Budding poets can learn how to perform their poetry and listen to Whitechapel residents read their own work at the Idea Store Whitechapel.

The poetry readings are part of a new five-month series of events, called Big Ideas, organised by Birkbeck, University of London. The evening is also part of the WriteIdea Festival 2013 - the fifth edition of east London’s unique, ever-growing, free reading festival.

Liane Strauss, an Anglo-American poet and creative writing lecturer at Birkbeck, will be on hand to help people perform their poems at the workshop starting at 6.15pm on Friday November 22. This will be followed at 6.45pm by readings from Birkbeck Creative Writing students and Whitechapel residents. Their works will embrace the city as the “new nature”, drawing their imagery, rhetoric, attitude and rhythm from urban life in the 21st century.

Next month, there will also be a literary focus to the Big Ideas event. On Friday December 13 from 6.45pm to 8.45pm, Dr Nicola Bown, senior lecturer in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck, will discuss how one of Charles Dickens’ best-known books, A Christmas Carol, created the idea of a traditional family Christmas. From the moment it was published in 1843, the story captured the imagination of Victorian Britain. Santa Claus, Christmas cards and crackers were invented around the same time, but it was Dickens’ book that boosted the craze for Christmas, above all promoting the idea that Christmas is best celebrated with the family.

In the New Year there will be more events led by academics from Birkbeck exploring thought-provoking topics, including how to be happy, local lives in the queer metropolis, and women’s work in the twenty-first century.

The Big Ideas series of events is organised by the Widening Access and Retention Team at Birkbeck, University of London.

All the events take place at the Idea Store Whitechapel, 321 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BU. Refreshments will be provided at all events. The Idea Store Whitechapel is an innovative library, learning and information service created by Tower Hamlets Council.