Literary September

This month, Pages of Hackney bookshop is returning to its usual full schedule of events with three unusual topics. Covering everything from the brothels of Georgian London, the love between a man and his bike, and finally the new authors behind a new wave of feminism, Pages, in the best Hackney tradition, opens its doors to some of the most interesting writers‘ of the last year.

On Wednesday 8 September Pages of Hackney welcomes historian Dan Cruickshank to talk about The Secret History of Georgian London. Cruickshank acknowledges the idea of Georgian London as one of elegant buildings and fine art, but his account also details London as a city where prostitution was rife and houses of ill repute were widespread with many thousands of people were dependent on the wages of sin in order to live and eat.

Many years and many great minds’ worth of work away from Georgian London, on Thursday 23 September Pages hosts an evening of New Feminist discussion with authors Kat Banyard and Catherine Redfern.

Calling a new generation to arms, this talk will focus on the idea that in today’s post-feminist society, men and women are considered equal and feminism is often portrayed as being unfashionable and irrelevant. Banyard’s The Equality Illusion argues that feminism continues to be one of the most urgent and relevant social justice campaigns. This book sets out the major issues for twenty-first century feminism, from work and education to sex, relationships and having children.

Redfern and Aune’s Reclaiming the F Word is a groundbreaking examination of how and why the new feminist movement affects women in today’s society.

How many people in Hackney ride a bike? How many people in Hackney always go on about needing to buy a bike? Well, if you can’t find motivation by Wednesday 29 September, then come along to see bike purist Rob Penn travel to Hackney to talk about his hugely popular memoir, It’s All About the Bike.

Penn tells the story of a journey to design and build a dream bike. From Stoke-on-Trent, where an artisan hand builds his frame, to California, home of the mountain bike, the author spans the globe in search of the perfect modern bicycle. Penn’s narrative extends beyond merely his search for a bike to detail the history of bikes and capture our love affair with cycling.

Downstairs in the basement. For 30 years, Doffy Weir has stalked the canals and derelict industrial sites of East London with her camera, transforming the most unlikely subjects into beautiful, surreal and tranquil otherworlds. Her show, Icespace, which opens at Pages basement gallery this September, was taken during the last two winters’ freeze on the Hertford Union and Regents Canals. The show runs 2 – 30 September.

All events start at 7pm and are in Pages basement gallery space.
Tickets cost £3.

Pages of Hackney
70 Lower Clapton Road
E5 0RN
020 8525 1452
info@pagesofhackney.co.uk