-publicist, irascible litigant and a serious artist of considerable refinement, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was one of the most controversial figures in the London art world of the late-Victorian period.

Educated in the Parisian studio of Charles Gleyre and influenced by Japanese art and design, Whistler spent many of his most productive years in Chelsea, capturing crepuscular atmospheric effects on the Thames and producing some of his most memorable portraits.

Book your free place for Whistler, Chelsea's greatest artist via Eventbrite

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Decadent London with Antony Clayton

Antony Clayton, author of Decadent London, explores the 'other side' of London in the 1890s. He describes the writers, artists and poets who subverted an oppressive cultural and moral climate, from Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley to Arthur Symons and Ernest Dowson.

In this talk Antony recreates the pubs, clubs and music halls and examines the underworld of drug-taking, pornography, prostitution and the occult. This talk will be an entertaining and informative glimpse into a fascinating period of the capital's cultural history.

Book your free place for Decadent London with Antony Clayton via Eventbrite

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Cyber security and how to protect your privacy

During this interactive session, you will see ways in which hackers can get hold of our personal information and use this to impersonate us or commit fraud. You will also learn how to prevent this from happening to you and your business.

This seminar is suitable for individuals and businesses.

Book your free place for Cyber security and how to protect your privacy via Eventbrite

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Jazz harpist Jan Aldridge-Clark

American Jazz harpist, Jan Aldridge-Clark, brings her unique stylings of swing, bossa nova, blues, gypsy jazz and pop to the beautifull stage at Kensington Central Library. Backed by Coco and the Fellas, this promises to be an evening of energy, rhythm and fun.

Jan blends the sexy sounds of smooth jazz, latin jazz and relaxation into one delightfully aromatic pot of synergy - don't pass up this opportunity to see and hear her in action.

Book your free place for Jazz harpist Jan Aldridge-Clark via Eventbrite

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We also have regular events for adults in our libraries.

 

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