An evening with Tareq Baconi and Lola Olufemi in conversation about FIRE IN EVERY DIRECTION at The Old School Rooms, Hackney.

Recorded live on Thursday 26 March 2026.

 

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An evening with Fatima Bhutto and Sonia Faleiro in conversation about THE HOUR OF THE WOLF at The Old School Rooms, Hackney. 

Recorded live on Thursday 19 March 2026.

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An evening with Raymond Antrobus and Joe Dunthorne in conversation about Raymond's memoir THE QUIET EAR: AN INVESTIGATION OF MISSING SOUND at the Round Chapel Old School Rooms, Hackney. With thanks to Sharon Goldson for providing BSL interpretation on the night.  

Recorded live on Thursday 2 October 2025.

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A special evening of rolling author readings to raise funds for two essential organisations in Gaza: 

The Sameer Project

The Sameer Project is a Palestinian-led medical care organisation for Gaza. Their mission is to provide essential medical treatment and supplies to individuals and families in Gaza who require it most urgently, and crucially they utilise existing products in the market that will not need to cross any borders.

The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature

The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) is dedicated to protecting natural resources amidst the increasing challenges and threats they face, particularly as a result of conflicts, wars, and occupation. Funds raised will be donated to their Gaza Farms Revitalization Project which aims to rehabilitate Gaza's agricultural sector, restore local food systems to combat famine and blockade, and establish food sovereignty.

 

Huge thanks to everyone that gave a reading, as well as everyone that attended and donated. 100% of proceeds from the evening, including ticket sales, book sales, and drinks is being split between The Sameer Project and APN. 

Readers: Nadine El-Enany · Faisal Hussain · Zena Agha · Nida Sajid · Lara Pawson · Golnoosh Nour · Ahmed Masoud

 

 

The brilliant Susie Boyt discusses her novel LOVED AND MISSED⁠ with Alex Peake-Tomkinson at Hackney's Old School Rooms.

Recorded live on Thursday 19 June 2025.

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The brilliant Anna Jones discusses her latest cookbook EASY WINS with Alice Levine at Hackney's Old School Rooms.

Recorded live on Thursday 14 March 2024.

With thanks to Square Root Soda for keeping us refreshed on the night.

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A special panel event recorded at Hackney's Old School Rooms on 29 February 2024 to celebrate the publication of Eithne Nightingale's CHILD MIGRANT VOICES IN MODERN BRITAIN: ORAL HISTORIES 1930-PRESENT DAY.

Participants:

Linh Vu escaped Vietnam by boat with her father and arrived in UK in 1979, aged seven, leaving her mother and siblings in Saigon. The family reunited in Hackney five years later. Linh studied architecture, ran a Vietnamese restaurant and is helping on an architectural project on the south coast with her husband.

Maurice Nwokeji survived bombs and hunger in the war in Biafra before joining his parents in Hackney, aged nine, in 1970. He is now a reggae musician and will perform music inspired by his childhood experiences of war.=

Fatim Nikoulare arrived on her own in Hackney from Guinea in 2006 at the age of 16 speaking no English. After many challenges accessing housing, education and a right to stay she is now a British citizen and works as a theatre nurse on the south coast. .

Rabbi Gluck OBE is the son of Necha Gluck (nee DUX) who came to the UK, aged 10, on the Kindertransport in 1938. He is a prominent and leading British and international rabbi and human rights advocate. He received his OBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second at an investiture in 2013, for promoting interfaith understanding.

Florian Gadsby discusses his first book, BY MY HANDS: A POTTER'S APPRENTICESHIP, with Debika Ray at Hackney's Old School Rooms.

Recorded 14 September, 2023.

Octavia Bright discusses her memoir, THIS RAGGED GRACE: A MEMOIR OF RECOVERY AND RENEWAL with her Literary Friction co-host Carrie Plitt.

Recorded at the Old School Rooms, London on 31 May 2023.

Sara Ahmed and Hannah Dawson in conversation at the Old School Rooms, London on 18 May 2023 for the launch of THE FEMINIST KILLJOY HANDBOOK.

Kelsey and Chelsea from Cradle Community (authors of BRICK BY BRICK: HOW WE BUILD A WORLD WITHOUT PRISONS) and Gracie Mae Bradley and Luke de Noronha (authors of AGAINST BORDERS: THE CASE FOR ABOLITION) discuss the struggles for prison and border abolition as part of the Knowledge is Power programme at BSix College, Hackney.

Recorded on Monday 20 March 2023.

With thanks to Lucy Capes and Lou Palmer.

Alva Gotby discusses her book THEY CALL IT LOVE: THE POLITICS OF EMOTIONAL LIFE with Helen Hester. Recorded 28 February at Pages of Hackney, London, UK.

Thanks to Lou Palmer for the recording.

An evening with Vincenzo Latronico and Shon Faye in conversation about PERFECTION at Palm 2 Event Space, Hackney. 

Recorded live on Wednesday 11 March 2026.

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Lauren John Joseph discusses their exquistite debut novel, AT CERTAINS POINTS WE TOUCH, with Barry Pierce. Recorded on 13 January 2023 at Pages of Hackney, London, UK.

Thanks to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Aclaimed Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar reads from and discussed his new collection, PILGRIM BELL, with Shahed Ezaydi. Recorded 1 December 2022 at Pages of Hackney, London, UK.

Thanks so Lou Palmer for the recording.

Award-winning Nigerian British writer Yomi Sode reads from and discusses his groundbreaking new poetry collection MANORISM with Aniefiok ‘Neef’ Ekpoudom.

Recorded 17 November 2022 at Pages of Hackney, London, UK.

Thanks to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson (author of THE NERVES AND THEIR ENDINGS) and Yara Rodrigues Fowler (author of THERE ARE MORE THINGS) joined us for a discussion of intersectional activism with gal-dem Environmental Editor Diyora Shadijanova.

Thanks to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Emily Ogden discusses her new book ON NOT KNOWING: HOW TO LOVE AND OTHER ESSAYS with psychoanalyst Adam Phillips.

Huge thanks to Peninsula Press and to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Kehinde Andrews discussing his bestselling book, THE NEW AGE OF EMPIRE: HOW RACISM AND COLONIALISM STILL RULE THE WORLD with Emmanuel Onapa as part of BSix College's Knowledge is Power series.

Huge thanks to Lucy Capes at BSix, and to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Leslie Kern (author of GENTRIFICATION IS INEVITABLE AND OTHER LIES) and Vicky Spratt (author of TENANTS: THE PEOPLE ON THE FRONTLINE OF BRITAIN'S HOUSING EMERGENCY) discussing some of the issues around gentrification and the housing crisis before a capacity crowd at Clapton's Old School Rooms.

Huge thanks to Lou Palmer for the recording.

Dan Hicks discusses his book THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS with Errol Francis as part of the Knowledge is Power programme at BSix College, recorded live on 21 November 2021.  Walk into any Western museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes – a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the collections of empire we once took for granted. Order a copy of THE BRUTISH MUSEUMS: https://bit.ly/3O5HHWa View forthcoming events from Pages of Hackney: https://bit.ly/3lx2vto

Sheena Patel of 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE discusses her phenomenal debut novel I'M A FAN with Sophie Heawood.  In I'M A FAN a single speaker uses the story of their experience in a seemingly unequal, unfaithful relationship as a prism through which to examine the complicated hold we each have on one another. With a clear and unforgiving eye, the narrator unpicks the behaviour of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world, in turn offering a devastating critique of access, social media, patriarchal heteronormative relationships, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed. Order a copy of I'M A FAN: https://bit.ly/3RdJR8Q View forthcoming events from Pages of Hackney: https://bit.ly/3lx2vto

Tice Cin discusses her remarkable debut novel, KEEPING THE HOUSE, with Lola Olufemi at St. Thomas's Chuch, Clapton Common on 7 September 2021. 'The Turkish variety are prized for their enlarged leaf bud, that’s where we put the heroin . . .' Ayla has a plan. There’s a stash of heroin, just waiting to be imported. No one seems sure what to do with it, but Ayla’s a gardener, and she knows. From secretive men’s clubs to spotless living rooms, Keeping the House is an electrifying debut that lifts the lid on a covert world. But just as it offers a fresh take on the London drug trade and its machinery, it tells the story of three women in one house: a grandmother, a mother, and the daughter, each dealing with the intricacies and reverberations of community, migration and love. Order a copy of KEEPING THE HOUSE: https://bit.ly/3tT3DeQ View forthcoming events from Pages of Hackney: https://bit.ly/3lx2vto With thanks to: Tice Cin Lola Olufemi Nichola Smalley (And Other Stories) Father William Taylor (St. Thomas' Church, Clapton Common) Martine Sobey (Clapton Commons) Lou Palmer (recording and production)

An evening with Elspeth Wilson and Elle McNicoll in conversation about Writing and Neurodivergence at Pages of Hackney. 

Recorded live on Tuesday 10 March 2026.

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Candice Carty-Williams discusses her bestselling novel, Queenie, with Sareeta Domingo at The Round Chapel Old School Rooms in Hackney, London.

Paul Beatty discusses his 2016 Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sellout, with Sunny Singh and a sold out crowd at Sutton House in Hackney, London.

Huge thanks to Admas Habteslasie for the recording.

An evening with Anouchka Grose and Monique Roffey in conversation about Anouchka's book THE REVOLUTION WILL BE INTERNALISED at the Round Chapel Old School Rooms, Hackney. 

Recorded live on Thursday 26 February 2026.

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An evening with Nida Sajid and Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi in conversation about COOP: A Novelette at Pages of Hackney.

Recorded live on Wednesday 28 December 2026.

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An evening with Marianne Power and Anouchka Grose in conversation about Marianne's book LOVE ME! at the Round Chapel Old School Rooms, Hackney. 

Recorded live on Thursday 20 November 2025.

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An evening with Jessica Field and Peter Apps in conversation about their latest books EVICTION (published by Verso) and HOMESICK (published by Oneworld). Recorded live at The Old School Rooms on Thursday 23 October 2025.

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An evening with Clare Carlisle and Octavia Bright in conversation about Clare's latest book TRANSCENDENCE FOR BEGINNERS (published by Fitzcarraldo Editions) at Pages of Hackney. Recorded live on Tuesday 14 October 2025.

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An evening with Dean Spade, Nim Ralph and Conner Habib in conversation about Dean's book LOVE IN A F*CKED-UP WORLD at the Round Chapel Old School Rooms, Hackney.

Recorded live on Thursday 9 October 2025.

Subscribe to Dean's Patreon for more ideas and resources around radical relating and the current moment. 

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An evening with Zakia Sewell and Moya Lothian-McLean in conversation about FINDING ALBION at The Old School Rooms, Hackney

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An evening with Charlie Porter reading from and answering questions about NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE at Palm 2, Clapton.

Listen to the end to hear Siobhan from AIDS Quilt UK telling us about the next appearances of the quilt in Wakefield and Glasgow.

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