An Alternative Book Club
with Lucy Steggals
The sessions took place at West Barnes Library between October to November 2024.
In a playful, material and embodied way, drawing from themes in the novel Lud-in-the-Mist (a forgotten classic by Hope Mirrlees), participants of An Alternative Book Club helped co-create an expanded version of the book to be inserted into the library and the Merton Heritage and local studies centre.
Lud-in-the-Mist is an adult fairy tale written in 1926 exploring the need to embrace what we fear and to come to terms with 'the shadows’. A book exploring what happens when magic (fairy fruit) begins to find its way back into a well ordered, rigid society that banned it. A reminder of the importance of creativity, embracing change, play, connection and balance.
A final Book Club then took place in March 2025 to allow participants to review the audio recording and physical materials created during the project.
About the artist: www.lucysteggals.co.uk/
Lucy Steggals is London based visual artist and integrative art psychotherapist with over 20 years’ experience running creative groups / project in collaboration with a diverse group of adults in settings including libraries, museums, galleries, and hospitals including partners such as NHS, Camden Arts Centre, Towner Art Gallery, Hayward Gallery, Turner Contemporary and Whitechapel Gallery.