WHAT'S ON
Full List
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
ACCESS
Bar open with snacks
Essentials in the age of AI — A Deeper Dive:
Attention, Engagement, and the Democratic Mind
Organised and led by: tech & democracy analyst Maria Koomenneuroscientists and policy analysts Nicoleta Prutean and Virginia Mahieu
Ideas / Action | Sat 18th Apr | 2-4:30 pm
*Act On sessions offer quarterly action-oriented get-togethers on a specific issue, between experts and an audience willing to DO something about it.*
Our very first Act on Democracy session focused on 'the essentials': the five core human capacities underpinning our democracies (comprehend, connect, create, communicate, and cope) and explored how AI-driven technologies are reshaping each one.
We are now taking a deeper dive, examining the specific design features behind that reshaping, what they mean for our democratic citizenship, and how we might build something better.
This workshop focuses on how platforms are built to capture and hold our attention, and what this does to our capacity to comprehend complexity, think independently, and express ourselves authentically. From infinite scroll to AI-generated summaries, we examine how engagement-optimised design erodes the epistemic foundations democracy depends on: curiosity, critical thinking, and the ability to imagine alternatives. We then ask what attention and engagement design would look like if it served human flourishing rather than commercial extraction, and what tools Europe has to get us there.
[Save the date for part II! On Saturday 30th May we dive into Social Architectures and Democractic Resilience]
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Maria Koomen is a Democracy, governance & tech analyst and advocacy specialist. She is the former governance director at the Centre for Future Generations, working on the challenges at the intersection of emerging technologies, democracy, and governance. Her work focused on ensuring that governance systems evolve to keep pace with technological and societal change. Maria led the Open Governance Network for Europe, a joint initiative of Open Government Partnership and Democratic Society to drive connection, dialogue, and learning around public participation, transparency, and accountability with an eye to improving democracy and governance in and across the European Union. Prior to that Maria was senior programme manager on the Democracy Conflict & Governance program at the Carnegie Europe.
Nicoleta Prutean is a neuroscientist and policy analyst, currently leading research on tech & the brain at the Centre for Future Generations. Drawing on her expertise in brain science, her mission is to ensure that evidence on how emerging technologies affect mental health translates into policies that both protect and empower future generations.
Virginia Mahieu is a neuroscientist and policy analyst, neurotechnology Director at the Centre for Future Generations. She explores how neurotechnologies impact society, combining neuroscience and foresight to ensure that governance frameworks are up to scratch so these emerging technologies contribute to a brain-healthy future. She previously worked at the Policy Foresight Unit and the Scientific Foresight Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service, where she specialised in futures literacy, behavioural insights, and scenario planning at the science-policy interface.
Bar & snacks
Chilled Chess
Social | Sat 18th Apr | 2.30-5.30pm
Not a Member yet? Join Full Circle now & come to events at the Members' rate!
So you'd like to play chess, or learn it, in a relaxed place, with friendly people and no pressure? The Chilled-Chess session is the place.
All players (any skill level) and beginners welcome. Bring your boards.
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FOOD & DRINK
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
Watch the trailer here
HOW A MORE EQUAL ECONOMY CAN SAVE OUR POLITICAL IDEALS
Ideas / Salon | Mon 20th Apr | 6.30-8.30 pm
*Doors open at 6.30pm. The speaker will start at 7pm.
Democracy has been hollowed out by capitalism. A narrow view of markets and their aims—prioritizing efficiency, profit, and growth—now dominates thinking about democracy itself. Citizens are ignorant of the deep principles of self-governance, having long since adopted a facile equation between democracy and voting as a consumer choice. Lisa Herzog argues that democracy is still possible, but only if democratic values get embedded in everyday experience—including economic experience. That requires new ways of thinking about markets and their goals, and real reforms.
Lisa speaks about the foundational structures of a democratic economy, in which markets are not just tools for maximizing profit, but instead balance growth with goals like ecological sustainability and the preservation of time outside of work. These are not utopian dreams, Herzog contends. The proposals of democratic economics are already being tested around the world. And the shift in social norms that are needed is already under way.
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Lisa Herzog is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Groningen. She works at the intersection of political philosophy and economic thought. Herzog has published on the philosophical dimensions of markets (both historical and systemical), liberalism and social justice, ethics in organizations and the future of work. She currently focuses on workplace democracy, professional ethics, and the role of knowledge in democracies. She is a co-editor of the interdisciplinary journal Review of Social Economy.
The Democratic Marketplace: How a More Equal Economy Can Save Our Political Ideals (2025); Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy (2022).
Women Against Fascism event (WAF)
Conversations / Wed 22nd April / 7pm Doors open 6.30pm
Open to everyone | Booking required Bar open
In the face of an increasing rightward shift in global and European politics, what is the happening in terms of racial equality and integration in our societies? What is the connection between the 'migration crisis' and racism in Europe and beyond? What are European and international leaders doing to exacerbate or address the problems, and what can we do as citizens contribute to making things better?
In this WAF conversation, Emmanuel Achiri draws upon his own extensive research on Europe's manufactured migration crisis, and discusses strategies to combat racism.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Emmanuel Achiri is a scholar-activist and militant. His work examines migration governance through an anti-racist and decolonial lens. He argues that there is no such thing as a migration “crisis”; rather, the crisis lies in Europe’s struggle with its own identity and its fixation on synthetic whiteness.
A systems thinker, Achiri also writes on the classist, racialised, and gendered organisation of contemporary societies. His forthcoming publications include Raceless in Name Only: Whiteness and the Racial Governance of Mobility in the European Union (May 2026), and (with B. S. Miapyen) Capital, Race, and Socio-economic Hierarchies in Europe: A Critique of Racial Practices in the European Single Market (Agenda Publishing, August 2026).
He is also the co-founder of VOIS Cyprus, an organisation advocating for migrants in Cyprus, and of the Stop the War in Cameroon Coalition.
CRAFTERNOON
Social / Wellbeing | Sat 25th Apr | 2.30-5.30pm
Spend an afternoon crafting lovely things in great company. Join us for a relaxed, creative, and purposeful Crafternoon where art meets action. Together, we’ll transform spare fabric and old household linens into bold, beautiful protest banners ready to be seen and heard.
Whether you’re a seasoned maker or haven’t picked up a paintbrush in years, this is a welcoming space to create, connect and channel your voice into something meaningful. Leave with a banner you’re proud to carry!
OPEN TO ALL
Social | Sat 25th Apr | 5-7pm
Curious about Full Circle? Join us for a drink & discover what we're all about.
Whether you're already part of our community or simply intrigued, you’ll have the opportunity to meet the team, explore the house & hear more about our future plans – including what the different types of Full Circle memberships have to offer. It’s a relaxed & informal setting, ideal for asking questions & seeing if this is a place where you feel at home.
We warmly welcome current members & their guests too – so feel free to bring a friend or two along. It's a lovely way to connect with others who share a curiosity for ideas, culture & community. No pressure, just good company & a great conversation.
We're looking forward to welcoming you!
We only have 120 tickets and we always sell out!!
It's time to dust off your dancing shoes and join a traditional Scottish ceilidh.
No previous experience or dancing skills required - the band will be calling out the steps as we go along. If you're a ceilidh regular then you know how much fun it is!
Bring your friends or come along but please, no spikey heels on our rather beautiful wooden floor.
* 7.30pm doors open - bar snacks available
* 8.00pm start dancing!
* 10.30pm Band finishes
*TICKET INCLUDES 1 DRINK (BEER, WINE OR SOFT)
BAR SNACKS AVAILABLE ALL EVENING
Bar & light food
The Hoggies are the original Brussels-based Scottish ceilidh band.
Helen Of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman
Culture | Thurs 21st May | 7:00-8:30 pm
‘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?
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.
Essentials in the age of AI — A Deeper Dive: Social Architectures and Democratic Resilience Organised and led by: tech & democracy analyst Maria Koomenneuroscientists and policy analysts Nicoleta Prutean and Virginia Mahieu
Social Architectures and Democratic Resilience
Ideas / Action | Sat 30th May | 2-4:30 pm
This workshop turns our attention to how algorithmic systems shape who we connect with, how we relate, and how we cope. Recommender systems and AI-mediated platforms promise connection while quietly replacing serendipity and solidarity with curated, frictionless matching. We explore what this means for our capacity to act collectively, tolerate uncertainty, and sustain the civic bonds democratic systems depend on, and what alternative social architectures, business models, and regulatory levers could strengthen them.
With this session we take a deeper dive into 'the essentials' - the five core human capacities underpinning our democracies (comprehend, connect, create, communicate, and cope) and explore how AI-driven technologies are reshaping each one. We thoughtfully examine the specific design features behind that reshaping, what they mean for our democratic citizenship, and how we might build something better. Join us.
with Andreea Petre-Goncalves
Ideas / Conversations | Sat 30th May | 5-7pm
Join us for a hopeful conversation with Andreea * Save the date, more details coming soon *
In the Deep Thought series, Andreea offers opportunities to interrogate our ideas of what is normal and desirable in society. Together we walk towards the mindset shifts that are needed to protect our planet, make the world safe and ensure lives and dignity and meaning for all. Deep Thought is a space for courage and authenticity, with no stone left unturned. We build trust, encourage each other and take action together.
What happens to trust in a transactional world? What does a selfish society do for our happiness? What does meaningful work mean in an era of precarity, automation and uncertainty? What is society for? Join us for our monthly conversations.
Open to everyone
Andreea Petre-Goncalves was 8 years old when totalitarian Communism collapsed overnight in her native Romania. She saw then how quickly yesterday’s absolute truth can become tomorrow reviled atrocity. She knows that societal narratives can shift fast, and when they do, they make deep system re-set possible. For two decades she worked for international development, human rights, health and sustainability in the EU institutions and international NGOs. In 2019 she set up Flare, a Brussels-based think-and-do tank that experiments with practical ways of shifting the collective ideas we hold of what is normal and desirable. This work builds on 15 years of her researching and writing about societal narrative shifts. She is a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader and a member of Global Diplomacy Lab.
SINGLES APERO
Social | Sat 30th May | 7-9pm
The Singles Apero is our popular series of monthly encounters where you can meet other social singles in a safe space without matching pressure. Feel free to bring any single friends along or just come by yourself.
Open to all singles | Booking required
Bar open
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with Maria Koomen Ideas / Action | Sat 13th Jun | 2-4:30 pm
with Maria Koomen
Ideas / Action | Sat 13th Jun | 2-4:30 pm
Save the date to act on democracy. More info coming soon.
A news commentary with
James Kanter
Ideas / Conversations / Wed 24th Jun / 7-8.30 pm
Live & On the Record: A Podcast Launch with James Kanter
Join us for the live debut of This Week's News, bringing Europe's most consequential stories to life and hosted by veteran Brussels journalist James Kanter.
With a live audience, a rotating cast of sharp journalistic voices and analysis driven by what is defining the news cycle, This Week's News is built to move with the moment — and this first recording is where it all begins.
Every episode, James Kanter weaves together guests, stories and debate into one compelling conversation. For this one, he'll be joined by a panel of fellow journalists, each bringing their own perspective, skilled analysis and comment for much needed sense-making — the first of many line-ups that will shift and evolve as the news demands.
No fixed agenda or guests. Just the stories that matter right now, told by the people closest to them. From the corridors of EU power to the fault lines reshaping the continent, the panel will dig into the headlines, share the dispatches that didn't make the front page, and debate the forces defining our world — live, unscripted, in front of you.
Whether you're a policy wonk, a news junkie, or simply trying to make sense of it's happening around you and the wider world, this is your invitation to be part of something from day one.
Join us for the news. Stay for the conversation.
James Kanter is an American and British award-winning journalist and Brussels-based commentator on EU affairs. Previously at Herald Tribune and The New York Times. He's co-founder and editor of the Podcast EU Scream.
All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles
Culture | Thurs 25th Jun | 7:00-8:30 pm
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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.
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.
A Series with Andreea Petre-Goncalves
Ideas / Conversations | Sat 27th Jun | 5-7 pm
Join us for a hopeful conversation with Andreea
* Stay tuned, more details coming soon *
Social | Sat 27th June | 7-9pm
This is our last get together before the summer break. Come join us or see you back in September!
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!
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