• Events

    Liverpool and the American Civil War: an evening with historical thriller author JP Maxwell

    In conversation with JP Maxwell, author of the American Civil War in Liverpool spy yarns WATER STREET and THE AMERICANS OF ABERCROMBY SQUARE. Thursday, March 27 · 6:30pm Join author JP Maxwell as he reveals the hidden truths of how Liverpool nearly pulled Britain into the American Civil War and how the Lincoln assassination was funded by southern agents operating out of Abercromby Square. The event takes place at Liverpool’s iconic Athenaeum, a setting in both books. In 1863, Liverpool was up to its neck in a conflict that was about to change the world. Even an ocean away, machinations…

  • Events

    An Evening with Jeff Young

    Join Costa Award shortlisted author Jeff Young as he discusses his new book, Wild Twin. Following his beautiful memoir of Liverpool, Ghost Town, this time Jeff Young explores his journeys through places, memories and his inner self. About Wild Twin: One morning in the 1970s Jeff Young slips out of his parents home with the intention of hitch-hiking to Paris in search of a version of himself he calls the ‘wild twin’, a shadow boy, a feral drifter. There he falls headlong into a fever dream of dive hotels, rough sleeping, getting lost, squats, violence, poverty, thieving, illness and madness.…

  • PAST EVENTS

    Rogue Agent: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockheart

    THIS EVENT TOOK PLACE ON WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2024 AT THE ATHENAEUM.   A SPECIAL BOOK LAUNCH FOR ROGUE AGENT BY JAMES CROSSLAND IN LIVERPOOL’S ICONIC ATHENAEUM LIBRARY READING ROOM ROGUE AGENT: THE THRILLING BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BRUCE LOCKHART, BRITAIN’S ‘AGENT’ IN MOSCOW Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart (1887–1970) was an impressive figure: a diplomat, intelligence agent, conspirator, journalist and propagandist who played a key role in both world wars. He was a man who charmed his way into the confidences of everyone from Leon Trotsky to Anthony Eden. A man whom the influential press baron Lord Beaverbook claimed ‘could well have…

  • PAST EVENTS

    Horror in the Library with horror fiction writer Ramsey Campbell

    THIS EVENT TOOK PLACE ON WEDNESDAY 25TH OCTOBER 2023 AT THE ATHENAEUM. Join us in the Library Reading Room at Liverpool’s iconic Athenaeum for this special event with legendary horror writer Ramsey Campbell. The Oxford Companion to English Literature describes Ramsey Campbell as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”, and the Washington Post sums up his work as “one of the monumental accomplishments of modern popular fiction”. As we approach Halloween this is a unique opportunity to hear the acclaimed Liverpool born author Ramsey Campbell discuss what horror means to him, in the Athenaeum’s atmospheric Library Reading Room. Continue the…