Women’s History Month at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden

You are invited to learn about the hidden lives of four sisters as Women’s History Month continues at Gladstone's Library in Hawarden.

Sarah Watling, biographer, will reveal the secrets of the Olivier sisters in a talk about her book Noble Salvages at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden, on March 22 at 7pm. 

Before Sarah Watling’s book came out, most of the information available about the four Olivier sisters, Margery, Daphne, Noël and Brynhild, was written by men, and much of it centred on these women’s relationship with poet Rupert Brooke. 

The Olivier sisters, who were born around the beginning of the 19^th Century, were part of a group dubbed “the neopagans”, and moved in circles that included Virginia Woolf and H. G. Wells. 

According to Sarah Watling, the Olivier sisters were: “Surprisingly emancipated, strikingly beautiful, markedly determined and alarmingly ‘wild’.” 

Sarah Watling, who won the Tony Lothian Prize in 2016, and a Silvers Grant in 2020, secured a Writer in Residence place at Gladstone’s Library with Noble Savages. 

Peter Francis, warden of Gladstone’s Library, said: “The judges were unanimous in their praise of the book. It’s a pleasure to be able to have a full year of Writers in Residence for the first time since the pandemic started.” 

Louisa Yates, director of collections at the library, said: “Sarah is our first non-fiction writer this year, which is always exciting. It’s Women’s History Month, and as this talk is about four women who have been minimised in history, it could not be more fitting.” 

Tickets for this talk are available via:

www.gladstoneslibrary.org

... or by calling 01244 532 350.

Tickets to view the talk online are £8 and tickets for in-person attendance start at £11. Dinner and book bundles are also available. 

As Sarah Watling is splitting her residency at Gladstone’s Library between March and May, she is also hosting a masterclass at Gladstone’s Library on May 22 from 10am-3pm.

Pictured - Sarah Watling, biographer.