





‘Dean Atta’s debut poetry collection, I Am Nobody’s Nigger, was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. His poems deal with themes of race, gender, identity and growing up, and have appeared on BBC One, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and Channel 4. Dean was named as one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK by the Independent on Sunday. He regularly performs across the UK and internationally. His debut novel, The Black Flamingo, will be published in August 2019 by Hodder Children’s Books.
‘Dean Atta’s poetry is as honest as truth itself’ – Benjamin Zephaniah.
Dean Atta is a rare talent in contemporary poetry. His poems speak like we think. He shows us thought as those thoughts happen, that is, powered one conviction at a time by an emotional intelligence. His poems originate in a cleared in-between territory. His multi-valence approach to poetry elegantly combines the inward/personal and outward/ political. Dean Atta keeps his readers and listeners leaning forward into a troubled world that he sensuously invokes and by those terms it is a world that he makes anew’ – Fred D’Aguiar, poet, novelist and Senior Professor in Creative Writing, UCLA, USA..






The Eagle Slayer sculpture by John Bell has returned to Ironbridge after various travels and travails.
The significant life size, iron sculpture, made by the Coalbrookdale Foundry to be shown at the Great Exhibition, Hyde Park in 1851, was one of the earliest examples in the UK of cast iron being used to create a large work of art, instead of a functional object. The dramatic subject is of a young shepherd avenging the killing of one of his sheep by shooting the attacking eagle using a bow and arrow. Described at the time by the London Illustrated News ‘as the finest statue in the Exhibition.’
After 150 years of outdoor exposure and several moves, the sculpture was in urgent need of rescue, repair and conservation. Diana oversaw the project and will present the story of the chequered history of the sculpture, the research and conservation stages involved, resulting in the re-display of the Eagle Slayer and its’ recent return to the place of origin.
Diana Heath is the Senior Metals Conservator at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Originally trained as a silversmith and jewellery designer, gaining a BA Hons from Sheffield Polytechnic, Diana was then offered a four-year traineeship by the V&A, so adapting her skills to become a specialist Metals Conservator, of all types of metal object including sculpture, from the vast collections at the V&A. She has worked as the Senior Metals Conservator at the museum for over 30 years, involved in preparing objects for major galleries, loans as well as national and international exhibitions. Diana has developed a particular interest and knowledge in the manufacturing methods and conservation of World sculpture from Medieval and Renaissance periods to the 19th century.






For those who are already studying or working in this area or who wish to study or work in this area in the future. Come and find out about all the opportunities open to you. Dr Chris Sellars will deliver the session which will feature some of the many successful University of Wolverhampton Sport students and the career paths that they have followed.






Join us for a morning with international bestselling children’s author Francesca Simon as we celebrate 25 years of Horrid Henry with the publication of Horrid Henry Up, Up and Away.
Number One for fiendish fun! Horrid Henry is back and naughtier than ever in this brand-new book from Francesca Simon.






Echoes from Auschwitz: Jewish child forced labourers and the Holocaust
During the Second World War, 1.5 million Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust. Only a small minority survived as child forced labourers, in hiding or with partisan groups. Jewish children were forced to work in ghettoes, concentration and labour camps, in industry and agriculture; the Wehrmacht and SS deployed children in particular in construction work on fortifications, roads and airfields. The lecture will focus on a recently finished project in which hundreds of testimonies as well as contemporary and post-war documents have been researched. Some aspects of the children’s living and working experiences and their chances of survival will be analysed.






Since the home Ashes series in 2013, the Evenings with Aggers shows have been delighting audiences and selling out theatres all over England.
Jonathan Agnew learnt his craft under the tutelage of Brian Johnston, emerging from the notoriety of the gloriously funny ‘leg over’ incident (yes, you will hear that tonight!) to become BBC Radio’s voice of cricket.
In his unparalleled View From The Boundary sessions, he has interviewed folk from all walks of life, including rock stars, film legends, writers, comedians, two prime ministers and a boy wizard! His consummate skills on air have proved electric on stage as he has taken on his prickly commentating partner Geoffrey Boycott, spin legend Graeme Swann, Indian’s ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar, bad boy of English cricket Phil Tufnell and the gloriously eccentric David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd.
Join Aggers in his solo show as he takes us on a trip down memory lane, recounting tales from a wonderful and entertaining career on the field and in the box, with film footage, audio clips and photographs on our big screen.
Evenings With Aggers are always fun, fiery and full of surprises! They are fascinating, hilarious, no-holds-barred evenings for cricket fans and non-lovers of the game alike.
The event is being run in aid of the Professional Cricketers’ Association and we are raising money which will go to the organisation’s Professional Cricketers’ Trust.






Lexicographer – Best Selling Author – Queen of Dictionary Corner
Take a journey into the curious, unexpected, and downright surreal origins of the words we use every day. Susie will retell the adventures that lie hidden within such words as lasagne (involving a chamber pot) and bugbear (a terrorising monster), and explain such oddities as the silent h in ghost and the mysterious disappearance of kempt, gormful, and ruly (and yes, you really can be gruntled). She will look to the lexicon of the past to fill some of today’s linguistic gaps – such as the frenzied fit of tidying we all do just as guests are about to descend (that’s a scurryfunge).
Alongside such forgotten stories you will hear Susie’s selection of the funniest moments from her 25 years on Countdown and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, as well as some startling results from eavesdropping on a group of waiters.
Each evening will include some of Susie’s favourite words from the towns and regions she visits, and she’ll be asking the audience for theirs. In fact, she’ll be welcoming any questions about word origins, usage irritations, the dreaded impact of Americanization, and the very future of our language in her very own ‘word surgery’.
Funny, fact-filled and delightful. – Jonathan Ross
Wonderfully clever and funny . . . a national treasury from a national treasure. – Richard Osman
Susie Dent is a one-off. She breathes life and fun into words. – Pam Ayres




