Saturday 23rd November 11am-1pm - Deptford Lounge
Futuristic Cityscape dioramas with MBxArtLAB
Inspired by sci-fi settings, imagine a future land or cityscape and create a 2D collage or 3D diorama using recycled and unwanted waste materials
Sunday 24th November 10am-2pm - Crofton Park Community Library
Banner making day with Make Mee Studio
Join sewing social enterprise Make Mee Studio and the Crofton Park Community Library team for a series of workshops culminating in a collaborative community banner that will be exhibited in the library. We will explore our ideas of an imagined future world delving into storytelling, world building and exploring the rich cultural history of textile banner making whilst getting stuck in making our own banner.
All hands on deck for a day filled with sewing and printing! We will be bringing our collaborative banner to life. No experience needed. We'll show you techniques you can use to make a beautiful banner. Make Mee Facilitators will be on hand to help bring the final design to life.
The workshops are open to all ages, adults and children 7+, this is a collaborative workshop for our whole local community. You can join all of the workshops or just 1 or 2. Children under 11 must be accompanied by an adult.
Sunday 24th November 12noon-2pm - Forest Hill Community Library
Invention: Robots with MBxArtLAB
What role will robots and machines play in the future? Create a robot or invent a machine using recycled and unwanted materials.
Monday 25th November 5.30-6.30pm - Catford Library
Nets, Knots and Space Crones: Ursula Le Guin inspired macrame workshop
“If it is a human thing to do to put something you want, because it's useful, edible, or beautiful, into a bag, or a basket, or a bit of rolled bark or leaf, or a net woven of your own hair, or what have you, and then take it home with you, home being another, larger kind of pouch or bag, a container for people, and then later on you take it out and eat it or share it or store it up for winter in a solider container or put it in the medicine bundle or the shrine or the museum, the holy place, the area that contains what is sacred, and then next day you probably do much the same again--if to do that is human, if that's what it takes, then I am a human being after all. Fully, freely, gladly, for the first time."
Join us at Lewisham Libraries for macrame workshops inspired by sci-fi writer Ursula Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. We will weave and knot our own straps to carry our own belongings – think reusable water bottles, keys and phones! Learning simple macrame techniques together, we will discuss Le Guin’s wonderful essay (we’ll have copies and print outs!) about the power of telling stories differently. Beginners welcome, suitable for 14+ and anyone interested in feminist science fiction
Tuesday 26th November 6-7pm - Forest Hill Community Library or online
Science Fiction and Philosophy with The Philosophy Foundation
Science fiction imagines possible worlds, philosophy imagines possible worlds to help think about - and maybe improve - this one. In this interactive, discussion-focused session attendees will be learn about some of the most famous ways that philosophy and science fiction have worked together in film. Minority Report, Blade Runner, I, Robot, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Avatar and many other films give us engaging ways into thinking about life, the universe and everything (which reminds me to include The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, too!)
Wednesday 27th November 6.30-7.30pm - Deptford Lounge or online
Lola Olufemi: Author talk
Join us for this author talk and Q&A with Lola Olufemi.
Lola Olufemi is a black feminist writer and Stuart Hall foundation researcher from London based in the Centre for Research and Education in Art and Media at the University of Westminster. Her work focuses on the uses of the political imagination and its relationship to cultural production, political demands and futurity. She is author of Feminism Interrupted: Disrupting Power (Pluto Press, 2020), Experiments in Imagining Otherwise (Hajar Press, 2021) and a member of 'bare minimum', an interdisciplinary anti-work arts collective.
Book here to attend in person (N.B. presented with live BSL interpreter)
Thursday 28th November 6-7.30pm - Deptford Lounge
Cinema Club X London Science Fiction Research Community Discussion
Join a takeover by London Science Fiction Community to discuss the films that have been shown this month. Come along to chat all things science fiction cinema
Thursday 28th November 4-5.30pm - Downham Library
Music and Audio in Videogames with INTO Games
What makes some of the biggest games in the world sound great? Join a professional game audio designer to explore sound, music and a career working in game audio. For ages 12-17.
Saturday 30th November 10.30am-12noon - Downham Library
Build a Dragon with MBxArtLAB
Join a team of local artists to create a large fantastical papier-mâché dragon ornamented with scales, made from recyclables and unwanted materials
Saturday 30th November 2-4pm - Sydenham Community Library
Sci-Fi writing workshop with London Science Fiction Research Community
The London Science Fiction Research Community invites you to participate in a creative writing workshop. Together we will read, discuss and respond to a short science fiction story with small writing prompts.
The London Science Fiction Research Community (LSFRC) is an organisation of SF scholars and fans, led by graduate students, early career scholars, writers and artists. The Community presents in-person reading groups, film screenings and other events several times a year. See our linktree for more details.
Saturday 30th November 3-4pm - Deptford Lounge or online
Cinematic world building: Inside the art department with Alice Davies and Tim Adams
Join Alice Davies and Tim Adams for an exclusive look into the fantastical world of film. Find out what it was like working with prop makers and concept artists on Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire to design sets that both honoured and revitalised a legacy sci-fi world. This talk will also be livestreamed online.
Saturday 30th November 4-6pm - Deptford Lounge
LIKE GODS Closing Celebration
Join Lewisham Libraries for the closing celebration of Ruth Beale’s LIKE GODS exhibition and the finale of our extraordinary ‘Imagined Worlds’ season. Throughout November, over 30 events are taking our community on a captivating journey through the realms of science fiction and fantasy. From author talks to interactive workshops, from film screenings to craft sessions. We hope that the events will have brought fantastical worlds to life within our library spaces. We’ll reflect on our experiences of the season and provide light refreshments and good vibes.