John le Carre Memorial Lecture | "Living with My Father and Writing into his World" with With Nick Harkaway
2025-11-16 18:30 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | The Acorn Theatre
Nick Harkaway, author of the Sunday Times Bestseller ‘Karla’s Choice’ and son of John le Carré, will give the second John le Carré Memorial Lecture at The Acorn Theatre in Penzance.
Nick’s novel ‘Karla’s Choice’ is written into the world of George Smiley’s Circus and fits in between Le Carré’s ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’.
Nick has published eight other novels including ‘The Price You Pay’ which is currently being televised as “Kill Jackie”. He is working on a sequel to ‘Karla’s Choice’ and in this lecture will speak to us about his life with his parents, the place that Cornwall holds in his heart, and writing into his father’s world.
John le Carré was a great supporter of the library, serving as its President and Patron. The lecture is organised by The Morrab Library in association with The West Cornwall Arts Society and the Edge of the World bookshop.
Tickets available from The Acorn Theatre website and Box Office: https://www.theacornpenzance.com/events/john-le-carre-memorial-lecture/

NO LIBRARY TOUR THIS WEEK
2025-11-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library

The Morrab Library Christmas Fair 2025
2025-11-22 10:00 - 14:00 | Morrab Library
Yes, it’s that time already!
We hope you can join us for the annual Morrab Library Christmas Fair on Saturday 22nd November, 10.00am – 2.00pm.
The Fair will feature lots of stalls from West Cornwall’s local makers – a perfect opportunity to start your Christmas shopping and support your library at the same time. There will be second-hand books and historic photographs for sale, and our wonderful refreshments room with delicious homemade treats. And try your luck with our raffle, which will feature some wonderful prizes.
Some stalls will only be able to accept cash so please bring some along with you. Members and non-members alike are welcome, so please spread the word!
We look forward to seeing you there.

Relaxed Relaxed Book Group at The Morrab Library
2025-11-25 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
About the group:
A friendly group for anyone who loves books but doesn’t want the pressure of a traditional book club.
Rather than reading a specific book, we share what’s on our bookshelf or simply come for tea, biscuits and company in the beautiful book-filled atmosphere of The Morrab library.
No library membership is required and there’s no compulsory reading list.
Audiobook listeners are just as welcome as traditional readers.
We explore all types of books, swap books and share recommendations. Our discussions focus on what we’re looking for in a book and whether and when, we’ve found it.
When: The last Tuesday of the month, from 2pm-3pm. The first session will take place on Tuesday 25th March
Where: The Morrab Library, Morrab Gardens, Penzance, TR18 4DA
How to book: To join the group contact Jo Buckingham by email jo.buckingham.palace@gmail.com
Suggested donation £3.
About the group leader:
Joanna Buckingham started her first relaxed book group with friends in 2019 and got the idea of starting one at Morrab Library when working as a social prescriber as a way of creating supportive communities.
She loves the camaraderie and support of doing things in groups and the immersive experience of reading. She loves reading widely across many genres.
She’s organised group events and experiences in such diverse locations as tall ships and tin mines.
Joanna has set up and supported numerous groups whilst working in the museum and adventurous activity industry and as a social prescriber.
She is a level 3 trained counsellor and knows the importance of both being a good listener and having a good book to fall back on in times of need (Cold Comfort farm by Stella Gibbons always works for her)

Library Talks I Medieval wall paintings of Cornwall with Laura Miucci
2025-11-26 14:00 - 15:00
Come on a journey around Cornwall, exploring all of the currently known Medieval wall paintings in its parish churches. We will explore their saintly connections, historical context, associated features, and some more recent news! The talk will conclude with a case study, delving into the Victorian restoration work of St Just in Penwith parish church.
Laura is a qualified archaeologist, teacher and spoken word artist. From St Just in Penwith, she spent many days and nights in Penzance growing up, and is delighted to return to give you an archaeological talk.
With a particular interest in ceramics, including the conservation of wall paintings, we will discover some of Cornwall’s secrets of the saints, as we journey through Cornish wall paintings.
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system.
Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on Monday 17th November.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).
Laura is raising money for her CIC, Lore & Piece, after her talk – any donations will be gratefully recieved.
Refreshments will be provided after the talk.

Free tour of The Morrab Library
2025-11-28 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-05 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-12 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-12-19 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
All are welcome to join a free guided tour of The Morrab Library every Friday at 2pm. This is an opportunity to learn more about our beautiful independent Library and the collections within.
The tour begins at 2pm, it is drop-in and there is no need to book. If you plan to bring a large group (6+ people) please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk and we will do our best to accommodate you.
For accessibility information, please click here.
We also welcome visitors to the Library at any time during our opening hours (10am – 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday) when you are welcome to pick up a map of the Library at the front desk and explore the library

Morrab Library Members Christmas Party 2025
2025-12-06 13:00 - 15:30
We are delighted to invite our members to the Morrab Library Members Christmas Party on Saturday 6th December from 1:00pm – 3:30pm for some festive fun!
There will be a donations bar (cash or card accepted). And there’ll be some excellent prizes in our raffle.
This year, as our membership continues to grow, and we face increasing operational costs to maintain the library, we are asking members to bring a plate of food with them to share – savoury or sweet, any contribution would be welcome.*
At 2.00pm, our friends from the Mousehole Male Voice Choir will return to perform some festive carols and shanties.
Please join us to celebrate another happy year at The Morrab Library.

FULLY BOOKED Library Talks | Mrs Dalloway, The Centenary Year: ‘Art, Modernism & War’
2025-12-10 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
PLEASE NOTE: This talk is fully booked.
Our next Library talk comes from returning speaker, Sarah Latham-Phillips, MA. On Wednesday 10th December (2pm-3pm) she will be speaking about Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway in the centenary year of the novel.
Sarah’s illustrated talk will place Virginia Woolf in the context of Modernism and the contemporary art and literature scene, explaining briefly the key changes from Victorian to Modernist literature.
She will then highlight these new modernist ideas in Woolf’s writing of Mrs Dalloway: stream of consciousness, rhythm, time, multiple viewpoints, fragmentation, perspective, psychology and light and reflection. She will also consider the subjects of war, shell shock and London.
Illustrating her talk, Sarah will use the ideas of Roger Fry, Clive Bell and the Post Impressionist Exhibitions in London of 1910 and 1912, the influences particularly of Picasso, Matisse and Cezanne and will add some stunning First World War paintings by CRW Nevinson and Paul Nash, amongst others.
Sarah Latham Phillips, MA is a member of the executive council of the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain, a freelance lecturer in Art History and English Literature, and has published on Virginia Woolf as a Cubist Writer.
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system. Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closed on Monday 18th August. Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5). Refreshments will be provided after the talk.

Free tour of The Morrab Library
2026-01-09 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-01-23 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-01-30 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-02-06 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-02-13 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-02-20 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-02-27 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-03-06 14:00 - 15:00

Free tour of The Morrab Library
2026-01-16 14:00 - 15:00
All are welcome to join a free guided tour of The Morrab Library every Friday at 2pm. This is an opportunity to learn more about our beautiful independent Library and the collections within.
The tour begins at 2pm, it is drop-in and there is no need to book. If you plan to bring a large group (6+ people) please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk and we will do our best to accommodate you.
For accessibility information, please clickhere.
We also welcome visitors to the Library at any time during our opening hours (10am – 4pm, Tuesday to Saturday) when you are welcome to pick up a map of the Library at the front desk and explore the library

Library Talks l Working Lives - David Puddifoot
2026-01-21 14:00 - 15:00
Our first Library talk in 2026 will be with David Puddifoot, as he discusses the Photo Archives’ new publication, “Working Lives: Images from The Morrab Library Photo Archive“. This will take place in the Reading Room from 2pm-3pm on Wednesday 21st January.
David will talk about some of the images included in the booklet which showcases men and women at work, resting, or pausing to have their picture taken.
Photographs can be a window on our shared history and these images bring us a little closer to the past in this area of Cornwall. Farming, fishing, mining, commerce and industry have all given work to the people, not to mention the artists who have thrived here as well.
David has been volunteering in the Photo Archive for more than ten years, with a background in art teaching and many photographic projects in his youth.
Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on 12th January.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).
With best wishes,
The Morrab Library team

The Cornish Hedge Project
2026-01-27 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-02-10 10:00 - 12:00
The Cornish Hedge Project – A Community Textile Project with Vicks Harrison.

This project will produce 4 x panels 1.5 metres long(ish) representing the 4 seasons. Each panel will be made in 4 horizontal strips representing the wall, the area above and behind the wall, the ditch or area below the wall and a narrow strip with the creatures that exist in the soil, The project will be made step by step starting with Autumn in January 2026.

A diverse range of skills will be taught and used from simple expressive embroidery stitches to a variety of fabric manipulation. The emphasis will be on hand stitch skills. There will be teaching workshops for expressive embroidery stitches, padded applique, flat hand applique, 3d elements, like birds, padded worms, making a variety of cords and fabric manipulation.

The project is designed to help participants learn more about the importance of Cornish hedges and develop a wide range of design and hand stitch skills.

The project will take its inspiration from Cornish hedges so will involve an element of research for the participants. For those that are able I will be encouraging participants to go out and take photographs or draw. There may be some organised field trips.

Each panel will be given a seasonal feel by reflecting the actual flora and fauna present in that season in and around a Cornish hedge. There may be stuffed birds flying overhead.

Programme Start – Morrab Library all 10am – 12 unless indicated otherwise

27th January – Launch of project – Taster paper collage workshop looking at things like lichens and mosses that grow on the wall . Participants will be given pieces of the wall to begin embroidering

10th February – Taster How to turn stitches into expressive stitches. Textured stitches for mosses and lichens and a look at the kinds of unusual threads we can use.

24th February – Session working on the pieces we have begun

10th March – Making the dimensional ivy leaves. This will be an introduction to how we will make the ivy leaves. There will be many leaves and both flowers and berries moving across the panel and onto the start of the second panel.

24th March – Session working on the pieces we have begun

7th April – Collage workshop – paper collage birds – learning to design with paper collage. We will also begin to look at the creatures we will make for the ivy.

Relaxed Book Group at The Morrab Library
2026-01-27 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-02-24 14:00 - 15:00

Library Talks l Mazed Tales Website Launch
2026-02-04 14:00 - 15:00
Our next Library talk will be with Mazed Tales, as they launch their new website. This will take place in the Reading Room from 2pm-3pm on Wednesday 4th February.
The corners of Cornwall are full of magic, piskeys on the moors, spriggans on the tors, giants throwing stones, and witches stewing bones. Enchanting tales once told by wandering droll tellers now fill a digital hoard.
Join storyteller and Mazed lead Sue Field and web designer Nick Harpley for the launch of the brand new Mazed website, a comprehensive guide to the traditional tales of Cornwall, linking tales to places and the people that told them.
We will use the site’s digital map to travel in the footsteps of giants, easily navigate the collection of over 150 retellings of old tales and use a mixture of telling and reading of webtales to bring a selection of the stories to life.
The pages on tale collectors will be introduced by Mazed puppets of William Bottrell and Robert Hunt, folklorists who both went to Penzance Grammar school.
Prepare to be entranced/spellbound… and aMazed!
Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on 26th January.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

Library Talks l Women's Work - A poetry reading
2026-02-18 14:00 - 15:00
Our next Library talk will be with Vivienne Tregenza and Abigail Ottley, with ‘Women’s Work’, a poetry reading. This will take place in the Reading Room from 2pm-3pm on Wednesday 18th February.
Award-winning Penzance poets Abigail Ottley and Vivienne Tregenza will each introduce their first collections, published in 2025.
In ‘Out of Eden’ Abigail writes about the stories of working class women, both in her own family and more widely. These are poems of endurance and survival, both universal and empowering.
In ‘Conversations with Magic Stones’ Vivienne has written a collection of poems inspired by the life and work of Barbara Hepworth. They honour the hard-fought achievements of Hepworth as a female artist, as well as exploring the inner creative life itself.
Please email enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on 9th February.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

Super Spring Storytime with Jak Stringer
2026-02-19 10:30 - 12:00 | Morrab Library
Spring sunshine is nature’s alarm clock, telling wildlife to wake up after winter. You can see, hear, and smell the signs of newness as the season arrives with a rush of energy. The session will include garden weaving, vegetable sewing and flower collage.
Jak will be reading Sean Taylor & Alex Morss’ story ‘Busy Spring: Nature Wakes Up’. This beautifully illustrated book offers an engaging introduction to spring, perfect for young nature enthusiasts.
Contact us at enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or telephone 01736 364474 to book a place.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5).

The Cornish Hedge Project
2026-02-24 10:00 - 14:00 | Morrab Library
The Cornish Hedge Project – A Community Textile Project with Vicks Harrison.

This project will produce 4 x panels 1.5 metres long(ish) representing the 4 seasons. Each panel will be made in 4 horizontal strips representing the wall, the area above and behind the wall, the ditch or area below the wall and a narrow strip with the creatures that exist in the soil, The project will be made step by step starting with Autumn in January 2026.

A diverse range of skills will be taught and used from simple expressive embroidery stitches to a variety of fabric manipulation. The emphasis will be on hand stitch skills. There will be teaching workshops for expressive embroidery stitches, padded applique, flat hand applique, 3d elements, like birds, padded worms, making a variety of cords and fabric manipulation.

The project is designed to help participants learn more about the importance of Cornish hedges and develop a wide range of design and hand stitch skills.

The project will take its inspiration from Cornish hedges so will involve an element of research for the participants. For those that are able I will be encouraging participants to go out and take photographs or draw. There may be some organised field trips.

Each panel will be given a seasonal feel by reflecting the actual flora and fauna present in that season in and around a Cornish hedge. There may be stuffed birds flying overhead.

Contact Vicks Harrison directly for mroe information: vickyvicks@btinternet.com

Programme Start – Morrab Library all 10am – 12 unless indicated otherwise

27th January – Launch of project – Taster paper collage workshop looking at things like lichens and mosses that grow on the wall . Participants will be given pieces of the wall to begin embroidering

10th February – Taster How to turn stitches into expressive stitches. Textured stitches for mosses and lichens and a look at the kinds of unusual threads we can use.

24th February – Session working on the pieces we have begun

10th March – Making the dimensional ivy leaves. This will be an introduction to how we will make the ivy leaves. There will be many leaves and both flowers and berries moving across the panel and onto the start of the second panel.

24th March – Session working on the pieces we have begun

7th April – Collage workshop – paper collage birds – learning to design with paper collage. We will also begin to look at the creatures we will make for the ivy.

Library Talk: Mrs Delaney - The Cornish Connection with Liz Woods
2026-03-04 14:00 - 15:00 | Morrab Library
Wednesday 4th March
2pm-3pm. Reading Room at the Morrab Library.
Enter the ballot to join Liz Woods, author of ‘Cornish Feasts and Festivals’ as she delivers a talk about Mary Delany, notable english artist and letter writer.
Mrs Delany began her life’s work when she was over seventy. Her thousands of botanical paper cuts are now in the British Museum, but her family and her early life are inextricably linked to Cornwall and eighteenth century Cornish politics. This is the story of villains in many guises and one extraordinary heroine.
TICKETS:
Tickets are allocated by a ballot system. Please email: enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk or call 01736 364474 to be entered into the ballot for a ticket. The ballot closes on Monday 23rd February.
Entry to this event is free but donations are welcomed to help support The Morrab Library (suggested £5). Refreshments will be provided.
