Full Circle upcoming events

[Culture] Book Club: Big Kiss, Bye-bye by Claire-Louise Bennett (16/04/2026)

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

Big Kiss, Bye-Bye
by Claire-Louise Bennett

Culture | Thurs 16th Apr | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

‘Bennett writes like no one else. She is a rare talent.’
― Karl Ove Knausgaard

Uprooted by circumstance from city to deep countryside, a woman lives in temporary limbo, visited by memories of all she’s left behind. The most insistent are those of Xavier, whom she still loves but no longer desires, a displacement he has been unable to accept. An unexpected letter from an old acquaintance brings back a torrent of others she’s loved or wanted. Each has been a match and a mismatch, a liberation and a threat to her very sense of self. The ephemera left by their passage –a spilled coffee, an unwanted bouquet, a mind-blowing kiss—make up a cabinet of curiosity she inventories, trying to divine the essence of intimacy. What does it mean to connect with another person? How do we let them go? In this tour de force of fiction, the inventive Claire-Louise Bennett explores the mystery of how people come into and go out of our lives, leaving us forever in their grasp.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and studied literature and drama before moving to Ireland where she worked in and studied theatre for several years. In 2013 she was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize and her debut book, Pond, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2016. Claire-Louise's fiction and essays have appeared in a number of publications including The White Review, Stinging Fly, gorse, Harper's Magazine, Vogue Italia, Music & Literature, New York Times Magazine and New Yorker. Big Kiss, Bye-Bye is her third work of fiction.

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small (~10)	Available on request

[Culture] Film Screening: The Cost of Growth (18/04/2026)

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Film & Discussion

The Cost of Growth

2025, Eng | Duration 93' | Age recommended 13+

The film will be followed by discussion with
director Thomas Maddens

Culture | Sat 18th Apr | 5-7 pm

The Cost of Growth is an eye-opening documentary following two climate activists as they investigate the root causes of today’s polycrisis. Through conversations with grassroots movements, economic experts, and policy and business insiders, the film examines the structural flaws of an economy dependent on endless growth. With a global perspective and a strong focus on Europe’s political role, it connects stories of changemakers from Brussels to Serbia and from Sápmi to Italy.

As ecological breakdown, inequality and polarisation intensify, the film exposes the hidden costs of global capitalism while highlighting hopeful alternatives. The Cost of Growth showcases communities and movements working towards ecological and economic justice, and explores pathways to a democratic, bottom-up economy beyond growth.

Join our conversation with film director Thomas Maddens after the screening. Together we deepen understanding, amplify our voices and take action.

Watch the trailer here

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar & snacks	Medium (~40)	Available on request

[Culture] Book Club: Helen of Nowhere, by Makenna Goodman (21/05/2026)

Thu, 21 May 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

Helen Of Nowhere
by Makenna Goodman

Culture | Thurs 21st May | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

‘A furious energy runs through Helen of Nowhere, whose every sentence is a joy to read.' ― Ayşegül Savaş, author of The Anthropologists

In the middle of the countryside, a realtor is showing a disgraced professor around an idyllic house. She speaks not only about the home's many wonderful qualities but about its previous owner, the mystifying Helen, whose presence still seems to suffuse every fixture. Through hearing stories of Helen's chosen way of living, the man begins to see that his story is not actually over – rather, he is being offered a chance to buy his way into the simple life, close to the land, that's always been out of reach to him. But as evening fades into black, he will learn that the asking price may be much higher, and stranger, than anticipated. Philosophically and formally adventurous, at once intimate and cosmic in scope, Helen of Nowhere asks: What must we give up in exchange for true happiness?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Makenna Goodman is an American editor and a writer. She is the author of two novels: Helen of Nowhere and The Shame and has written for international publications including the New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Harvard Review, The White Review, BOMB, The Common, ASTRA Magazine and Mousse Magazine. She has worked in publishing for two decades as an editor with gardeners, horticulturalists, artists, farmers, essayists, cultural critics, designers, scientists, composters, seed savers, foragers, and fermenters, and books she has developed and edited have won awards including the James Beard Award, the American Horticultural Society Award, and the IACP award. She is currently executive editor at Timber Press.

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small (~10)	Available on request

[Culture] Book Club: All My Precious Madness, by Mark Bowles (25/06/2026)

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

All My Precious Madness
by Mark Bowles

Culture | Thurs 25th Jun | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

***

Great news! The author, Mark Bowles, joins us virtually to discuss his award-winning novel together.

This is the last book club before the summer break! Join us.

***

‘Unapologetically erudite and frequently brutal' - The Telegraph

Henry Nash has hauled his way from a working class childhood in Bradford, through an undergraduate degree at Oxford, and into adulthood and an academic elite. But still, he can’t escape his anger. As the world – and men in particular – continues to disappoint him, so does his rage grow in momentum until it becomes almost rapturous. And lethal. This is the story of a man at odds with the world. A man who wants to escape his violent past but instead – most emphatically – repeats it.

A savagely funny novel that disdains literary and moral conventions, All My Precious Madness is also a work of deep empathy – even when that also means understanding the darkest parts of humanity. One of the most electric debuts of the last decade.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Bowles is a published author and a committed teacher. Born and raised in Bradford, he went on to study at Liverpool and Oxford Universities. His first novel, All My Precious Madness, was published by Galley Beggar in 2024, and has been nominated for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Authors’ Club First Novel Prize. His second novel, How Do People Stay the Same, will be out in Spring 2025.

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ADDITIONAL INFO


FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small (~20)	Available on request

[Ideas] Ideas Festival 2026 WEEKEND or DAY Pass (20/11/2026)

Fri, 20 Nov 2026 17:00:00 GMT

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

You already know us, you know what we do, and that by coming YOU make this a great event!

Get your EARLYBIRD pass for the entire weekend today!

Full Circle upcoming events

[Culture] Book Club: Big Kiss, Bye-bye by Claire-Louise Bennett (16/04/2026)

Full Circle Book Club hosted by Eleonora Balsano

[Culture] Film Screening: The Cost of Growth (18/04/2026)

Join our conversation with film director Thomas Maddens after the screening. Together we deepen understanding, amplify our voices and take action.

[Culture] Book Club: Helen of Nowhere, by Makenna Goodman (21/05/2026)

Full Circle Book Club hosted by Eleonora Balsano

[Culture] Book Club: All My Precious Madness, by Mark Bowles (25/06/2026)

Full Circle Book Club hosted by Eleonora Balsano

[Ideas] Ideas Festival 2026 WEEKEND or DAY Pass (20/11/2026)

FESTIVAL OF IDEAS 2026

"CONNECTION"

Fri 20th - Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Nov

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano