Reweirding:
A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season

For over two decades, Lara Maiklem has been scouring the banks of the tidal Thames looking for objects – lost or discarded – that tell forgotten stories. At this reweirding event Lara discusses mudlarking through the cycle of the year with fellow mudlarker, and poet, Tom Chivers. In her sequel to the bestselling Mudlarking, Lara widens her search beyond the river and reflects on life lived post-pandemic, reminding us that it’s possible to draw meaning in the most unlikely of places. From medieval pilgrim badges and Tudor love tokens, to Georgian wig curlers and Victorian pottery, each passing day unearths ordinary and extraordinary objects that tell the rich story of London’s past and its inhabitants.

Lara Maiklem moved from her family’s farm to London in the 1990s and has been mudlarking along the River Thames for fifteen years. She now lives with her family on the Kent coast within easy reach of the river, which she visits as regularly as the tides permit. Her first book, Mudlarking, was a critically acclaimed bestseller.

Tom Chivers has released two pamphlets and two collections of poetry, the latest being Dark Islands (Test Centre, 2015). He was shortlisted for the Michael Marks and Edwin Morgan Poetry Awards and received an Eric Gregory Award in 2011. He was writer in residence at Bishopsgate Institute and associate artist of the National Centre of Writing. He is the author of London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City.

Lara Maiklem‘s book, A Mudlarking Year: Finding Treasure in Every Season, will be available to buy in person from Newham Bookshop on the evening.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price:

Standard £13 • Living Support £9 • Students £9

Access Information

Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Hive Cafe (street access, step-free), There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.

Other events you may be interested in:

Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking

Into the Uncanny