Explore the British Library Collections

Anything But Silent

(podcast)

Places of sanctuary, freedom and the unexpected. Libraries do more than keep our stories safe - they're where new stories begin. Meet the people around the world making amazing things happen in them. Books are only the beginning. Libraries are alive, and they're anything but silent.

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Dolly Parton in conversation with Sara Cox

(video, 30 minutes, 40 seconds)

Join Sara Cox as she celebrates 25 years of broadcasting and chats to her all-time hero Dolly Parton. The multiple Grammy award-winning singer also happens to love libraries, a lot! Dolly credits her father, who couldn't read or write, as the inspiration for her Imagination Library, a book gifting programme devoted to giving children a love of reading, with over 100 million books distributed so far.

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Michael Rosen: Many Different Kinds of Love

(video, 1 hour, 4 minutes)

Join beloved author and poet Michael Rosen for a conversation with illustrator and writer Chris Riddell about his latest book Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS.

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Leaf through digitised versions of some of the oldest, rarest, most beautiful and incredible manuscripts and books

(online resource)

William Blake's notebooks, Captain Scott's diary of the 1911 Antarctic expedition, the first Atlas of Europe. Sacred texts and Mozart's musical diary. You can find all these and more in the British Library's extensive digitised collection.

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Just Sayin': Malorie Blackman in conversation with Jackie Kay

(video, 1 hour, 33 minutes)

Hear from Malorie Blackman, one of Britain's best and most beloved children's authors. Watch this special event where she met with fellow author Jackie Kay to talk about her new autobiography Just Sayin'. Malorie’s new autobiography is funny, frank, and full of life lessons and deeply held convictions about society, healthcare and the arts. It is the deeply personal account of a natural storyteller who defied expectations and inspired a generation.

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Notes On The Great Work Of Meeting Yourself

(video, 1 hour, 1 minute)

Re-imagine your new year with poet Ysra Daley-Ward as she introduces her book, The How, an inspirational mix of poetry, meditations and heartfelt advice, and a call to discover your inner creativity.

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