Book Swap

Hi all, hope you’re well. We’re planning to meet for a coffee at Tintico on Friday (8 May) for a catch-up, and also share a few short inspirational stories to brighten the day. Please feel free to join us for the catch-up session.

Discover tango in a truly magical setting at St Matthew’s Church. An open-level class where music, movement and connection meet. No partner needed — just curiosity and a desire to dance. Come explore tango beyond steps, in a warm, welcoming space where the embrace leads the way.

PLEASE READ the event information 👇 **You must have an event confirmation to attend this event**. Welcome to the Highest Rated International Language Exchange group in London🏆 with 1600+ reviews rated 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Join us every **Friday** for our weekend global language exchange and socials 😊🍻🥂 TO ATTEND THIS EVENT👇 🔘 Have your Meetup confirmation visible on your phone when you arrive. **No confirmation = No entry** 🔘 BEFORE buying your drinks, collect & wear your badge as soon as you arrive. 🔘Pay the £2 event fee. The event starts at 7pm. **The event fee is £6 if you arrive after 8:30pm** Start meeting the community and having fun...lots of fun! [www.languages.london](www.languages.london) 🇬🇧🇪🇸🇫🇷🇯🇵🇮🇹🇩🇪🇮🇳🇨🇳🇧🇷🇰🇷🇪🇬🇭🇰🇺🇸🇨🇴🇺🇦🇹🇷🇷🇺🇦🇺 WHEN & WHERE We're returning to The Craft Beer Co, St Mary Axe.** **Address: 29-31 Mitre Street, London, EC3A 5BU** [https://maps.app.goo.gl/49HnHGap8hQMbQNWA](https://maps.app.goo.gl/49HnHGap8hQMbQNWA) **HOW WE DO IT** It's simple .... 🔘When you arrive please collect your personalised language badge from us. We'll be waiting to give you a warm welcome 😃 🔘Please wear your badge during the event and always return it before you leave ♻️ 🔘You're expected to buy something from the bar to support the venue, who kindly offer us a dedicated space. 🇵🇱🇹🇼🇲🇽🇻🇳🇧🇬🇵🇸🇸🇪🇮🇱🇨🇦🇳🇱🇿🇦🇭🇺🇹🇭🇵🇪🇧🇴🇳🇬🇳🇿🇨🇭 **WHO** Languages in London events are organised for our community - being social, making new friends, building cultural bridges and always very relaxed. We have the largest number of languages and countries represented in our weekly language exchange and social events in London. This is** not **a dating event. Our events are open to Internationals, Locals, Expats, Students, Travellers...Everyone! Are you an 18 to 24 year old? Come and explore our events. Our events are for a truly global community and citizens from around the 🌎 It's your international language hub in London 💂 Is this the Intercambio you've been looking for? Want to practice your ingles, espanol , francais, italiano, Deutsch, portugues or other European languages? Asian languages ? Or maybe prefer to only speak English.... that's just fine. **All languages and all fluency levels are welcome **Spread the word...Bring your friends, colleagues and family 💚 The creator and organiser of** Languages in London - Girish**, will always be visible at the event and there to support you and help with introductions, if you prefer. We want to remain the BEST language events group in London, being the biggest isn't our focus. These are real events with real people. We don't fill our events with inflated numbers and fictitious attendees 👻 **Inactive community members and those that "no-show" at our events are regularly removed from our group.** **LANGUAGES** Here's a selection of some of the languages that our community speak or have been practicing ... English, Spanish (incl Latin American), French, Italian, Portuguese (incl Brazilian), German, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), Russian, Korean, Hindi, Turkish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Polish, Hebrew, Swedish, Bulgarian, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Bengali, Dutch, Catalan, Farsi, Greek, Urdu, Welsh, Romanian, Norwegian, Czech, Slovakian, Estonian, Danish, Finnish, Turkmen, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali, Yoruba, Filipino, Thai, Albanian, Croatian, Serbian, Ebo, Afrikaans, Tamazight, Tagalog, Creole, Malagasy, Mongolian, Tok Pisin and more... you get the idea! 🇷🇴🇬🇹🇨🇿🇳🇴🇩🇰🇫🇮🇨🇾🇺🇾🇪🇬🇧🇬🇦🇷🇰🇪🇱🇰🇲🇦🇹🇳🇩🇿🇸🇬🇲🇾 **SUSTAINABLE **🌎🌳 Like you, we really care about our planet. We don't like single use paper name tags, stickers or wristbands as they can't be reused or recycled and can even damage your clothing ☹️ The Solution? Our personalised and completely reusable Languages in London badges! 👍 So, please make sure you return your badge to us, before you leave the event. We'll sanitise it (anti bacterial & disinfectant cleaners) and use it again & again & again. Thanks for helping us do the right thing and keep our costs down🙏 **SAFE SPACE FOR EVERYONE **👮‍♂️ We don't tolerate prejudice or harassment of any kind, at any time. Be polite and respectful to everyone else and they will reciprocate. Let's keep the space safe, welcoming for everyone and free of any political agendas. Please report any concerns to the Organiser immediately. Please look after your belongings, the venue is a public place. We may take photos or video at the event for future promotional use. Let us know if you'd rather not be included, we respect your choice 📸 **SPREAD THE WORD **🗣️💬** If you enjoy our events, please tell your friends and colleagues and help us grow your **community, thank you ♥️ Join our community - [https://www.languages.london/](https://www.languages.london/) We're looking forward to welcoming you at Languages in London 😊👋 🇲🇰🇳🇵🇧🇩🇵🇭🇦🇪🇦🇱🇧🇪🇮🇪🇰🇿🇱🇦🇯🇴🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪🇰🇭🇨🇱🇲🇳🇨🇺

**We are using Playwaze to manage booking and payment. Please go to the link below to book. Make sure you check the date you want to attend and book and pay for the correct date:** [Playwaze - Session Dashboard](https://playwaze.com/lcwbc-badminton-club/3yupmsu7wwt/session-getdashboard) **Do not book or join waitlist here on Meetup as it will charge you additional fee.** **The number of attendees shown here is not accurate. The actual number is shown on Playwaze.** **Thank you** **Brian Ng**

Join us this Friday for a *FREE Spanish–English Language Exchange* at Hito Coffee (inside Big Belly Bar & Comedy Club) ☕✨ Come meet new people, practice both languages, and enjoy relaxed, real conversations in a friendly and social atmosphere. Whether you’re a beginner, fluent, or just curious—everyone is welcome! Enjoy a great cup of specialty coffee while you chat, connect, and unwind—it’s the perfect setting to meet like-minded people and feel part of a community. 🎉 *Bonus* As part of our community, you’ll get **50% off comedy show tickets** at the venue—so you can keep the evening going with some laughs after the meetup! 🌍 *What to expect* • Easy, natural language practice (Spanish & English) • Friendly, social vibes • A great mix of locals & internationals • Great coffee + good energy 📍 Hito Coffee, South Bank Inside Big Belly Bar & Comedy Club Free event — just bring yourself and good vibes ✨ See you there! ### ☕ **Why Hito** We’re more than coffee—we’re about connection, community, and conversation. This is not a class, it’s a shared experience.

Do you have spare books lying around your home? Do you want to read new interesting books for free while socializing with interesting people? This is the event for you. We will enjoy nice drinks and snacks together at a beautiful lounge bar in London. You can bring your books and exchange them with whoever has the books you want to read. Since this is a Science and Philosophy book club, it would be great for you to bring non-fiction books that are insightful and thought-provoking. If you want to bring fiction books that are scientifically or philosophically insightful, feel free to bring those as well. Since it is a social event, I encourage everyone to make deep meaningful conversations and make new friends. You can come alone or bring your friends with you. If you come alone, there is no need to be shy or scared. I will welcome you and introduce you to cool interesting people to speak with. Also feel free to come even if you forget to bring any books.

**Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis** ***Shortlisted for Women's Prize 2025*** *"By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?'* Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues. Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just 15. Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for. \*\*\* Chapters & Conversations is a space for fiction lovers to connect over great stories and lively chats! Whether you’re into literary fiction, contemporary novels, or fantasy worlds, we’re here to explore it all together. We’re hoping to meet fellow bookworms who enjoy getting lost in a good story and are open to sharing thoughts, laughs, and recommendations. At each event, we’ll dive into a chosen book, chat about characters, themes, and twists - above all, it’s about community, curiosity, and a shared love of reading! Stasia and Yana:)

In our first meeting of May, we discuss Brandon Taylor's *Real Life.* Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, the novel was the much-lauded debut for the Alabama-born writer. 'Deftly zooming in and out of focus, *Real Life* is a deeply affecting story about the emotional cost of reckoning with desire, and overcoming pain.' (Book jacket) 'A campus novel told from the perspective of a Black student, Taylor’s powerful tale embraces themes of grief, desire and alienation in rich, eloquent prose.' -Waterstones https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46263943-real-life We will discuss the Real Life in the Real Greek - Bankside. So come along for some tasty Greek fare on a Sunday afternoon as we dive into this fascinating premier. N.B. We will be charging an event fee of £3, non-refundable, to discourage no-shows and contribute to the running costs of the group. Please only sign up if you intend to come along as space is limited to make for an effective discussion!

‘*I can understand myself only in the light of inner happenings. It is these that make up the singularity of my life, and with these my autobiography deals*’ Carl Jung An eye-opening biography of one of the most influential psychiatrists of the modern age, drawing from his lectures, conversations, and own writings. In the spring of 1957, when he was eighty-one years old, Carl Gustav Jung undertook the telling of his life story. Memories, Dreams, Reflections is that book, composed of conversations with his colleague and friend Aniela Jaffé, as well as chapters written in his own hand, and other materials. Jung continued to work on the final stages of the manuscript until shortly before his death on June 6, 1961, making this a uniquely comprehensive reflection on a remarkable life. Look forward to discussing this with you at the Metronome!

**One quick note on how the community works** **L Community is member-funded.** The standard contribution is **£13 per month** to cover the platform, events, moderation, and safeguarding. If £13 isn’t workable for you right now, you can opt out for now. Support can be changed or cancelled at any time. Support the platform: [www.thelcommunity.com/back-us-now](http://www.thelcommunity.com/back-us-now) **What this is** A relaxed Sunday afternoon book club for lesbian and bisexual women, meeting in person. This is our first event and we will discuss which book we plan to read. It’s low-pressure, calm, and easy to settle into the event. Women usually range from their 20s through to their 60s. Most sessions are a genuine mix of new faces and returning women, so you won’t be the only person coming for the first time. Most people come on their own. That’s normal here, and we make sure you don’t feel it. Hosts introduce people, keep things flowing, and make the space feel easy rather than awkward. If you’re feeling nervous, you won’t be the only one. Many women feel that way before their first book club and end up staying longer than they expected. **Current book**: Ink Black Heart. You don’t need to have finished it. Come even if you’ve only started or just want to listen. **Important** This is a female-only lesbian space. That boundary is clear and upheld at events. If that doesn’t work for you, this won’t be the right event. **How to attend** You must register in advance to attend. Register here: [www.thelcommunity.com/book-club/](https://thelcommunity.com/book-club/) **Arriving and support** The table booking is under the name Jenny. If you’re nervous, arriving alone, can’t find us, or have any difficulty at all, you can message at any point – days before, on the day, or during the event. If it helps, we can have someone come outside to meet you. **WhatsApp Jenny** WhatsApp only (calls or messages): **+44 7591 386019** Normal calls or texts will not go through on this number. **Staying connected** Registering for an event is separate from joining the wider community. If you’d like to stay connected between events, access the private WhatsApp group, and join the wider network, you can register here: [www.thelcommunity.com/go](www.thelcommunity.com/go) We’re currently reading Ink Black Heart. No pressure to have finished it.

**One quick note on how the community works** **L Community is member-funded.** The standard contribution is **£13 per month** to cover the platform, events, moderation, and safeguarding. If £13 isn’t workable for you right now, you can opt out for now. Support can be changed or cancelled at any time. Support the platform: [www.thelcommunity.com/back-us-now](http://www.thelcommunity.com/back-us-now) **What this is** A relaxed Sunday afternoon book club for lesbian and bisexual women, meeting in person. This is our first event and we will discuss which book we plan to read. It’s low-pressure, calm, and easy to settle into the event. Women usually range from their 20s through to their 60s. Most sessions are a genuine mix of new faces and returning women, so you won’t be the only person coming for the first time. Most people come on their own. That’s normal here, and we make sure you don’t feel it. Hosts introduce people, keep things flowing, and make the space feel easy rather than awkward. If you’re feeling nervous, you won’t be the only one. Many women feel that way before their first book club and end up staying longer than they expected. **Current book**: Ink Black Heart. You don’t need to have finished it. Come even if you’ve only started or just want to listen. **Important** This is a female-only lesbian space. That boundary is clear and upheld at events. If that doesn’t work for you, this won’t be the right event. **How to attend** You must register in advance to attend. Register here: [www.thelcommunity.com/book-club/](https://thelcommunity.com/book-club/) **Arriving and support** The table booking is under the name Jenny. If you’re nervous, arriving alone, can’t find us, or have any difficulty at all, you can message at any point – days before, on the day, or during the event. If it helps, we can have someone come outside to meet you. **WhatsApp Jenny** WhatsApp only (calls or messages): **+44 7591 386019** Normal calls or texts will not go through on this number. **Staying connected** Registering for an event is separate from joining the wider community. If you’d like to stay connected between events, access the private WhatsApp group, and join the wider network, you can register here: [www.thelcommunity.com/go](www.thelcommunity.com/go) We’re currently reading Ink Black Heart. No pressure to have finished it.

**Our May novel is: *The Quiet Librarian* by Allen Eskens** **This month’s book is set in the 20th century and mixes historical fiction with suspense and thriller elements. It also centers on women’s stories and relationships. The novel is 368 pages in print or 8 hours and 12 minutes on audiobook.** Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota who wants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared. Thirty years before, Hana was someone else: Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend—the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head\*\*.\*\*

Welcome, readers! Our May read is **_Kindred_ by Octavia E. Butler.** The story follows Dana, a Black woman living in 1976 California, who is suddenly pulled back to a Maryland plantation before the Civil War. She learns her survival is tied to a white slaveholder’s son. Forced to move between centuries, she must endure the brutal realities of slavery while fighting to hold on to her identity. Tense, intimate, and unforgettable, Kindred explores how the past refuses to stay buried. Looking forward to discussing with everyone! We will meet at Zaftig Brewing Co in their event room in the back. We are welcome to bring in our own food, but **drinks must be purchased at the bar.** Happy reading! 📖

Join us for our May Book Club gathering where we will come together to discuss *[Cantoras](https://caroderobertis.com/books/cantoras/)*[ ](https://caroderobertis.com/books/cantoras/)by [Caro de Robertis](https://caroderobertis.com/bio/) in a safe and welcoming environment. Make new friends who share your passion for books and connect with fellow LGBTQ book enthusiasts.

Join us for lunch/tea at Asterisk Supper Club to discuss our May book "Under the Oak Tree" by Suji Kim Lady Maximilian is the daughter of the powerful Duke Croyso, but she is rarely allowed outside her family’s sprawling castle for fear that her stutter will tarnish their noble name. When she is forced to marry Sir Riftan, a lowborn knight caught in one of her father’s schemes, Maxi doesn’t dare hope for happiness, let alone love. Her stumbling communication and his gruff manner sour their relationship before it can begin, and Riftan leaves without a word the morning after their vows are exchanged. Now, three years after their disastrous wedding night, Riftan has returned as a war hero. To Maxi’s surprise, despite rumors that he was offered marriage to Princess Agnes, a beautiful and renowned sorceress, Riftan still wants Maxi for his wife. And when he comes to claim her, his longing becomes a desire that bewilders Maxi, even as she is overcome by the scorching heat that Riftan’s presence ignites within her. As she learns to navigate the intricacies of her new life, Maxi will find herself and her courage, and discover that she is anything but powerless.

The theme for May is Thriller. • The book we will be discussing is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. (determined by votes from April Book Club. Let me know if you'd like a free digital copy of the book) • This event will be at the main library. Feel free to come whether or not you've started or finished the book. • Small snacks will be provided. You're welcome to bring your own snacks & drinks too! Let me know if you’d like to volunteer to bring snacks or drinks for the group.

This month we’ll be reading Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. Feel free to come and chat even if you don’t finish the book!