In the academic year of 1982/83, students and lecturers of evening and day-time literature classes - organized by what was then the University of London’s Extra-Mural Department - founded a Literature Association which they named ‘ULEMLA’. The first lecture was given in May 1983, and soon a pattern of seven talks per year being given by a variety of academics, writers, actors, etc was established. In the early 1990s the Extra-Mural Department became part of Birkbeck, University of London, and ULEMLA is now available for everyone with an interest in literature to join – and bring their friends along to our meetings. Details of the “2012/2013 Programme” are on that webpage, which you can select from the menu above.
The main function of ULEMLA is to provide opportunities for anyone with an interest in literature to attend seven talks a year and join in discussions about prose, drama, poetry and related arts. A year’s membership is £20, or each lecture is £6 for non-members. Immediately after the December talk, we hold a Christmas party (for which tickets are sold in the autumn term) so that members have a chance to socialize and discuss the talks they’ve heard that year. Many of the calendar-year’s speakers attend the Christmas party as our guests. We also have an affordable annual outing each May to a place of literary interest.
ULEMLA meetings take place on Saturdays, usually at 2.30pm in Room 415 of Birkbeck’s main building. However, in November we shall meet in the next-door room, 416, and in December, the talk is at 11am, followed by the Christmas party, both held in Canterbury Hall, Cartwright Gardens, London WC1H 9EE (see further details on the “2012/2013 Programme” page). Names of speakers and titles of talks for the spring and summer terms are announced on the website, at the autumn and spring meetings, and in the February News Letter – which you may receive if you write to my e-mail address: ruthwebb@talk21.com.
We hope that you will join ULEMLA, and tell your friends and other literature enthusiasts about us. To become a member, e-mail lesley.rose1@btinternet.com. You may prefer to join at your first meeting, or simply come as a guest at first. We look forward to meeting you soon.
Ruth Webb, Chairperson
