We are pleased to announce the publication of three new pamphlets.

The Life & Family Of William Penn: 260 Years Of Bloody Colonialism, by Jim McNeill

Bread Or Battons? Unemployed Workers’ Struggles In 1930s Bristol, Dave Backwith and Roger Ball

Ben Tillett, by Jim McNeill

Details of these pamphlets can be found on the Publications Page

Steve Higginson has had to cancel his talk “From the Great Plague to the Plague of Women: Purity, Misogyny and Female Enclosure” due to illness. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause and will rearange this event for a date in the near future.

From the Great Plague to the Plague of Women: Purity, Misogyny and Female Enclosure

Steve Higginson

Saturday 11 February 2012 – 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Hydra Books

Steve Higginson will interpret the re-birth of misogyny by looking at the period of the Great Plague, 1345 onwards, and the great moralising discourse that swept across Europe post plaque. Located within this discourse of purity, women were viewed as both cause and effect of the plague, and were to be “enclosed” accordingly within the domestic sphere. The purity campaign against women was attributable to a re-reading of the Old Testament plus a resurgance of interest in Aristotlian ethics.

Steve hails from Liverpool and was a Union organiser in the Communication Workers Union. Now a post-graduate, Steve lectures at John Moores University. His recent projects include an examination of time, memory and movement in port cities (principally Liverpool) as co-author of Edgy Cities (2006). He has been a regular contributor of Bristol Radical History Group events.

The Little Book of Prison, A Beginners Guide” -

Frankie Owens

Tuesday 21st February 2012 – 7:00 pm – Hydra Books

A Beginners Guide is the award winning book by ex prisoner Frankie Owens. Written during his time behind bars, the book aims to be the little helping hand that first time offenders might need as they enter the system.

Frankie Owens wrote The Little Book of Prison, A Beginners Guide to help future inmates, their families and loved ones to help make sense of what they would all go through when someone goes to prison. He writes from his own experience as a prisoner living at Her Majesties Pleasure.

The book won the 2011 Koestler Platinum award for non-fiction http://koestlertrust.org.uk/ judged by Will Self. “Our awards judges don’t give a Platinum Award lightly, and this book is a winner on more than one level. It is a practical and totally frank introduction to real life in the British prison system – probably the best introduction there is. But it is also a wonderfully human narrative and a sharply argued critique – the wit and wisdom of one inmate who turns out to be a born writer. I was gripped from start to finish – roared with laughter one minute, winced with pain the next, and was left wondering why we have prisons at all.”

 Old Market March and Police Riot – 80th Anniversary

Dave Backwith and Roger Ball

Saturday 25 February 2012 – 4:00 pm – Hydra Books

February 23rd 1932 was the scene of a confrontation between the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement and the police when thousands of unemployed Bristolians were baton charged by the police during a march organised by the National Unemployed Workers Movement at the height of the depression.

To mark the 80th anniversary, historians Roger Ball and Dave Backwith will consider the impact of the events of that day and the wider context of the struggles of the unemployed during the great depression. Dave Backwith is a researcher of Bristol’s working class history in the inter war years particularly 1919 and the unemployed workers movement in the 1930′s. He is a family and community studies lecturer at the Anglia Ruskin University. Roger Ball is a post graduate research student in the history department at the University of the West of England.

History Walk – Old Market March and Riot – 80th Anniversary

Roger Ball and others

Sunday 26 February – 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm – meet at Hydra Books

Meet at 2pm at Hydra Books for a History Walk through the streets of Old Market and Central Bristol, where Bristol Radical History Group members will recount the stories associated with the various scenes on route.

Roots of Resistance: 20 years of Earth First!

A puppet show by Otherstory.

Thursday 08 March 2012 – 7:00 pm – Hydra Books

Using a magical “live animation ” technique, Roots of Resistance celebrates the rise of radical ecological activism in the last 20 years: from the treetops of Newbury to the tops of power station chimneys. It draws together personal stories, and brings to life both legendary and more recent victories, in an inspiring call to action.

Escape was on Everyone’s Mind – the Tale of Jack Sheppard

A puppet show by Otherstory.

Sunday 25 March 2012 – Hydra Books

See how an ordinary apprentice carpenter from East London became the legendary jail breaker and hero of the people, whose fame spread across oceans. Witness his daring and miraculous escapes. Watch him outwit judges, jailers and the Thiefcatcher General – until the hangman’s noose beckons and it’s now or never, neck or nothing…

February is LGBT History Month

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans History Month takes place every year in February. It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community. A programme of events has been compiled by OutStories Bristol, Bristol Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, CycleOut Bristol, M-Shed, Gay West and Hydra Books.

The events at Hydra Books are :

Changing images of trans people in speculative literature – Cheryl Morgan

Thursday 2 February – 7:00 pm

The availability of magic and advanced science have allowed writers of fantasy and science fiction literature to explore issues of gender in their work. Hugo Award winning critic, Cheryl Morgan, explores how the way in which trans characters have been portrayed in speculative literature has changed as real trans people have become better known to the general public. Cheryl Morgan is, to her knowledge, the only out trans person ever to have won science fiction’s highest honour, the Hugo Award. Born in Somerset, she has lived in Australia and California and now resides near Bath where she runs a small ebook publishing company and bookstore. She blogs regularly at www.cheryl-morgan.com

Celebration of Lesbian and Gay Literature – OutStories Bristol

Tuesday 7 February – 7:00 pm

From love poems to sci-fi and satire – come and join us in an evening of readings from literature with LGBT themes. Bring your favourite poem or excerpt and share it with the audience. Tell us what it means to you and where we can find more like it. Help us raise the profile of this new bookshop in the heart of Bristol’s Gay Village.

Cross-dressers and the establishment in Victorian England – Juliet Jacques

Thursday 9 February 7:00 pm

The emergence of public cross-dressing in the 19th century industrial city caused great anxiety to the Victorian legal establishment and England’s new police forces alike. In this talk, Guardian and New Statesman writer Juliet Jacques (longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011) explores how those who cross-dressed were criminalised, most famously in the scandalous trial of Ernest “Stella” Boulton and Frederick “Fanny” Park in 1871, and how contemporary transgender identities began to evolve in response.

Juliet Jacques is a journalist and author, best known for writing A Transgender Journey for The Guardian – the first time that the gender reassignment process has been serialised for a mainstream British publication. She has also written for the New Statesman and TimeOut, and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2011.

Exhibition – Lesbian and Gay Switchboard

Sunday 26 February – 4:00 pm

Bristol’s Lesbian and Gay Switchboard has been running for 37 years. Come and see an exhibition to celebrate its history at the bookshop. This will be followed by a party at 7pm at the Old Market Tavern for volunteers, friends and supporters of the Bristol Lesbian and Gay Switchboard.