Sunday Times bestselling author and founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, Laura Bates confronts audiences with her first-hand accounts and shocking evidence in a blazing examination of the societal systems that fail to protect women, and is a rallying cry for reform. In conversation with Nell Frizzell, author of The Panic Years. In the beautiful surroundings of the beautifully renovated Victorian theatre at Alexandra Palace.

Tickets: https://www.alexandrapalace.com/whats-on/laura-bates/ (Use code NLBFCLOFF50 for 50% off ticket prices!)

‘Too often, we blame women’ contends Laura Bates in this blistering call to arms. ‘For walking home alone at night. ‘For not demanding a seat at the table’. ‘For not overcoming the odds that are stacked against them’. ‘This distracts us from the real problem’, she says:- ‘the failings and biases of a society that was not built for women’.

In this talk, she delivers an uncompromising attack on the systemic prejudice at the heart of five of our key institutions: education, politics, media, policing and criminal justice.

Talk followed by a Q&A

Tickets available here

Join us for an evening on women in Arthurian Legend with Laura Bates and Sophie Keetch. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A and a signing of their books, Sisters of Sword and Shadow and Morgan Is My Name.

Tickets are £5 and will be deducted off one of the books on the night. 

If you can't make the event but would like a signed copy, please contact the shop to make arrangements.

Tickets here

HAY FESTIVAL THINKERS IN RESIDENCE – A FUTURE NOT YET IMAGINED

Laura Bates, Will Gompertz and David Olusoga talk to Afua Hirsch

Sunday 26 November 2023, 10am Venue: Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage (Hay Castle)

A trio of this year’s Hay Festival Thinkers in Residence – Laura Bates, Will Gompertz and David Olusoga – take stock of the biggest issues facing society today, following on from the expert insights shared at this summer’s Hay Festival.

The three discuss everything from what a new system for an integrated and respectful society would look like to how we go about rewriting history, and how we access, look at and assess modern art.

Tickets here

We are honoured and excited to host a conversation with leading best-selling author Laura Bates, as she discusses her fantasy debut novel "Sisters of Sword and Shadow", an epic Arthurian fantasy reimagining.

Free event. No ticket required but more details here

Join us for a very special evening with best-selling writer and activist, Laura Bates, celebrating the release of her new epic fantasy Sisters of Sword and Shadow, in conversation with one of our favourite local authors, Tanya Byrne.

Sisters of Sword and Shadow is the first in a breathtaking and sweeping duology asking what if the Knights of the Round Table had a female counterpart?

In this, her brand new novel, Laura Bates presents an epic Arthurian retelling about power, sisterhood, courage and fighting the patriarchy. Adventurous, empowering and utterly absorbing, we can't wait to hear Laura discuss all of our burning questions.

We'll be talking to her about how she explores feminist ideas through fantasy worlds, why fantasy is especially popular among women and girls at the moment, what learning to ride and joust as research for the book was like, what it means to her to 'fight like a girl' and what we can learn about ways to respond to gender based violence from the Sisters of Sword and Shadow - and so much more.

There will be time for an audience Q&A so have your questions ready!

Details

The evening will begin with introductions and a short reading from Sisters of Sword and Shadow by Laura, followed by an in-conversation with Tanya Byrne .

We will conclude with an opportunity for an audience Q&A and a book signing.

Tickets here

We are over the moon to welcome the wonderful Laura Bates to the shop to celebrate her new young adult fantasy novel Sisters of Sword and Shadow.

Laura’s books are the epitome of feminist brilliance – from the eye-opening contemporary teen book The Burning to hard-hitting nonfiction on gender and equality like Men Who Hate Women, whatever Laura has to say, we have time for.

Sisters of Sword and Shadow is a thrilling gender-swapped tale of the Knights of the Round Table for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Sarah J. Maas. We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be a great night of fantasy and legend!

All tickets include a soft drink, a Q&A, 15% off any book purchased on the night, and signing with Laura

Tickets here

Activist and bestselling feminist writer Laura Bates will be joining us to talk about her brand new, YA novel and fantasy debut Sisters of Sword and Shadow.

Tickets here

Wildly diverse writers debut new pieces of work created using a unique blackout poetry method in this new event hosted by poet and playwright Inua Ellams

Info & Tickets

Instagram Live with Seyi Akiwowo of Glitch UK, an award-winning UK charity committed to ending online abuse. Presenting and discussing the results of a groundbreaking new Glitch report into misogynoir (combined racism and misogyny) faced by Black women online, and discussing potential solutions.

Watch live

An evening of conversation about Fix the System Not the Women followed by a book signing. Arrive at 6.30pm for a free glass of wine included in ticket.

Tickets here

Gower St New Voices event with Joseph Zigmond. Buy tickets here.

Join us for an evening with debut fiction author Joseph Zigmond, discussing his luminous new novel with Laura Bates.

In the summer of 2006, a chance encounter on the London Underground finds eighteen-year-old Ali tagging along with a school friend and a mysterious girl to a club. The girl is Cece, and she seems to be everything Ali is not. For one night he is transfixed and transformed into someone who might belong. All he knows is he will remember it forever.

In 2064, Ali takes his final flight out of the UK to Morocco, in a world upturned by climate collapse. He has a wife and a daughter, reasons to return. Yet Ali is willing to abandon everything to find Cece again, finally to recapture that long summer night when he was young, and to understand how the actions taken - and not taken - have changed all their lives.

Luminous and full of longing, Constance is a novel of teenage fragility, male blindness and everyday complicity.

Welcome drinks at 6pm and a book signing after the event.

Evening event for adults aimed at parents, carers and teachers of primary school aged girls. Covering body image, sexism and more. Book tickets.

Exploring the role of dystopian fiction and its links to our everyday lives. Discussing The Burning and my activist work. Alongside Irenosen Okojie and Helen Trevorrow. Online event.

Book tickets

Keynote speech at Anglia Ruskin University Gender Based Violence conference. Open to public. Sign up here

In conversation with writer Jeffrey Boakye, on masculinity, race, education, popular culture, consent, women online and toxic masculinity. Event followed by book signing. Book tickets

Exploring the global impact of misogyny and ways to build a more equal society with author Winnie M Li, poet, writer and women’s rights activist Sadaf Saaz and Mandu Reid, leader of the Women's Equality Party. Buy tickets

I’m thrilled to be part of the opening panel for this year’s Women of the World Festival alongside the brilliant Jude Kelly, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, bestselling author Elif Shafak and activist Josephine Kamara. Get your tickets here!

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a registered charity, a non-profit making organisation. It is a distinctive international showcase celebrating the written word, literature and ideas. It brings leading and emerging international, British and Scottish authors and thinkers together to inspire each other and audiences in an extensive programme of public events.