Ciaran Thapar and Emma Warren discuss their books Cut Short and Up the Youth Club with journalist Kieran Yates. Charting the history of youth clubs, their decline in the face of austerity, the impact on young people when youth and community services are cut and highlighting the importance of youth-led approaches to social change. This conversation is both a call to action and a celebration of the youth club and the young people who use them.
Wednesday 24 September 6–7.30pm
Marcus Lipton Youth Club, Minet Rd, London SW9 7UH
Ciaran Thapar [he/him] is a youth worker and author with a decade's experience working with young people in schools, youth clubs and prisons. His debut nonfiction book, Cut Short, was published by Penguin UK in 2021. Ciaran is a regular contributor to publications such as British GQ and the Guardian, and he writes a Substack called All City, about British multiculturalism, young people and music. He is Director of Public Affairs and Communications at the Youth Endowment Fund, a charity which funds, researches and advocates for ways of preventing violence affecting children.
© Photo: Simon Wheatley
Emma Warren [she/her] has been documenting grassroots culture for decades. She is the author of Make Some Space (MOJO Book of the Year); Steam Down (Irish Times Read of the Year) and Document Your Culture. Dance Your Way Home was a Sunday Times book of the week and Guardian Book of the Year and forms the basis of the Southbank Centre’s summer series 2025. She was editorial mentor at youth-run Brixton publication Live Magazine. Her monthly radio show on Worldwide FM ran for six years.
© Photo: Neeru Rishi
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