The Hypatia Trust

16/05/2026

21/04/2026

We’ll be hosting the launch of Library Obscura, on Wednesday 22nd April 2026, from 6pm - 8.30pm

Library Obscura is a new publication from the (Libita Sibungu, Maria Christoforidi, Angeline Morrison, Caroline Deeds, Catherine Lucktaylor). This publication is a joint project of the five artists supported by Exeter University as part of the Reimaginings Art Commission programme.

Over the past year, five female Cornwall based artists have been cultivating a shared creative language grounded in Cornwall’s landscape, archives, and layered histories.

Library Obscura is not simply about expanding the canon — it is about reshaping the very idea that we must operate according to one. It offers a sign of hope towards reorienting how we relate to knowledge and its origins: uniting resources, unlearning Western frameworks, and opening space for friendship, critical intimacy, and new ways of knowing.

Join us at this intimate event, as we re-imagine libraries as acts of shelter and resistance, and as spaces that honour women’s everyday labour, voices, and care.

The artists will share readings from Library Obscura and reflect on what has emerged through a year of connection, conversation, and collective making. Hosted at the Hypatia Trust — a creative and literary home for women in Cornwall — this gathering celebrates the power of collaboration, the richness of diasporic perspectives, and the ongoing work of rewriting who and what is centred in our cultural memory.

This event warmly welcomes everyone, and is particularly held with and for Black and global majority communities — a space for kinship, curiosity, and creative exchange.

Space is limited. Please RSVP to [email protected].

**Please note this event will be audio recorded

29/01/2025

We're taking a short break in February to spend some time sorting our books and to get our plans in place for the coming months.

This means our events space and bookshop will be closed from February 1st.

Please do sign up to our newsletter to hear about our ongoing plans:

https://hypatia-trust.org.uk/contact

22/01/2025

Books are our bag!

These brilliant badges are available from our bookshop on Chapel Street for £2.

We’re open from today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11am-3pm.

19/01/2025

Our January Hypatia Woman of the Month is Sue Hill: Theatre-maker, gardener, writer, storyteller, mayven, maker of giants/goddesses/creatures out of mud, sticks and plants, Cornishwoman. Sue is a woman of many talents, and we were delighted to talk to her about her passions, inspirations and motivations.

We asked Sue to give us a top tip for living and she told us...

"Embrace chaos, ambiguity, nuance. Certainties cancel creativity, art and understanding. And let your vegetables run to flower and seed – cavolo nero flowers taste just as delicious as the leaves. And the pollinating insects will love the feast too."

You can read more of our interview with Sue on our website now: https://hypatia-trust.org.uk/hypatia-woman-of-the-month-cornwall/2025/1/15/sue-hill-theatre-maker-gardener-writer-storyteller-mayven-maker-of-giantsgoddessescreatures-out-of-mud-sticks-and-plants-cornishwoman

11/01/2025

Have you ever wished you could knit, sew, embroider, quilt, darn or learn any of those practical crafts that others seem able to do? We gather highly skilled crafters who love to share their skills with keen learners.

Join us for our first Craft Exchange of the year this Wednesday 15th. If you’ve not joined a session before please reach out to Maggi Livingstone, via [email protected], to book your place - either as an expert crafter or new skill learner.

The session runs from 1.30pm - 3pm, and will continue every 3rd Wednesday of the month.

09/01/2025

Here we go! Its January! The perfect time of year to get stuck into a good book.

Come find your next read at our Bookshop on Chapel Street in Penzance, we're open 11am - 3pm, Wednesday to Saturday. 📚📚📚

07/01/2025

It was such a pleasure to welcome so many people through our doors before Christmas to see our exhibition Change Through Art. Celebrating work from local campaign groups we were delighted to be able to share activism from across a wide network of people working to bring about change in Cornwall and the wider world.

Here you can see a selection of photos taken by one of our volunteers Abbey

Wishing you all a very happy new year, and one in which we hopefully can all ‘Put Love First’ 🌿

17/12/2024

Our exhibition Change Through Art closes tomorrow! We're open 11am-5pm today and tomorrow. Pop in and see us, and find out how Cornwall is local campaign groups are bringing about change.

14/12/2024

The exhibition will be closed tomorrow, back open Monday at 11am until 5pm.

Have you seen our new exhibition Change Through Art?

It celebrates the work of local campaign groups who are hoping to or who have begun to bring about change.

The exhibition is open 11am-5pm, do pop in and see it at our space on Chapel Street in Penzance.