Event and activity information

View the schedule of regular events

The events schedule shows regular events across the libraries and can be searched and filtered by location, audience and keywords.

New and upcoming events

Milton Keynes Literary Festival at Central Library

THURSDAY 4 APRIL TO SATURDAY 6 APRIL 2024

Milton Keynes Literary Festival 2024 returns this spring with a programme of in-person and online events. It's a fabulous festival of books, words, writers and ideas that celebrates everything literary, bookish or wordy.

Events are being held at Waterstones MK and Central Library. Visit the MK Lit Fest website for tickets and information about all the events and don't forget to follow them for the latest updates on Facebook, X (Twitter) or Instagram by searching for @MKLitFest.

Events at Central Library (book online through the MK Lit Fest website)

Thursday 4 April

Friday 5 April

Saturday 6 April

Saturday 6 April - Children's Lit Fest

Read more about each event and book online on the MK Lit Fest website.

PLEASE NOTE: The Children's Library will be closed to the public from 11.30am on Saturday 6 April to host these events.

Easter Printing at Woburn Sands Library

Thursday 4 April 11am to 12.30pm

Create cards with your own Easter or Spring design in this craft session for 7 to 12 year olds, funded by Woburn Sands Town Council. The session is free to attend, but places are limited and need to be booked in advance.

  • Book your place for the Easter Printing - SOLD OUT

It's time to get messy! You'll need an apron or old clothes for this session as we use colourful inks and rollers to transfer your design onto a template and use it to print copies onto cards.

Parents and carers should stay in the library during the session.

If your child has any additional needs you’d like us to know about, please email library.promotions@milton-keynes.gov.uk as we hope to make the experience fun for everyone.

Easter Crafts with Community Learning

Join Community Learning MK for Spring themed story and craft sessions for families at various libraries over the Easter break. All sessions across the libraries will cover the same material so please only book one session. The crafts are suitable for children aged 3 and above. They are free to attend, but places are limited and need to be booked in advance.

  • Central Library – book your place for Wednesday 3 April 1-2.30pm - FULL
  • Kingston Library – book your place for Thursday 4 April 1-2.30pm - FULL
  • Bletchley Library – book your place for Friday 5 April 1-2.30pm - FULL
  • Westcroft Library – book your place for Tuesday 9 April 1-2.30pm - FULL
  • Stony Stratford Library – book your place for Wednesday 10 April 10-11.30am - FULL
  • Wolverton Library – book your place for Wednesday 10 April 1-2.30pm - FULL
  • Newport Pagnell Library – book your place for Thursday 11 April 1-2.30pm - FULL

Parents and carers must remain with their children throughout the session and are encouraged to get involved. Please only book tickets for the children who are attending the sessions and not any accompanying family members.

Mindful Drumming with Drum United

Join Adey from Drum United Academy this Easter for positive mindful drumming with upbeat rhythms and mantra for mindset development. Sessions are great fun with body-tapping, air-drumming, box-drums and drumsticks!

Sessions are FREE but require booking in advance as places are limited. You can register via the Drum United Academy website using the relevant links below to book your sessions. Each registration allows for one adult with up to 3 children.

Kingston Library on Tuesday 2 April

  • 10.30-11am for the Under 5s
  • 11.15-11.45am for ages 5 to 12 years

Stony Stratford Library on Wednesday 3 April

  • 10.30-11am for the Under 5s
  • 11.15-11.45am for ages 5 to 12 years

Central MK Library on Thursday 4 April

  • 10.30-11am for the Under 5s
  • 11.15-11.45am for ages 5 to 12 years

Parents/carers must stay with their children throughout the session.

If you need to cancel your booking, please contact Drum United directly using the Drum United contact form.

Baby Signing with Tiny Talk at Olney Library

Join Tiny Talk for a British Sign Language signing session and learn to communicate with your babies before they can talk.

The baby session is for ages 0-2 but older siblings are welcome to attend alongside parents/carers.

The session is FREE but requires booking in advance as places are limited.

You only need to book a place for the adult, regardless of how many children will be attending.

Parents/carers must remain with their children throughout the sessions.

We would appreciate you letting us know if you’ve booked a place but cannot attend so that we can release it to another family. You can contact us about your booking by emailing library.promotions@milton-keynes.gov.uk.

SEND Storytime at Kingston Library

Down in the Jungle – Monday 8 April 2024 2-2.30pm

This storytime is aimed at SEND children/young people up to 14 years old in a non-judgmental setting.

The session is held at Kingston Library while the library is closed to the public and will open specifically for this event at 1.45pm.

Support staff are welcome. Places are limited and must be booked in advance. Please only book places for the children attending and not any accompanying adults.

  • Use this link to book your place at the SEND Storytime at Kingston Library - FULL

Creative Workshops with Milton Keynes Discovery Centre

Did you know that Milton Keynes was built around six main goals?

Join Milton Keynes Discovery Centre for their 'cut, colour and build' design workshops where you can rebuild Milton Keynes according to own six goals! What will you choose to build?

Share your vision for Marvellous Milton Keynes at:

  • Central Library - Thursday 13 April 10am to 1pm
  • Bletchley Library - Tuesday 28 May 10am to 12.30pm
  • Stony Stratford Library – Friday 31 May 10am to 1pm

No booking is required - just drop-in to the sessions when you visit the library.

Regular activities

Regular events and services for each library are also listed on the individual library information pages. New and one-off events are shown in the section above.

Adult - various regular activities

  • CHESS at Woburn Sands Library (adults and children) - Friday 3.30-4.30pm
  • COMPUTER HELP SESSIONS WITH OUR IT BUDDIES
  • FAMILY HISTORY CONSULTATIONS - Central Library (dates to be confirmed)
  • GARDENING CLUB - Stony Stratford Library (contact Stony Stratford Library for dates)
  • JOB CLUBS - Central Library Tuesday 1-3pm and Woughton Library Thursday 10am-12pm
  • KNIT AND NATTER sessions at various libraries
  • LIBRARY COFFEE MORNINGS at Stony Stratford Library with FoSSL on the first and third Wednesdays each month 10-11am. Free to attend, just stop by for tea, coffee, homemade cake and conversation.
  • LIBRARY READING GROUPS at various libraries
  • MK NANOWRITERS meet on the second Saturday each month at Central Library 2pm to 4pm. It's a social group for writers although they do discuss writing as that's their shared hobby. If you'd like to know more or are interested in joining the group, please email mknanowriters@gmail.com.
  • SOCIAL SCRABBLE at Bletchley Library on Tuesdays 10.30-11.30am.
  • STONY LAST THURSDAY HISTORY SOCIETY - Drop-in any time between 2-5pm on the last Thursday of each month upstairs at Stony Stratford Library to chat with like-minded people about the history of Stony Stratford. If you'd like to know more, ask at Stony Stratford Library.

Children - various regular activities

Please note that some activities are term time only.

  • CHESS at Woburn Sands Library (adults and children) - Friday 3.30-4.30pm
  • CODE CLUB (ages 9-13) at Central Library - Monday 4-5pm
  • CRAFT CLUB (ages 3-9) at Olney Library - third Saturday each month 10.30-11.30am
  • LEGO AND DUPLO CLUBS at various libraries
  • Q:HUB (ages 13-19) at Central Library - Tuesday 4-5.30pm (term time only)
  • READ AND PLAY sessions at Olney Library - Thursday 2.30-4.30pm
  • STAY AND PLAY sessions at Bletchley Library - Tuesday 10.30-11.30am (term time only) There is no session on Tuesday 13 February.
  • STAY AND PLAY sessions at Central Library - Wednesday 1.30-2.30pm (term time only)
  • STONY MUSIC MAKERS at Stony Stratford Library - Wednesday 9.30-10.15am
  • STORIES, SONGS AND RHYMES at various libraries
  • STORY AND SONG TIME (by Woodlands and Tickford Meadow Children's Centres) at Olney Library - Tuesday 11.15-11.45am (term time only)

English conversation club

English conversation club is for anyone who would like to practise and improve their English as a second language, gain better skills for study or employment, or just get on in everyday life.

    Sessions at Central Library

    • Everyone is welcome to join us on the day and you don't need to register.
    • Conversation club sessions are held in the foyer at Central Library on Thursday mornings 11am-12pm.
    • If you'd like to know more you can phone 01908 254050 or speak to library staff.

    Exhibitions

    Discover MK

    The Discover MK Showcase area is on the first floor at Central Library. It is the primary showcase for the archive, museum and heritage of Milton Keynes and the surrounding area. It has a regularly changing series of exhibitions throughout the year and more information can be found on the Discover MK website.

    Nightlife MK - from September 2023

    A nostalgic look back at some much-loved nightclubs and venues from the city centre’s past - if you lived it up at The Point, Zazoos, Austens, Ultra Vegas (and more) back in the day pop along and see if you can see yourselves in any of the photos!

    This is another fantastic exhibition brought to you by Living Archive MK.

    2BU - Exhibition at Central Library

    4-29 March 2024

    The 2BU exhibition is an exhibition of creative work by group members from Phoenix Rising MK and includes some of the work that was exhibited during the BU Festival at Milton Keynes Museum in August 2023.

    All the work on show has been produced by group members from the day service, all of whom are adults with varying learning disabilities and support needs. Phoneix Rising MK is dedicated to providing high quality creative opportunities and professional standard resources, allowing each person to flourish and work to the full potential of their individual abilities.

    “B.U.” is all about being you, embracing diversity and difference, standing up for yourself and your abilities whilst accepting others’ differences, challenges and insecurities. The work on show reflects each individual artist, their passions, interests, individual personalities and unique way of seeing the world.

    Visit the exhibition in the Event Space on the ground floor at Central Library during regular opening hours.

    Watch a virtual tour of the exhibition on YouTube.

     

    Uniquely Wired Art Exhibition

    7 March to 4 April 2024

    The Uniquely Wired exhibition is a showcase of talented Milton Keynes based artists. Exploring and celebrating neurodiverse creativity it brings together a broad range of artistic mediums including paint, photography and 3-D design.

    Visit the exhibition on the first floor at Central Library between 7 March and 4 April to be taken on a journey from the streets of Milton Keynes to the fjords of Iceland before heading to outer space ...

     

    JOIN ME: Our 2020 Events - Memorial Quilt at Stony Stratford Library

    Visit Stony Stratford Library to see this lockdown memorial quilt on display. It’s a community quilt project by Thread Thread Wine to memorialise the events that we most missed in 2020, whether cancelled, lost or postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Soraya Tate, founder of Thread Thread Wine

    At Christmas 2020 I decided to make a memorial quilt, dedicated to acknowledging the events and opportunities that we lost in 2020.

    • I would create a quilt square about my own losses.
    • I would invite others to do the same about their losses.
    • I would join the pieces to make a quilt.
    • I would display the quilt in December 2021 at an event for the makers.

    This is the project so far; I hope you enjoy viewing it and reading about it. We have 42 submissions and the quilt is 3m long.

    We have made some of the squares into cards for sale, to raise money for the mental health charity MIND.

    If you would like to contribute your artwork to this project, please email Soraya or visit the Thread Thread Wine (TTW) Facebook page.

    Read more about the background to this project, the inspiration and the artists who have contributed by visiting the Memorial quilt project page.

    Friends Groups

    Friends Groups work in partnership with us and closely with local library teams to help support and enhance libraries in our local communities.

    They provide an important contribution to support and maintain awareness of a library in a local community.

    Folio - Olney Library

    Folio (The Friends of the Library in Olney) run a programme of talks which are held 7.30-8.30pm at The Olney Centre, Room 4 and they request that you arrive at 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Refreshments are served after each talk.

    • 8 April - 'Mystery and Magic' by David Tomkins
    • 20 May - 'Life Behind the Lens' by Tom Way
    • 3 June - 'Maintaining and Repairing Britain's Historic Buildings' by David Sleight
    • 1 July - 'Silks for Sundays' by Yvonne Bell
    • 2 September - 'The Science of Pearls' by Frances Carlaw
    • 7 October - 'Murder and Mayhem' by Jane Isaacs
    • 4 November - 'From Lorenze to Colossus' by Michael Kushner
    • December - to be confirmed

    Tickets are £6 in advance and can be booked online at Ticketsource or by phoning Ticketsource on 0333 666 3366.

    If you are no longer able to attend or have any questions, please email olneyfoliofriends@gmail.com.

    You can download a printable schedule of Folio talks here.

    FoSSL - Stony Stratford Library

    FoSSL (The Friends of Stony Stratford Library) run regular talks at the library and details for booking tickets for these events will be released closer to the time. If you'd like to join the mailing list to receive news and updates from FoSSL, email fosslmk@gmail.com.

    • Wednesday 13 March 2024 7pm - 'An Unfinished World' a talk about the life and work of New York photographer and artist Saul Leiter - a talk by Andrew Rodgers and Peter Martin, experienced volunteers at MK Gallery where the largest exhibition of his work ever shown in the UK is now on display. Tickets are free and available from Stony Stratford Library.

    Knit and natter

    • Several libraries host Knit and Natter groups.
    • Beginners and experts are all welcome.
    • Admission is free.

    Lego and Duplo clubs

    • Free all-round fun with Lego/Duplo clubs at several of our libraries.
    • We provide the bricks and you provide the imagination.
    • Everyone regardless of age is invited to join the fun.
    • Parents and carers are responsible for their child's safety.
    • Parents and carers must remain with their children throughout the sessions.

    Click on the session links to see the dates when clubs are running.

    Tuesday

    Wednesday

    Thursday

    Friday

    Saturday 

    Library news

    Reading groups

    Do you enjoy reading? Would you like to talk about what you have read? Would you like to share your views with an informal group? Then why not join a reading group.

    Stories, songs and rhymes

    Summer Reading Challenge

    We're excited to bring you the Summer Reading Challenge each year during the summer holidays.

    Vacancies at Milton Keynes City Council libraries

    We hope you'll consider joining our team here at the Milton Keynes Libraries. You'll find details of any current vacancies across our libraries on the library vacancies webpage.

    Volunteering with Milton Keynes City Council libraries

    • We welcome volunteers at all ten of our libraries.
    • There are many interesting opportunities for volunteers within the Milton Keynes libraries and there's bound to be something that suits you.
    • Volunteers need to be at least 13 years old.

     

    Have you discovered the world of Geocaching? It's one of the fastest-growing hobbies in the UK and a fantastic way to get the whole family outdoors. After all, who doesn't love a treasure hunt?
       
    Geocaching is a bit like a treasure hunt with a modern technological twist if you will! Read the beginner's guide to Geocaching and then download the app to start 'playing' and see what treasures you can find around Milton Keynes.

    Milton Keynes City Council Libraries contact information

    Milton Keynes Central Library, 555 Silbury Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3HL