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In this moving memoir, Miriam Landor shares her family’s harrowing experiences of the Holocaust and the lasting impact this dark chapter of history had on the generations that followed.

Miriam was inspired to write Stumbling Stones after she started uncovering her father’s story. He was the child of an assimilated Jewish family in Nazi Germany, experiencing the loss of country and culture, livelihood and possessions, liberty and life as they knew it. The family fled to England, when her father was eleven, struggling to start a new life in wartime Britain.  She also learnt the tragic fate of her great-grandmother who remained behind, including the truth about how her great-grandmother had died.

The book’s title Stumbling Stones is inspired by Stolpersteine - memorials set into pavements which bear the name and details of people who were murdered by the Nazis, or who fled Germany to escape them. In her writing, Miriam reflects on the stumbling stones she has come across in her own life. She spent her early childhood moving from one place to another, lacking somewhere her family could truly call home. By the time she turned eighteen, she had attended ten different schools around the globe with no real idea of who she was or where she belonged. 

In confronting the past, Miriam examines the shadow cast by the Holocaust on mental health both in her parent’s generation and her own, seen through the prism of her career as a psychologist. Will learning about her family’s strengths and stumbling stones help Miriam finally understand both what she has come from and who she can be?

Date & time

Start: 17:30 on 18 NOVEMBER 2025

Finish: 19:30 on 18 NOVEMBER 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

AN Editions & CentreHouse Press are launching new titles and paperbacks in The Library of the Society of Friends at The Quaker Centre.

AN Editions is the publishing arm of the Humane Socialist magazine, Ars Notoria. Launched in March this year, we’re proud to carry on our tradition of publishing the unusual, the progressive and the humane with our second season, which sees two new titles and the paperback versions of three of our four earlier hardbacks. The new titles we will be launching in collaboration with CentreHouse Press are by Norman B. Schwarz and Peter Cowlam, in addition to paperback editions of J.W. Wood’s Captcha This! And Peter Cowlam’s That Was Hugo Blythe MP.

We also look ahead to Spring 2026, when we welcome leading poet, novelist and essayist Richard Skinner to our ranks, as well as award-winning chef and writer Arun Kapil and recognised off-Broadway playwright, James McGuire. Paul Halas also has a new book coming out in Spring. In addition, in December, Ars Notoria Magazine will also be launching a print omnibus edition with highlights from the last four years of publication. The omnibus will be available on order from 3^rd November.

Date & time

Start: 17:30 on 12 NOVEMBER 2025

Finish: 19:00 on 12 NOVEMBER 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

Hear Philip read and talk about this ongoing exploration, in conversation with Joe Jones, editor of The Friend, with space for your own questions and discussion at the end. 

Across 40 years of writing life, Philip Gross’ poems have been listening to many kinds of silence – never more so than in his latest book, The Shores of Vaikus, which inhabits the resonant forests and islands of Estonia. 

Date & time

Start: 17:30 on 6 NOVEMBER 2025

Finish: 19:00 on 6 NOVEMBER 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

Chris Nickolay will read from his book, ‘Stories That Help’- including a Quaker story or two - and talk about story as a source of resilience, courage, hope and remembering.

'This is an evening of storytelling and conversation. Chris will read stories on themes of Earth, love, resistance and peace. Some of the stories will be retellings of Quaker stories, some are from other traditions and some are brand new. Stories are aids to resilience, courage and remembering. Story telling is a skill that everybody can develop. Chris will lead conversation on why stories matter.' 

Date & time

Start: 17:30 on 15 OCTOBER 2025

Finish: 19:30 on 15 OCTOBER 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

“Brutal and beautiful”
“A remarkable book about a remarkable friendship”
“An epic tale of shadow transformation and hope”

Suzanne has co-authored this spiritual book (published October 2024) with the last person you could imagine as a co-author: an ex-murderer on death row. Someone whose voice is banned from society. However, someone who has a lot to give.

Together they weave a dialogue over a period of five years where they discover that ultiately they are spiritual teachers to each other. In the process many events of their daily lives are disclosed, from their past and present circumstances, opening a door for the reader to reach deep within their own heart and humbleness.

Robert and Suzanne teach each other about the importance of being true in friendship; living daily life whilst taking responsibility for our actions; and opening up to the energy of love and awareness for oneself, others and Mother Earth.

With “Friends for Life” they are teaching the reader about the transformative power of our shared humanity.

Date & time

Start: 18:15 on 25 September 2025

Finish: 19:30 on 25 September 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

David Gee's fourth and final book, Wildest Dream: An Imagined History of the Green Man, will launch at the Quaker Centre at Friends House, London.

Wildest Dream follows the Green Man figure as he has moved through the ages, through our May festivals, church walls, and peasant protest into emerging movements of hope in the face of ecological crisis. Along the way we meet characters familiar and new, communities striving to live a better relationship with each other and the planet.

David completed Wildest Dream just before he died from terminal cancer in December 2024. During the launch, there will be a conversation about and readings from the book. There will also be clips from a filmed interview David gave about Wildest Dream before he died.

The launch will be a chance to celebrate this beautiful and important book, which is so full of David's hope and care.

The book launch and readings will take place in the library at Friends House, after which we will move to the Quaker Centre for refreshments and further conversations.

David had worked at Friends House as a peace campaigner and was a familiar face at Yearly Meeting and other Quaker events. A previous book Holding Faith: Creating Peace in a Violent World was a comission by Quaker Books.

Date & time

Start: 18:00 on 23 September 2025

Finish: 19:30 on 23 September 2025

Location

Friends House
173 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BJ
United Kingdom

After the success of 2023 and 2024, we are delighted to have this wonderful exhibition again!! Step in and appreciate the new works of art displayed around the cafe and corridors at Friends House!!

Don't miss the third edition of this exhibition, which brings together pieces of art by artists from different origins and displays them without labels.

The “Made Visible Exhibition” highlights the Quaker values of inclusion and the belief that everyone has an Inner Light, showing that creativity has no limits and that art can break down the barriers that often separate us.

The main objective of this event is to reveal hidden talents, where artists, regardless of their background, share their creations without the need to expose their identity.

We sincerely thank everyone who helped make this exhibition happen. Your presence and support show the essence of community, simplicity, and shared love of the arts. It is through this collective spirit that we continue to create a space where every voice is heard and every talent is recognized.

We thank you in advance for being an essential part of this artistic journey.

Date and time

Our next book launch event will be The Identity Parade By Simon by Simon Miles compiled and edited by John Miles

The Identity Parade is a hand-made visual-arts novel, the story of Simon Paternoster and Zoë Trouvères. 

It is a fictional examination of madness and depression and how it is possible for those states to be transcended in a creative way. It is also a love story.

As well as text, it uses collage, concrete-poetry and cut and paste techniques. It is a novel to be displayed: to be looked at, as well as read.

The action primarily takes place within the fictional City of Ov, the home of Simon Paternoster and Zoë Trouvères.

The novel traces Simon Paternoster’s progress from sanity into psychosis. It documents his visionary experiences and his descent into the ‘underworld’ which might be called suicidal depression.

Simon Paternoster ls resurrected; he pierces the heart of his own terminal despair. Within the first few days of this rebirth he begins to compose The Identity Parade which tells his story. 

Date and time

Join co-author Patricia Rykiel as she discusses her late father's stirring Vietnam War fictional memoir and the unusual journey to publication with producer Guy Meyer, followed by a book signing.

Feeling life is slipping him by, an American agriculturalist heads to Vietnam to try and make a difference in the lives of the people as part of President Johnson's 'Hearts and Minds' campaign. There is just one big problem - there's a war going on.

Eddie joins a small group of civilian advisors chosen to work with local farmers to help make Vietnam once again self-sufficient in rice. He is drawn to the adventure, the challenge, and the opportunity to make a difference, but he is leaving some problems behind.

His story follows the ups and downs of cultural and tropical agriculture training in Washington DC and the Philippines, and then his assignment in the Gia Dinh province just outside Saigon. The stakes increase as the war intensifies and Eddie's connections in the country deepen, providing the backdrop for the cultural, political and personal struggles that unfold.

Date and time