The Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry 2024 has now CLOSED for entries
A huge thank you to everyone who has entered our poetry competition this year! Shortlisted poets will be notified before the 30th September 2024 and invited to hybrid digital and in person awards ceremony which will take place in West Cornwall in October 2024. We regret that we are not able to contact everyone who enters the competition to notify them of the results but please do keep an eye on our social media and website where we will share the full results before 31st October 2024.
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A rich resource for research, or a place to borrow the latest novel.
The Morrab Library is an independent library established in 1818, situated in the beautiful Morrab Gardens in Penzance, Cornwall. We hold over 70,000 books on floor-to-ceiling shelves as well as archives and a rich photographic collection. The library contains a wide range of both fiction and non-fiction books in the rambling rooms of a delightful Victorian building. The Morrab Library is a registered charity and depends on the support and generosity of our library community.
We are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-4pm.
Latest news
A living library – Lucy Sparrow and Rebecca Harvey’s new work
Artist Rebecca Harvey and poet Lucy Sparrow are joint Artists in Residence at The Morrab Library. Throughout the year, the pair are creating pieces in porcelain and poetry inspired by the library’s rooms,...
Reading List | Katrina Naomi
Katrina Naomi is an award-winning poet, performer and mentor. She has returned to judge our poetry competition, the Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry, in 2024. Katrina’s poetry collections have won an Authors’ Foundation Award and Saboteur Award, and she is a recipient...
Reading List for Guy English’s talk about ‘The Holy Wells of Cornwall’
Every month at The Morrab Library we host talks in the Reading Room for library members and non-members alike. The programme is as eclectic as the library’s collection – from the Holy Wells of Cornwall to the History of the English Miniature Painting – and meander...
If there is an afterlife, I very much hope that those good enough in this one might be rewarded with an exact replica of the Morrab Library – to sit out eternity browsing its shelves, reading in its chairs, and looking out of its high windows.
If you like books, if you like history, if you like beautiful houses, if you like hidden treasures, if you like people, if you like peace, you will LOVE Morrab. In fact, if you are alive, you will love it there.
Whether you’re an impassioned bibliophile or just someone who loves a good read, the Morrab is for you: a Cornish treasure house, a meeting place for like-minded souls, and a vibrant forum for contemporary writing.