Windrush Day 2022

Windrush Day takes place on 22 June and commemorates Caribbean migrants arriving on the SS Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in London in 1948.  Today is the fifth Windrush Day celebration.

Windrush Day is an opportunity to celebrate the Windrush generation and recognise the contributions and sacrifices the British Caribbean communities made to help rebuild Britain after World War II.  It is also a chance to reflect upon the difficulties that the Windrush generation experienced then and now.

We highly recommend that you read the award-winning Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah, available in the EPHS Lower Library.  Find out more from the people who were there by reading Voices of the Windrush Generation by David Matthews, available to borrow from the Library, or visiting 'Windrush Stories' on the British Library website here.  Check out the BBC Newsround website too by clicking here. 

Refugee Week 2022

This week is Refugee Week, 'an annual festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees'.  This year's theme is 'healing'.  A refugee is 'a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution or natural disaster'.

We are inviting you to do one simple act - read a book about refugees and start a discussion.  Reading is a great way to walk in someone else's shoes and build up empathy for their situation.  The Library has a selection of books for you to choose from and you may like to check out the list of 40 children's books to raise awareness for Refugee Week 20-26 June on the LoveReading4Kids website.

You can find out more about refugees by going to Refugee Action website - click here.  Famous people who you may not know were refugees are children's author Judith Kerr, singer Rita Ora and footballer Victor Moses - to find out more, click here.

Exclusive Heartstopper Event at Waterstones Piccadilly

As part of Pride month celebrations, Waterstones are giving fans of the fantastic Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman the opportunity to meet the author at their London Piccadilly branch on Thursday, 30th June at 7pm.  

The event will be held in a pop-up replica of Charlie Spring's bedroom as it appears in the Netflix adaptation.  Tickets go on sale today, Monday 20th June at 6pm, priced at £10.99. This includes entry and a copy of Heartstopper: Netflix tie-in edition.  The tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis and limited to one ticket per person. Click here for more information and to book a ticket.

If you are unable to attend this event, you will be able to visit the pop-up replica of Charlie Spring's bedroom at Waterstones Piccadilly between 1st July to 8th July.

Dual Language Books for Children at Bromley Libraries

Did you know that Bromley Libraries have collections of books in other
languages, including Ukrainian, that you can borrow for free?  You can search for books by going to the Bromley Libraries website and clicking on the 'special collections' tab at the top, and then choosing 'Dual Language children’s books'.

If you are not already a member of the Library, you can join online at https://prism.librarymanagementcloud.co.uk/bromley/join  or visit your local public library.

Don't forget, as a member of your local public library, you can also borrow ebooks, audio books and emagazines.  You simply need your library card number and your PIN to gain free access via the Overdrive website or the Libby app.

The EPHS Libraries currently have a small selection of books in other languages and are in the process of sourcing books in Ukrainian.

CILIP Carnegie and Greenaway Awards 2022 - winners announced!

The winners of this year's prestigious CILIP Carnegie and Greenaway Awards were announced yesterday! The winner of both the Carnegie Medal and the Carnegie Shadower’s Choice was the beautiful and moving October, October by Katya Balen.

The ceremony was streamed live from the British Library and hosted by the fantastic Dean Atta, author of Black Flamingo the 2020 Shadower’s Choice winner.  Our Shadowing Group, the Eden Park Readers, gathered in the Lower Library to watch and there was much discussion and debate over donut and strawberries.  One student commented that they really enjoyed the feeling of camaraderie that they got from being part of the group and can’t wait for next year!

These books and rest of the Carnegie and Greenaway short list books are available to borrow from the EPHS Libraries.

Empathy Day 2022

Today is Empathy Day and the focus this year is 'empathy, our human superpower'.  Created and run by Empathy Lab, Empathy Day is about encouraging children and young people to read empathy-boosting stories to gain a better understanding of people and how they think and feel.

There are live events taking place today with an array of amazing authors, including Children's Laureate, Cressida Cowell, Malorie Blackman and Michael Morpurgo.  

The 2022 Empathy Book Collection for Secondary featuring 20 fantastic books for 12-16 year olds is available to view here.  Copies of the books from the Secondary School Collection are available to borrow form the Library.

Read With Pride - 50th Anniversary of Pride

June is LGBT+ Pride Month.  As well as being a time to celebrate, it is also an opportunity to peacefully protest and raise awareness of the current issues facing the LBGT+ community.  ' LGBT+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The + is an inclusive symbol to mean 'and others' to include people of all identities' (definition from the BBC Newsround site).

Pride takes place in June because that is the month the Stonewall Riots happened in the USA in 1969.  This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Pride movement in the UK.  To celebrate and mark the occasion, the Royal Mint have created a specially designed 50p coin. To find out more about Pride, check out the BBC Newsround article, Pride: What is it and why do people celebrate it?, by clicking here.

The Library has a diverse collection of LGBT+ literature, both fiction and non-fiction for you to explore.  Including award winning novels such as  Black Flamingos by Dean Atta,  Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls and Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence.

This year, we are taking part in the #ReadWithPride relay on Instagram organised by Dulwich College Library in association with the School Library Association, CILIP and author Ciara Smyth, a winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2022 for Not My Problem.  For recommendations check out the EPHS Library Instagram account @ephs_library! 

EPHS Carnegie Shadowing 2022

The CKG Awards Shadowers Vote is now open.  Our Shadowing Group, the Eden Park Readers, have until 6th June to vote for their favourite from this year’s shortlist.  With such a fantastic array of books to choose from, it’s going to be difficult to pick just one!

The winners of the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals and the Shadower’s Choice will be announced live at noon on 16th June.  The ceremony will be held at the British Library and is hosted by Dean Atta, who won the Carnegie Shadower’s Choice Award in 2020 for his brilliant verse novel, The Black Flamingo.

We are also delighted to have been chosen as one of the winners of the ALCS #My CKG Shelfie competition.  The prize is a set of both the Carnegie and Greenaway shortlisted books.  You can check out our entry on the Library Instagram at ephs_library!.