Blog

The November Club, the North East based performing arts company, has had a long, fruitful and enjoyable link with The Lit&Phil and has presented some memorable events and productions there. Outgoing artistic director Cinzia Hardy reflects on how that relationship developed and the rewards it has brought.

Novelist Patricia Highsmith was born on the 19th January 1921. By all accounts a strange women with unpleasant views (although she was kind to snails) she was a hugely talented author and wrote 22 novels and many short stories including Stranger On A Train and the five novels about Tom Ripley.

In December 2020 a small group of people met together at The Lit&Phil to celebrate the launch of Tales Lost and Found and Told, an event which was streamed live on YouTube. The initiative came from Cinzia Hardy, the then Artistic Director of The November Club and the tales were written by Fiona Ellis who has written a short blog about the background and making of the tales.

Many English words have Latin roots. In an informative, entertaining and witty blog, Lit&Phil member and Latin lecturer Alan Beale looks backwards to Latin and forwards to how some words have changed and developed in English.

Sin and desire - and where they can lead. A salutary tale for our times.

By any standards, Sir Joseph Swan was a remarkable man. Born in Sunderland his many inventions included the first electric light (which he demonstrated at the Lit & Phil) as well as fairy lights, photographic paper and artificial silk. Amanda Hepburn has written a fascinating account of his life and works.

Peter and Sue Cullimore were so inspired by A House Through Time that they penned their own book.  After all, when you’re stuck at home because of Covid, you might as well get stuck into exploring its history!

A brand new one-off event by The Galvanize Ensemble with a new interpretation and video of a work premiered at The Lit & Phil in early 2019.

"A pandemic (from Greek πᾶν, pan, "all" and δῆμος, demos, "people" the 'crowd') is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of people.." (Wikipedia)

Local poet Dermot Killingley reflects...