 The Morden Tower, run by poet Tom Pickard, is a major venue for poetry readings in the North East, being the place where Basil Bunting gave the first reading of "Briggflatts" in 1965.The Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (popularly known as the 'Lit & Phil') is the largest independent library outside London, housing more than 150,000 books.Its music library contains 8,000 CDs and 10,000 LPs.