Slow Reading: Byron's Don Juan for Banned Books Week

A slow reading book club session on Byron's Don Juan for Banned Books Week, £5 with refreshments and printouts.

This session at The Portico Library takes a slow, close look at Byron's Don Juan, the satirical epic that was temporarily banned from the library's own lending shelves in 1825. It's held for Banned Books Week, organised by Index On Censorship, and asks attendees to turn off their phones, slow down and discuss the text together rather than rush through it. The session is led by Dr Debbie Challis, Creative Producer of The Portico Library and a cultural historian specialising in the nineteenth-century reception of classical antiquity. Tickets are £5 and include refreshments and printouts of the passages under discussion. It runs on Wednesday 7 October 2026 from 4pm to 5.15pm at the library on Mosley Street, Manchester.

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