UCL Laws Feminist Book Club

The UCL Laws Feminist Book Club brings together staff and students at all levels to talk about books in an informal setting.

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Our aim

The UCL Laws Feminist Book Club was set up in 2018 with the aim of creating a strong feminist network within the law school. We invite feminist faculty members, staff and students (LLB, LLM, and PhD) to join us for monthly meetings in which we chat informally about a work of female-authored fiction. We have structured the group as a book club because, well, we all like to read – and we believe that it’s important to supplement our work and studies with non-academic reading. It helps to keep us grounded, enriched, and energised. The book club is an inclusive, non-hierarchical, and non-judgmental space for all genders.

2023-24 meetings and book list

We meet in Bentham House, UCL Faculty of Laws. You are welcome to drop in on individual sessions, or to attend regularly – whatever works for you. Book your place now:

Term one

Wednesday, 27 September, 12pm-1pm | Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien

Thursday 26 October, 1pm-2pm | Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Reserve your place: https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/fbc-americanah/

Thursday 30 November, 1pm-2pm | Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy | Reserve your place: https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/fbc-wolves/

Tuesday 19 December, TBC | Informal Feminist Book Club session | More details to follow

Term two

Thursday 25 January 2024, 1pm-2pm | The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa | Reserve your place: https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/fbc-memory/

Thursday 29 February, 1pm-2pm | The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy | https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/fbc-living/

Thursday 21 March, 1pm-2pm | Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin | https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/crocodile/

Term three

Thursday 25 April, 1pm-2pm | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/fbc-homegoing/

Thursday 30 May, 1pm-2pm | Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia | https://ucl-laws.ticketleap.com/salt/

Frequently asked questions

What does the book club do?

We get together once a month and talk about books! If there are many attendees, we split into small groups; otherwise we just engage in open-ended discussion as a group. Sometimes we use question prompts to get the ball rolling.

You are free to join the book group at any point in the year, and to attend as many or as few meetings as you wish. If you were planning to come but haven’t finished the book, come anyway! No one is testing you.

Who can join?

All current and former members of the Faculty of Laws community are welcome – from LLB, LLM and PhD students and alumni, to teaching fellows, faculty and staff.

Everyone who likes reading and talking about books is welcome - whatever your gender.

We don’t expect prior knowledge of feminist theory or literary criticism. What we have in common is an openness to and engagement with feminist ideas, and a love of reading.

What do you read?

Our book list includes novels, short stories, and memoir. We profile books written by women from a range of countries and backgrounds and attempt to balance better-known authors with those who may have slipped under the radar.

If you’d like to suggest a book, please email Maria Lee at maria.lee@ucl.ac.uk, Niamh Connolly at n.connolly@ucl.ac.uk or Claudia Sternberg at c.sternberg@ucl.ac.uk.

In 2022-23, our theme was 'Books in Translation' and we read:

Magda Szabo, The Door
Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs
Jhumpa Lahiri, Whereabouts
The Years by Annie Ernaux
Straight from the Horse's Mouth by Meryem Alaoui
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
Frontier by Can Xue

In 2021-22, we read:

Elena Ferrante - The Lying Life of Adults
Andrea Levy - The Long Song
Penelope Mortimer - The Pumpkin Eater
Banana Yoshimoto - Kitchen
Kate Chopin - The Awakening
Isabel Allende - Eva Luna
Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar
Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea
Virginia Woolf - The Waves

In 2020-21, we read:

Burnt Sugar - Avni Dosh
Grand Union: Stories - Zadie Smith
The Shadow King - Maaza Mengiste
Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado
Weather - Jenny Offill
Such a Fun Age - Kiley Reid
Negative Capability - Michèle Roberts
The Round House - Louise Erdrich

In 2019-20, we read:

My Life on the Road - Gloria Steinem
Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
Normal People - Sally Rooney
The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
Sour Heart - Jenny Zhang
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
The Mother of All Questions - Rebecca Solnit
Invisible Women: Exposing Gender Bias in a World Designed for Men - Caroline Criado Perez
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
Last Witnesses: Unchildlike Stories - Svetlana Alexievich

In our first year (2018-19) we read:

Disoriental - Négar Djavadi
The Power - Naomi Alderman
Vera - Elizabeth von Arnim
Sing, Unburied, Sing - Jesmyn Ward
Milkman - Anna Burns
Stay with Me - Ayobami Adebayo
Woman at Point Zero - Nawal el Saadawi
Red Clocks – Leni Zumas

This year’s selection can be viewed in the above section.