Forthcoming Events at Curious Fox

Book Club

Every 3rd Thursday of the Month, 7.30pm
Join us to discuss the book of the month in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Newcomers always welcome. Registration not necessary, just turn up at the right time and be prepared to discuss the book!

During the Summer, we will hold the book club outdoors in the area just in front of the shop. We advise that you bring your own refreshments!
In the event of rain etc., we will move indoors.

"Doing It All" by Ruby Russell: Book Launch

Saturday 16 March, 7.00pm

We are delighted to be hosting the book launch of Ruby Russell's "Doing It All: The Social Power of Single Motherhood" (Dialogue Books) on Saturday 16 March at 19:00.
Ruby will be in conversation with writer and translator Lucy Jones.
About "Doing It All"
Nearly a quarter of UK families with dependent children are single-parent families, and around 90% of single parents are women. Yet the single mother is still cast as a victim or welfare queen, sexually irresponsible or too independent by half.
Tracing a history through Victorian brothels, welfare rights activism and Black feminist traditions of othermothering, Ruby Russell tells a different story: of motherhood defined not by marriage or men, but as a nexus of solidarity beyond the patriarchal status quo.
A personal quest for empowerment, Doing It All is also a fierce critique of the structures that leave single mums marginalised and exhausted – and a call to reclaim mothering as the life force of sustainable, connected and radically responsible communities.  

*Endorsements*
“Russell’s DOING IT ALL is a riveting memoir-cum-cri-de-coeur-cum-manifesto for envisioning motherhood anew – as the anchor for a society built on caring, connection, and sustaining each other and the earth. Deftly marrying history with her own story, Russell gives us a vision of single mothers as avatars of a better world. It is a world we can all embrace, and all aspire to.”
Kirsten Swinth, author of Feminism’s Forgotten Fight

DOING IT ALL is a fascinating and compelling exploration of motherhood beyond the confines of the patriarchy. Anchored in Ruby Russell's own experience as a single mother, DOING IT ALL is at once deeply personal and profoundly political – with courage, compassion, and generosity, Russell presents an intersectional history which honours single motherhood in all its complexity, while exposing the structural forces that have long sought to diminish acts of mothering that exist outside of male control. Bold, revelatory, and a joy to read, DOING IT ALL will ignite much-needed conversations about the communal and collective power of single mothers. A brilliant book, fearlessly told.”
Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women

In this lucid and liberating book, Ruby Russell shows how single motherhood exposes the idiocy of the ‘biological clock’, throws light on concepts of choice, freedom, responsibility and fulfilment, and reveals the shortcomings of society’s organisation of childrearing for all.”
Eliane Glaser, author of Motherhood: A Manifesto

About Ruby Russell
Ruby Russell is a journalist, writer, editor and single mum from London, based in Berlin. Russell started out publishing books of photojournalism with award-winning publisher Trolley. Frustrated with the mediation of stories of injustice through the reporter’s lens, she then worked on participatory projects that helped marginalised groups – from British teenage single mothers and adults with mental health challenges, to young women born and raised in refugee camps in North Africa – to tell their own stories and advocate for visibility. She has written for The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and Deutsche Welle. For the last decade her journalistic work has focused on the ecological crisis.

Doors will open at 18:30
The event will start at 19:00
Free Entry

Past Events

The following are a selection of past events at Curious Fox

Why read Brigitte Reimann?

Wednesday 29 March, 8pm
The recent publication of Brigitte Reimann’s novella Siblings by Penguin Classics follows the translation over the past few years of the East German writer’s diaries into English. Both the novella and the diaries speak to the experience of a young, politically engaged woman in the GDR of the 1950s and 1960s. So why the interest now? Reimann’s translator Lucy Jones speaks with Paul Scraton about the importance of the writer’s work fifty years on from her untimely death, about how her work explores a society that attempted to position itself as far away from the horrors of Nazism as possible, and why she remains relevant today.

Isn't Everything Poetry?

Every 1st Tuesday of the Month
Postponed until further notice.
February 4th 2014 to March 5th 2020 and nearly every month in between.
"Isn't Everything Poetry?" is a monthly event featuring poets, authors and spoken-word performers & an open mic.

Previous guests at Isn't Everything Poetry? include A. E. Sadeghipour, Adam Flint, Alex Bodea, Alistair Noon, Amanda Hohenberg, Andrew Shields, Bernadette Geyer, Camilla Nelson, Candice Nembhard, Catherine Hales, Craig Teatime, Dean Browne, Demi Anter, Donna Stonecipher, Dusty-Anne Rhodes, Elly Jarvis, Emeka Ene, Golnoosh Nour, Gorjeoux, Grace Evangeline Holme, Hamza Beg, Hannah Goldstein, Ida Loggert, Ilia Kitup, Jaiksana Amarüda José, James Coon, Jane Flett, Jason Francis Mc Gimsey, Jenny Browne, Jeremy Whitehurst, Jeroen Nieuwland, Joel Scott, Julia Bell, Julia Groom, Julian Clyne, Kate McNaughton, Ken Shakin, Laila Zaidi Touis, Leigh Sauerwein, Marcus O'Shea, Mark Tardi, Michael Haeflinger, Michael Lederer, Musa Okwonga, Nicola Goldberg, Nisha Bhakoo, Peter Bakowski, Peter Hughes, Phil Smith, Philip Henderson, Priscilla Bergey, Rasp Thorne, Rhianna Ilube, Robert Stastny, Ron Edward, Rose Warner Miles, Rosie Allabarton, Sam Davis, Sam Langer, Sarah McKee, Seth Nunez, Síofra McSherry, Sister Chain, Stuart Braun, Subhashini Kaligotla, Turlach O Broin, Vijay Khurana.

We are extremely grateful to the above for their contribution to Isn't Everything Poetry? & to what helps to make running an independent bookshop fun and worthwhile. We look forward to a time post-Corona when we can welcome poets and writers and an audience back to Curious Fox.

Quiz Night

Every 3rd Tuesday of the Month
Postponed until further notice.
Quiz Night follows the traditional table quiz or pub quiz format popular in the British Isles. There are rounds of questions on varying subjects including Current Affairs, Arts & Literature, Science & Nature, Film & TV, Music & our infamous rapid-fire buzzer-round where participants are encouraged to bring their own buzzer (something handheld that makes a unique noise). There is 2 Euro charge per person with a cash prize for the winning team.

Quiz Night will return to our schedule when it is safe & legal to gather together indoors again.