BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Housmans Bookshop - ECPv6.17.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Housmans Bookshop X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://housmans.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Housmans Bookshop REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20260329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20261025T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20270328T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20271031T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260815T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260815T210000 DTSTAMP:20260727T151113Z CREATED:20260727T151111Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260727T151113Z UID:80672-1786820400-1786827600@housmans.com SUMMARY:POETRY SERIES: JOEY FRANCES DESCRIPTION:For our next poetry evening we welcome to London (the really very special poet) Joey Frances\, for the London launch of his new chapbook\, many beautiful acquaintances. Joining him we welcome back Imogen Cassels\, Robert Kiely and Danny Hayward. \n\n\n\nOUR POETS: \n\n\n\nBiography:\n\n\n\nJoey Frances is a poet\, musician\, poetry organiser & teacher based in Manchester. He co-organises the reading series Peter Barlow’s Cigarette\, and a bi-weekly poetry reading group. All his previous poems can be read at pxxtry.com. \n\n\n\nImogen Cassels is the author of Silk Work (Prototype\, 2025) and the pamphlets Peach machine (The Last Books\, 2025)\, Chesapeake (Distance No Object\, 2021)\, VOSS (Legitimate Snack / Broken Sleep\, 2020)\, Arcades (Sad Press\, 2018) and Mother\, beautiful things (Face Press\, 2017). She lives in London. \n\n\n\nRobert Kiely is a writer and editor currently based in London. He was born in Co. Cork\, Ireland. He has published three collections of poetry and a book of literary criticism. His essays and book reviews have appeared in the Cambridge Literary Review and the LA Review of Books. \n\n\n\nDanny Hayward is a poet and critic. His books of criticism include Wound Building: Dispatches from the Latest Disasters in UK Poetry (2021) and Training Exercises (2024) and his most recent volume of poetry is It Was Like Watching (The Last Books\,2026). He runs the archive of out-of-print and inaccessible/DIY poetry Free Trials www.pxxtry.com\, where much of his own work is freely available. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/poetry-series-joey-frances/ CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Book Talk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Poetry-Series5.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260818T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260818T203000 DTSTAMP:20260604T170122Z CREATED:20260503T145005Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260604T170122Z UID:78529-1787079600-1787085000@housmans.com SUMMARY:'FLAMBOYANCE' WITH JACK PARLETT IN CONVERSATION WITH PETER SCALPELLO DESCRIPTION:JACK PARLETT AND CELEBRATED POET PETER SCALPELLO DISCUSS ‘FLAMBOYANCE’ AND HOW IT IGNITES EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES\, FROM ART AND ENTERTAINMENT TO RITUAL AND PROTEST. \n\n\n\nFlamboyance is Jack Parlett’s follow up to his acclaimed Fire Island (A Housmans bestseller of 2022). This new book has all the qualities one has come to expect of Jack’s work; big hearted and erudite in equal measure. \n\n\n\nFlamboyance ignites every aspect of our lives\, from art and entertainment to ritual and protest. The word conjures exuberance and unashamed passion; in thought\, expression and dress. Yet historically the term ‘flamboyant’ has been reserved for the over-the-top and the outré\, invoked at times as a pejorative innuendo or worse. \n\n\n\nIn his fascinating new book\, Jack Parlett argues for its value as an empowering and creative force\, illuminating the ways in which flamboyance is a fundamental aspect of human conduct that both marks and transcends difference. \n\n\n\nTaking in an eclectic array of examples\, from Gothic architecture to the orange flowers of Dungeness\, and populated by figures such as Oscar Wilde\, James Baldwin\, Elton John\, Amy Winehouse\, Lil Nas X and Chappell Roan\, this is a book about flamboyant art and the art of flamboyance. And having both aspired to it and rejected it\, Jack recounts his personal relationship to flamboyance while also finding new meanings of the word\, exploring its surprises and contradictions\, and reconnecting with its radical power. \n\n\n\nOUR SPEAKERS: \n\n\n\nJack Parlett is the author of three books: The Poetics of Cruising: Queer Visual Culture from Whitman to Grindr (a monograph with University of Minnesota Press)\, Same Blue\, Different You (a poetry pamphlet with Broken Sleep Books)\, and Fire Island: A Queer History (Granta)\, which was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker and shortlisted for the Polari Book Prize 2023. His writing has appeared in the New Yorker\, Document Journal\, BBC Culture\, Boston Review\, Literary Hub and Poetry London. \n\n\n\nPeter Scalpello is a writer and psychotherapist from Glasgow\, based in London. Their second book\, Mirrorstage\, was published this year with Cipher Press. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-flamboyance-with-jack-parlett/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/91i4Plth9zL._SL1500_.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260819T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260819T210000 DTSTAMP:20260807T133650Z CREATED:20260805T131235Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260807T133650Z UID:81206-1787166000-1787173200@housmans.com SUMMARY:SOLD OUT! HOUSMANS READING SERIES: Robert Glück DESCRIPTION:PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. The waiting list for this event is now also full. \n\n\n\nHousmans are beyond honoured\, and slightly delightedly flabbergasted\, to welcome the legendary writer Robert Glück to the shop for a reading. Robert\, or Bob\, is one of the most important writers working in the world today\, in a career that spans many decades\, poetry and cutting edge fiction; his work has been of profound importance to the contemporary queer literary landscape. \n\n\n\nReading alongside Bob we’ve some of the most exciting younger writers working in London today: Oisín Roberts\, JD Howse and Luke Roberts. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nTHIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT. To avoid disappointment\, please do not arrive without a valid ticket. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/housmans-reading-series-robert-gluck/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Poetry-Series12.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260822T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260822T210000 DTSTAMP:20260730T201249Z CREATED:20260729T161718Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260730T201249Z UID:80743-1787425200-1787432400@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: MILKING MOTHER EARTH: Fragments of an Investigation by Kaisa Saarinen DESCRIPTION:Come and celebrate the first pamphlet from Gauze Bonnet Press!\n\n\n\nThis pamphlet is a free-wheeling interdisciplinary exploration of rubber\, taking readers from Bangkok fetish bars to smallholder plantations in Vietnam\, looking through history from European colonisation of the homelands of latex to Victorian British moral panics about sex toys made from the material. Kaisa interweaves academic research with first hand accounts from her research trips and poetry both by herself and and others.  \n\n\n\nThroughout this journey\, she contemplates the feminised life of rubber. She speaks to women in the industry\, considers the history of rubber dildos\, finds womanhood in the poems of Vietnamese rubber laborers\, and wonders what it means to milk mother earth. \n\n\n\nThis work is born out of notes from her ongoing research project and artistic collaboration with Bart Seng Wen Long\, Rubber Dreams of its Lifetime. \n\n\n\nKaisa Saarinen is a former feral farmgirl based in London. She writes poetry\, fiction and non-fiction\, often blending them together in hybrid forms. Her books include the novel Weather Underwater (2023)\, and short-form collections Maitonaut (2024) and Voideuse (2022). In close collaboration with Bart Seng Wen Long\, she is leading the research-based art project Rubber Dreams of its Lifetime.’ \n\n\n\nReading and performing alongside Kaisa we have: \n\n\n\nBart Seng Wen LongCat Feliciano& Gabrielle Sicam \n\n\n\nThis is a free event\, but please RSVP below! \n\n\n\n\n\n \nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-milking-mother-earth-fragments-of-an-investigation-by-kaisa-saarinen/ CATEGORIES:Book Talk,Feminist event,In Store,Literary Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IMG_3537-1.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260829T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260829T210000 DTSTAMP:20260805T113037Z CREATED:20260804T165202Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260805T113037Z UID:81160-1788030000-1788037200@housmans.com SUMMARY:HOUSMANS POETRY SERIES: VERITY SPOTT DESCRIPTION:* \n\n\n\nThe morning approaches. It engulfs everything\, filling the precincts and flooding the valley with sound. The sky and the air seem to be speaking\, reporting every moment. The hearts are lit up and flee. \n\n\n\nOne night\, I rose\, and retreated into the dream. A vehicle welcomed the cold\, and quietly rose. Inside the dream you were floating cut off\, down along the coast. I thundered for your name. \n\n\n\n* \n\n\n\nWe are delighted to welcome the seminal poet Verity Spott to Housmans for the launch of a new collection of poetry: Good Morning\, published by Pilot Press. \n\n\n\nReading alongside Verity we’ve got Laurel Moore and Naomi Weber. \n\n\n\nThis is a free event but please do book ahead to avoid disappointment. Copies of the book can also reserved through the ticket portal. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/housmans-poetry-series-verity-spott/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Poetry-Series-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260831T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260831T203000 DTSTAMP:20260727T162905Z CREATED:20260727T162821Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260727T162905Z UID:80689-1788202800-1788208200@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: The Rulers:Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud by Cecilia Rikap DESCRIPTION:Join us for the launch of this brilliant analysis of capital accumulation in the AI era that charts a roadmap for battling against the predatory concentration of knowledge\, data and narratives in the hands of Big Tech\, by award winning economist.\n\n\n\nCapitalism’s rulers are not abstract entities or shadowy operators. Amazon\, Microsoft and Google are the cloud hegemons that subsume the world through the exercise of their intellectual monopolies. Giants like Disney\, McDonalds\, Nike or Walmart depend on them to use AI for knowledge and value extraction and for disciplining workers. States see some of their core functions sequestered. Innovation is not a free and neutral game\, but a hierarchy topped by the rulers. \n\n\n\nCecilia Rikap’s new theoretical framework is grounded in a unique trove of 112 interviews at the world’s largest firms and data on venture capital\, acquisitions\, open source\, AI conferences and patents. They picture a map of the complexities and political implications of corporate power. In Rikap’s counterimage\, technology is developed by the people and for the people and the planet through democratic planning. \n\n\n\nOur Speakers: \n\n\n\nCecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor in Economics and Head of Research at the University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. She is also a tenure researcher of the CONICET\, Argentina’s national research council\, and associate researcher at COSTECH lab\, Université de Technologie de Compiègne. She is the author of Capitalism\, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered (Routledge)\, which recently won the EAEPE Joan Robinson Prize Competition\, and The Digital Innovation Race: Conceptualizing the Emerging New World Order (Palgrave)\, the latter co-authored with B.A.K. Lundvall. \n\n\n\nCecilia will be in conversation for around 45 minutes to an hour\, followed by an open discussion with the audience. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-the-rulerscorporate-power-in-the-age-of-ai-and-the-cloud-by-cecilia-rikap/ CATEGORIES:In Store ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/81sgLbn4aDL._AC_UF8941000_QL80_.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260904T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260904T203000 DTSTAMP:20260810T110416Z CREATED:20260413T154853Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T110416Z UID:77658-1788548400-1788553800@housmans.com SUMMARY:Book Launch: Liquid Reflections with Liliane Lijn DESCRIPTION:We are profoundly honored to be hosting the paperback launch for a memoir by one the world’s greatest living artists\, the sculptor Liliane Lijn\, who will be joined in conversation by leading art writer Jennifer Higgie.\n\n\n\nLiliane Lijn is an artist who needs little introduction. Her stirring\, often ostentatious and always poetic works are dotted throughout the British urban landscape\, and overseas. Regular visitors to Housmans will have no doubt seen her recent piece Temenos just up the road from us\, near Granary Square. \n\n\n\nWe will host Liliane September 4th to launch the paperback edition of her brilliant bildungsroman Liquid Reflections. The book begins in 1958 with the talented and fearless Liliane Lijn leaving her family home and moving to Paris alone to become an artist. Once there\, she found an art world filled with the wild energy of creative revolution – peopled and controlled almost entirely by men. In the years that followed\, Lijn built a life for herself in the city. She embraced the hectic bohemian spirit of the Left Bank. She befriended artists\, painters\, poets\, gallerists and revolutionaries\, as the late Surrealists gave way to a burgeoning Pop Art movement. She had disastrous love affairs with difficult men. She experimented boldly\, creating ground-breaking sculptures with light\, text and movement. And as her profile steadily grew\, she was told again and again that there are no great women artists: ‘There never have been.’ \n\n\n\nLiquid Reflections is her memoir of these years of experiment and adventure – years when Lijn was constantly in motion\, from Paris to New York to Venice to Athens\, from paper and canvas to wax and Perspex to oil and water. In love\, she became pregnant but rebelled against the idea that a woman could not be both a great artist and a mother. And she sought – and found – radical pleasure in the act of creative expression and in the living\, sensuous world around her. \n\n\n\nBased on personal diaries from the time\, this is a riveting and revelatory account of a singular coming of age: a glittering portrait of the artist as a young woman. \n\n\n\n‘I wrote LIQUID REFLECTIONS because I wanted to take my readers on the journey I made to become an artist. It’s the story of an idealistic\, inspired young woman who refuses to accept the prejudices of her time. Becoming an artist was also a search for my own identity…’ — Liliane Lijn \n\n\n\nLiliane will be conversation with the art writer Jennifer Higgie\, author of numerous books\, her most recent being The Other Side: A Journey into Women\, Art and the Spirit World\, the first major work of art history to focus on women artists and their engagement with the spirit world. \n\n\n\nThis is going to be an extremely special event and we are delighted to be hosting it. Please do book a ticket in advance to avoid disappointment on the night. \n\n\n\nLiliane and Jennifer will talk for around 45 minutes to an hour\, followed by an open discussion with the audience. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-liquid-reflections-with-liliane-lijn/ CATEGORIES:Book Launch,Book Talk,In Store ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/9781405967471-jacket-large.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260912T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260912T210000 DTSTAMP:20260804T135202Z CREATED:20260804T122203Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260804T135202Z UID:81144-1789239600-1789246800@housmans.com SUMMARY:Housmans Poetry Series: Jay Gao DESCRIPTION:For our next poetry evening we welcome to London the marvellously talented Jay Gao! He will be launching his mysterious\, stirring new collection\, ‘The Dead One\, The Unconscious One\, Thundering in your ear\, Thriving Slumber’\, published by Carcanet. \n\n\n\nJoining him we welcome a whole host of incredible poets: Dom Hale\, Alycia Pirmohamed\, Victoria Adukwei Bulley\, Azad Ashim Sharma\, Will Harris\, Nina Mingya Powles\, and Mantra Mukim. \n\n\n\nOUR POETS:\n\n\n\nJay Gao is a poet and writer from Edinburgh\, Scotland\, living in New York City. His second poetry collection The Dead One\, The Unconscious One\, Thundering in Your Ear\, Thriving Slumber is forthcoming in Fall 2026 from Nightboat Books and Carcanet Press. His debut collection Imperium (2022) was a winner of the 2023 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize\, an Eric Gregory Award\, and a Somerset Maugham Award. \n\n\n\nDom Hale is an editor of Ludd Gang\, the magazine of the Poets’ Hardship Fund\, and Chaff Press. His recent books of poetry include First Nettles (The Last Books\, 2025) and Faint Portal (Distance No Object\, 2023)\, as well as two collaborations with the poet Tom Crompton: Mud Ramps\, an essay on poetics\, and Earthstepper\, two translations from the Exeter Book (both Gong Farm\, 2025 and 2026). \n\n\n\nAlycia Pirmohamed is the author of the collection Another Way to Split Water and a co-author of the collaborative pamphlet this too is a glistening. Her nonfiction debut Shorelines is newly out with Canongate Books\, and her second book of poems\, Then the Lake Shifts is forthcoming next year.  \n\n\n\nVictoria Adukwei Bulley is a poet\, writer\, and artist whose work has appeared widely in publications including the London Review of Books\, LitHub\, and The Atlantic. She is the winner of an Eric Gregory Award\, and her critically acclaimed debut poetry book\, QUIET\, won the Folio Prize for Poetry\, the John Pollard International Poetry Prize\, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. QUIET is published by Faber in the UK and in North America by Alfred A. Knopf. \n\n\n\nAzad Ashim Sharma is the director of the87press and as Editor at Philosophy and Global Affairs\, the CLR James Journal\, and The Hythe Review. He is a PhD Candidate in English and Humanities at Birkbeck College\, University of London. He is the author of three poetry collections\, most recently\, Boiled Owls (Nightboat Books / Out-Spoken Press\, 2024) which was shortlisted for the Jhalak Poetry Prize. His second collection Ergastulum: Vignettes of Lost Time (Broken Sleep Books\, 2022) was the recipient of the Caribbean Philosophical Association’s Guillén Award. In July 2025\, Azad was inaugurated as the Poet Laureate of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. He lives in South London. \n\n\n\nWill Harris is a London-based writer. He is the author of the poetry books RENDANG (2020) and Brother Poem (2023)\, published by Granta and Wesleyan University Press\, and the essay Mixed-Race Superman (Peninsula Press\, 2018). He has won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. He co-translated Habib Tengour’s Consolatio (Poetry Translation Centre) with Delaina Haslam in 2022\, and helps facilitate the Southbank New Poets Collective with Vanessa Kisuule. Siblings\, a conversation between Harris\, Jay Bernard\, Mary Jean Chan\, and Nisha Ramayya\, was published by Monitor Books in 2024. He received a Burgess Fellowship from the University of Manchester and was a Fellow at the Institute for Ideas & Imagination in Paris from 2024-25. He is currently working on a project about social care.  \n\n\n\nNina Mingya Powles is a writer and poet from Aotearoa New Zealand\, currently based in London. She is the author of a food memoir\, Tiny Moons\, and a collection of essays\, Small Bodies of Water. Her debut poetry collection Magnolia was a finalist for the Ondaatje Prize\, the New Zealand Book Awards\, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Her most recent poetry collection\, In the Hollow of the Wave\, was published in 2025. She is currently working on a book about fabric\, sewing and memory.  \n\n\n\nMantra Mukim is a poet and essayist from Raipur\, India\, currently based in Oxford. His debut collection\, Glitchwork (the87press)\, came out in April 2026. \n\n\n\nThis is a free event\, though you may reserve a copy of Jay’s book if you wish. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/housmans-poetry-series-jay-gao/ CATEGORIES:In Store ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Poetry-Series4.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260916T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260916T203000 DTSTAMP:20260714T154213Z CREATED:20260714T154210Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260714T154213Z UID:80482-1789585200-1789590600@housmans.com SUMMARY:WILD FOLKLORE AND UNRULY WOMEN DESCRIPTION:Elizabeth Sulis Kim and Brigid Lowe in conversation\n\n\n\nThe bear deities\, Artio and Artaius\, who’ll rise from sleep; the salmon of wisdom who gifts understanding of the universe’s past\, present and future; the Lion Man carved 40\,000 years ago. Three determined women plot against an ambitious sorcerer\, they are queen Goewin\, the reclusive sorceress Arianrhod\, and Blodeuwedd\, a woman conjured from flowers. \n\n\n\nWhat can we still learn from the ancient\, half-forgotten mythologies of these isles? What can they teach us about ourselves\, about sex\, gender and the role of women in folklore? Two new works at these complex questions in different\, equally engaging and exciting ways. \n\n\n\n Elizabeth Sulis Kim’s The Book of Beasts (Penguin\, 2026) is modern bestiary with an ancient heart\, in it we meet twelve emblematic animals that can help us restore our relationship with the natural world. Steeped in folklore\, mythology\, magic and religion\, The Book of Beasts tells the story of our shapeshifting relationships with animals\, from reverence to persecution\, friendship to fear\, awe to indifference. It asks us what we actually know about the creatures we share this world with – and offers us a different way of living together. \n\n\n\nWhereas Brigid Lowe’s novel The Bloody Branch draws out from celtic mythology some strikingly contemporary concerns. Three powerful heroines unite to avenge themselves on the most dangerous man in ancient legend\, Gwydion a powerful sorcerer whose ambition and cruelty wreak havoc across the kingdom. When at last the earth itself is put at stake\, Goewin\, Arianrhod and Blodeuwedd each unleash their uncanny powers to challenge him. In this vital and visceral novel\, Brigid Lowe casts ancient light on desire\, sex and our relationship with nature to bring these Celtic heroines to explosive\, sensuous\, blossoming new life. \n\n\n\nWe are delighted that Brigid and Elizabeth are able to join for an evening of discussion on the common themes in their work; they will be talking about folklore\, the occult\, Ancient Albion and unruly women. \n\n\n\nOur Speakers: \n\n\n\nElizabeth Sulis Kim‘s writing has appeared in places such as BBC Culture\, Mslexia\, Hellebore\, Fiddler’s Green\, Litro\, The Guardian\, The Independent\, Refinery29\, and the LA Review of Books. She is the founding editor of Cunning Folk\, the popular independent magazine about magic\, mythology\, folklore and the occult. She grew up in the rural West Country and now lives in Scotland. \n\n\n\nBrigid Lowe grew up in a remote Welsh-speaking community on Ynys Môn\, with her younger sister and Irish immigrant parents. She now lives with her children in that part of Scotland known as Yr Hen Ogledd – The Old North – formerly joined with Wales in one Cumbric nation. She studied literature at Bangor\, completed a doctorate at Oxford\, and went on to teach and research at Sheffield and Cambridge Universities\, publishing a book and many essays on the art of fiction. Brigid traces her descent from travellers\, circus performers\, mill workers and gallowglass warriors. She takes photographs of flowers\, forages her food\, clambers pinnacles\, and swims in ice and caves and bottomless pools. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/wild-folklore-and-unruly-women/ CATEGORIES:Feminist event,In Store ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/preeti-insta.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260923T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260923T203000 DTSTAMP:20260803T140033Z CREATED:20260729T163104Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T140033Z UID:80751-1790190000-1790195400@housmans.com SUMMARY:Zack Polanski: Green Socialist? A conversation with Russell Warfield DESCRIPTION:Join us for a friendly\, stimulating debate Russell Warfield and Jonas Patrick Marvin. They ask: is Zack Polanski\, and the Green Party\, the future of the British Left? \n\n\n\nTo help celebrate the launch of Russell Warfield‘s excellent new book The Green SocialistZack Polanski and the Battle for Britain’s Future (Pluto\, 2026) we invite into a good natured debate with fellow socialist writer Jonas Patrick Marvin\, regular contributor to Salvage and author of The Breaking of the English Working Class (Verso\, 2026). \n\n\n\nIn The Green Socialist\, Russel argues that the election of Zack Polanski to the leadership of the Green Party of England and Wales caused a political earthquake. While Labour haemorrhages support\, the far-right rises and a new anti-capitalist party struggles to be born\, Polanski has seized the initiative\, resulting in record-breaking membership numbers and polling for the Greens. How did Polanski end up being propelled to power on an unprecedented mandate within the membership of the Green Party? And what can he achieve from this position?   \n\n\n\nThe Green Socialist takes a look at the Greens through the lens of its tensions\, limitations and contradictions\, demonstrating that Polanski is the natural culmination of the party’s story so far\, and how it can provide a vehicle for a transformational politics capable of defeating the far-right and building a better Britain. \n\n\n\nOur Speakers: \n\n\n\nRussell Warfield is a communications strategist\, working across climatecampaigning\, politics and the third sector for over a decade. He hasbeen a contributing editor at Resurgence and Ecologist\, and his writinghas appeared in New Statesman\, New Internationalist and Byline Times. \n\n\n\nJonas Patrick Marvin is a writer\, researcher and campaigner based inStoke-on-Trent. He regularly contributes to Salvage and Novara Media andis a host of the popular podcast Life of the Party. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/zack-polanski-green-socialist-a-conversation-with-russell-warfield/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/9780745352688.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260927T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260927T210000 DTSTAMP:20260811T163042Z CREATED:20260811T162400Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260811T163042Z UID:81587-1790535600-1790542800@housmans.com SUMMARY:POETRY READING: 'AND SUDDENLY INTO NOTHING' by Suzanne Doppelt (translated by Cole Swensen.) DESCRIPTION:Featuring readings from Laynie Browne\, Ágnes Lehóczky\, Cole Swensen & Suzanne Doppelt \n\n\n\nTHIS IS A FREE EVENT\, BUT PLEASE RSVP USING THE LINK BELOW: \n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/poetry-reading-and-suddenly-into-nothing-by-suzanne-doppelt-translated-by-cole-swensen/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Pamenar-Readin-33-Aug-8-2026-D1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260930T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260930T203000 DTSTAMP:20260804T114829Z CREATED:20260804T114036Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260804T114829Z UID:81132-1790794800-1790800200@housmans.com SUMMARY:CHARITY SHOP WORLD! with Tansy E. Hoskins DESCRIPTION:WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME TANSY E. HOSKINS TO HOUMANS TO TALK ABOUT HER GROUNDBREAKING\, MOVING NEW STUDY OF CHARITY SHOPS AND THE ROLES THEY PLAY IN MODERN CONSUMERIST CULTURE. \n\n\n\n‘Charity shops are ubiquitous and invisible. They anchor the high street\, employ thousands\, process millions of items. Yet far more is written about AI than this staple of 21st century Britain. Thank goodness\, then\, for Tansy Hoskins\, who deftly shows how the charity shop is both an escape from consumerism and an essential part of global capitalism. This is a rich and surprising book\, which takes you both to Accrington and Bangladesh\, providing financial expose as well as character studies.’— Aditya Chakrabortty\, Senior Economics Commentator\, The Guardian \n\n\n\nHave you ever wondered what happens to the contents of the bags you drop off at the charity shop? With over 80 billion pieces of clothing produced each year and with human made stuff now outweighing living biomass\, this is the story of the first sorting site for the deluge of items we discard every single day. Having spent decades exploring charity shops for bargains and treasure\, Tansy Hoskins decided to dig deep into the world of charity shop volunteering. From used underwear to wolf pelts\, Charity Shop World is a personal account of sorting through donations to reveal the entanglement of people and products. This book also investigates the export of clothes to overseas markets and landfill\, revealing hidden shareholders behind a multi-million pound business. \n\n\n\nTaking us to the heart of a country hit by austerity and the cost of living crisis\, Charity Shop World reveals surprising places of human connectivity\, where local communities struggle to find their way through economic hardship to reach a more sustainable way of living. \n\n\n\nIn a world where ‘broken’ things and ‘unwanted’ people are expelled to the margins of society\, this book is a powerful call for a new way of living to rise up from the debris of overproduction and consumption. \n\n\n\n‘A story of what happens to the leftovers of capitalism. Within the places of possibility\, persistence and promise there is hope. Beautifully told\, carefully bundled\, expertly delivered. Tansy Hoskins’ Charity Shop World is a page turner.’— Danny Dorling\, author of The Next Crisis: What We Think About the Future \n\n\n\n‘What might fashion design look like as a public resource based on community and cooperation?  Charity Shop World answers that question by reconnecting us to the humanity underpinning every aspect of fashion\, everything that Big Fashion\, as Tansy calls it- chooses to ignore and exploit. Tansy’s sensitive and warm account of working in a charity shop offers a microcosm of what’s best and what’s worst in today’s fashion system and reveals how another fashion world is possible.  Fashion designers\, students and educators need to centre the end of life of garments from the very start of the design process and critically address waste colonialism in fashion – Charity Shop World should be on all fashion reading lists. Tansy asks us to reflect on\, ‘What do we truly need?’; it’s time for Big Fashion to answer that same question for the future of our people\, species and planet.’—Tanveer Ahmed\, Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Race\, Central Saint Martins\, University of the Arts London \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/charity-shop-world-with-tansy-e-hoskins/ CATEGORIES:In Store,Literary Event ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/images.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20261013T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20261013T203000 DTSTAMP:20260806T161619Z CREATED:20260806T161617Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260806T161619Z UID:81369-1791918000-1791923400@housmans.com SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: THE AGE OF HOBSBAWM by Emile Chabal DESCRIPTION:Join Emile Chabal as he discusses his new intellectual biography of Eric Hobsbawm\, The Age of Hobsbawm: The Life of a Revolutionary Historian.\n\n\n\nEric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth century. He published hundreds of articles on modern history and culture\, and his books became canonical works and bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic. His crystal-clear writing\, vast erudition\, and ability to make his Marxist analysis digestible to a wide audience brought him worldwide renown. \n\n\n\nYet Hobsbawm was no academic hermit. Through his globetrotting journalism\, he was embedded in an extraordinary web of politicians\, activists\, and fellow intellectuals across Europe\, South Asia\, and the Americas\, including Manmohan Singh\, Che Guevara\, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva\, Fernand Braudel\, E. P. Thompson\, Arno Mayer\, and Salvador Allende. Emile Chabal traces the origins of Hobsbawm’s ideas and most famous writings by exploring his scholarly foundations\, delving deep into the archives to uncover hidden links and unexpected conversations that shaped his pathbreaking work. \n\n\n\nGoing well beyond the Ages series of modern history books for which Hobsbawm is best known\, Chabal offers the first substantial interpretation of Hobsbawm’s entire body of writing and gives us unique insights into the generations of Marxist writers with whom Hobsbawm was in conversation—authors whose work continues to shape political debates globally. \n\n\n\nAs always\, tickets are priced on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay for a ticket please do not hesitate to contact us at shop@housmans.com\, and a free ticket will be made available. \n\n\n\nIf you choose ‘book + entry’ your copies of the book will be available to collect on the evening. If you would like to collect it earlier\, or arrange for delivery\, please contact us (postage is £2.95). Telephone 020 7837 4473 or email shop@housmans.com. \n\n\n\nDoors Open at 6:45pm\, Event Starts 7:00. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShare this:\n Share on X (Opens in new window)\n X\n \n Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)\n Facebook\n \n Share on Insta (Opens in new window)\n Insta\n Like this:Like Loading… URL:https://housmans.com/event/book-launch-the-age-of-hobsbawm-by-emile-chabal/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://housmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/preeti-insta1.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR