The Being Human festival is a series of humanities events taking place across Nottingham at the end of November.

The festival highlights the ways in which the humanities can inspire and enrich our everyday lives and help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world.

Nottingham’s theme this year is ‘How to lose and find yourself in words’. These events examine how the words we use help us connect with each other and the world around us – across ages, formats and languages.

Details of each event can be found below and more information about each event can be found on the University website.

Launch event – How to find and lose yourself in words.
6-7.30pm, Friday 17 November, Broadway Cinema, FREE
Come along to hear the inside story of the BBC National Short Story award.
Book your place.

Understanding our multilingual world exhibition
Saturday 18 – Friday 24 November, Meadows Library, FREE
This exciting exhibition aims to explore multilingualism through photography.
More information.

(Re)connecting with nature through the power of wild words
10am-3pm, Saturday 18 November, Attenborough Nature Centre, FREE
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Dr Rob Lambert will host a day exploring our lost connection with nature (particularly in modern urban environments) due to our busy, fast-paced technological lives.
Book your place.

Migration stories – then and now
1-3.45pm, Saturday 18 November, Nottingham Central Library, FREE
Come along to explore and create stories about migrants to the East Midlands from over a thousand years ago.
Book your place.

Images in translation: screen printing workshop
10.30am-1pm, 1-4.30pm, Sunday 19 November, Malt Cross, FREE
When literature from around the world is translated into English, we gain not just a physical book, but a whole new host of descriptions of places, people and ideas. This half-day studio workshop gives you a chance to think about what is ‘found’ in translation, and to turn those ideas into beautiful screen prints!
Book your place 10.30am-1pm
Book your place 2-4.30pm.

Switchboard I
11am-3.30pm, Sunday 19 November, Nottingham Industrial Musium, Wollaton Hall, FREE
Come and try your hand on the old exchange, reminisce over the Mickey Mouse character telephone, or listen out for ghostly voices on the wires.
Book your place.

Gallery tour of the exhibition ‘Collected Words’
11am-12pm, Monday 20 November, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, FREE
Join one of the curators for a guided tour of the Manuscripts and Special Collections’ City of Literature exhibition Collected Words.
Book your place.

Switchboard II
1-3.30pm, Tuesday 21 November, Diallingln Kiosk Café, Low Pavement, FREE
The second in a series of three events exploring the literary legacy of the telephone, this pop-up event will take place next to Dialling In, a disused Nottingham telephone box refashioned as a coffee shop.
More information.

The rise, fall and revival of the modern bookshop
7-8pm, Tuesday 21 November, Five Leaves Bookshop, FREE
This discussion, led by Professor Andrew Thacker, will explore how independent bookshops such as City Lights in San Francisco (publisher of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl) and Shakespeare and Company in Paris (publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses) have been important institutions in the development of modern literature and culture.
Book your place.

Opening up the archives of manuscripts and special collections
2-3.30pm, Wednesday 22 November, Manuscripts and Special Collections, King’s Meadow Campus, University of Nottingham, FREE
The archives held by Manuscripts and Special Collections in Nottingham contain over 80,000 rare books and 3 ½ million manuscripts, dating from the 12th to the 21st centuries. Join a behind-the-scenes tour of the archives and view some of the treasures from the literary collections.
Book your place.

Hungry for words? Let’s talk about food – with men
3-5pm, Wednesday 22 November, Various venues, FREE
Calling all men! Join a cafe drop-in session to share your thoughts about food. Talk openly and contribute a few words, sentences or images to a storyboard to encourage a wider conversation and raise awareness of men’s concerns about weight, body shape, diet, exercise, over- or under-eating.
Participating cafes:

• Cartwheel Café
• Nottingham Contemporary Café
• Edin’s Kitchen
• Nottingham Lakeside Arts

More information.

Your first digital story
5-7pm, Wednesday 2 November, National Videogame Arcade, FREE
Ever thought about creating and publishing your own digital story? If so, this event, hosted by the National Videogame Arcade, is for you.
Book your place.

Losing yourself in a book – the ‘Boots Booklovers Library’
6-7pm, Wednesday 22 November, Five Leaves Bookshop, FREE
Between 1899 and 1966 Boots the Chemist operated an extensive, national, circulating library, one which was renowned for service and the environment it created for subscribers. Come and find out why Jesse Boot went to the trouble of running such a popular service as a loss leader.
Book your place.

Switchboard III
6-7.30pm, Thursday 23 November, Wired Café, FREE
The last of a 3-part series, ‘Switchboard III’ is a live literature event exploring the legacy of the telephone and sharing new and published writing by emerging and established voices. No booking required.
More information.

Lost authors: Geoffrey Trease
2-3.30pm, Friday 24 November, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, FREE
Nottingham-born Geoffrey Trease was a successful 20th-century writer of historical fiction for children. This workshop will re-exam the impact of Trease through two of his books.
Book your place.

“What I want to say is” – finding meaning in language
10.30am-3pm, Saturday 25 November, Meadows Library, FREE
Come along to a creative writing workshop to explore languages and what it means to be multilingual.
Book your place.