A monthly Radical Reading Group at Left Bank Leeds with Pluto Press & Left Book Club.

Click the bookcase for the catalogue 📚

The reading group meet on the last Wednesday of every month at 6.30pm. Register to attend the next one 🗓

Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan •

As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno •

Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms •

Less Is More by Jason Hickel •

Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa •

Queer Footprints by Dan Glass

Hope In Hopeless Times by John Holloway

Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan •

As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno •

Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms •

Less Is More by Jason Hickel •

Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa •

Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan •

Queer Footprints by Dan Glass

As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno •

Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms •

Less Is More by Jason Hickel •

Queer Footprints by Dan Glass

Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa •

Hope In Hopeless Times by John Holloway

Queer Footprints

Enough

Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan • As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno • Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms • Less Is More by Jason Hickel • Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa • Queer Footprints by Dan Glass Hope In Hopeless Times by John Holloway Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan • As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno • Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms • Less Is More by Jason Hickel • Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa • Become Ungovernable by H.L.T. Quan • Queer Footprints by Dan Glass As if already free by Holly High & Joshua O Reno • Badvertising by Andrew Murray & Leo Simms • Less Is More by Jason Hickel • Queer Footprints by Dan Glass Radical Intimacy by Sophie K Rosa • Hope In Hopeless Times by John Holloway Queer Footprints Enough

Radical Reading

Room FAQ’s

  • The Radical Reading Room meet-ups take place on the last Wednesday of the month at 6.30pm as part of the Left Bank Leeds Culture Club.

  • The reading room starts at 6.30pm.

    Between 6.30-6.45 you will have time to arrive, get a drink and acquaint yourself with the group. We wrap up by 8pm.

  • The Radical Reading Group is free to attend.

    There will always be at least one copy of the book available in the library to borrow.

    If you do wish to buy the book from Pluto Press, you will receive a 40% discount code. To get the code, please email sarahaautumn@gmail.com once you have booked your ticket.

  • Whilst you may find the reading group more enjoyable if you have read the book, it isn’t essential. You can come along to listen and learn about the book or discuss the broader ideas within the book. Sarah will highlight passages and quotes to discuss. You will also receive some information about the book and author in your reminder email.

  • Yes! We would love to hear your suggestions. It is worth keeping in mind though that this reading group is in collaboration with Pluto Press and Left Book Club so it does need to be a book within one of those two catalogues. Fortunately that gives you lots of awesome books to choose from.

    Pluto Press Books

    Left Book Club Books

    At the end of each group, we discuss books for the following meet up and usually agree one then. The book selection will be added to the event listing on the Left Bank Website, Leeds Inspired and social media.

  • YES! The Radical Reading Room Library at Left Bank is available for all!

    See the books we have here

Less Is More
Sarah Allison Sarah Allison

Less Is More

Advertising is selling us a dream, a lifestyle. It promises us fulfilment and tells us where to buy it - from international flights to a vast array of goods we consume like there is no tomorrow. The truth is, if advertising succeeds in keeping us on our current trajectory, there may not be a tomorrow.

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Mad World
Sarah Allison Sarah Allison

Mad World

'A radical antidote to the constraints of our current conceptualisation of mental health' - Dazed

Mental health is a political issue, but we often discuss it as a personal one. How is the current mental health crisis connected to capitalism, racism and other social issues? In a different world, how might we transform the ways that we think about mental health, diagnosis and treatment?

These are some of the big questions Micha Frazer-Carroll asks as she reveals mental health to be an urgent political concern that needs deeper understanding beyond today's 'awareness-raising' campaigns.

Exploring the history of asylums and psychiatry; the relationship between disability justice, queer liberation and mental health; art and creativity; prisons and abolition; and alternative models of care; Mad World is a radical and hopeful antidote to pathologisation, gatekeeping and the policing of imagination.

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Radical Intimacy
Sarah Allison Sarah Allison

Radical Intimacy

Capitalist ideology wants us to believe that there is an optimal way to live. 'Making connections' means networking for work. Our emotional needs are to be fulfilled by a single romantic partner, and self-care equates to taking personal responsibility for our suffering. We must be productive and heterosexual, we must have babies and buy a house. But the kicker is most people cannot and do not want to achieve all, or any of these life goals. Instead we are left feeling atomised, exhausted and disempowered.

Radical Intimacy shows that it doesn't need to be this way. A punchy and impassioned account of inspiring ideas about alternative ways to live, Sophie K Rosa demands we use our radical imagination to discover a new form of intimacy and to transform our personal lives and in turn society as a whole.

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Return Of A Native
Sarah Allison Sarah Allison

Return Of A Native

The English countryside is often seen as timeless, remote and shielded from the harshest problems of modern life. Yet, as Return of a Native reveals, it is to rural England that we must look for the roots of our current crises.

Beginning and ending at a crossroads in north west Hampshire, with feet planted firmly on the soil, Vron Ware brings her experience of writing about racism, colonial history, war and feminism to show us how to look at the land in a new light. With one eye on the parish and another on the distant horizon, she leaves no stone unturned in this quest to understand how we humans arrived at this place.

From Bronze Age ruins to the fall-out from Brexit, Return of a Native is an ecological reckoning with England’s future as well as its deep history.

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I just wanted to write a 'thank you' message for the reading group that you offer at Left Bank and for creating the space to explore such important topics.  I'm grateful that in a chaotic world, there are quiet places like this one, where there is space to think differently, question the current ways of things and explore alternatives.”