British Library

Peter Benenson founded a human rights movement that would spread around the world: Amnesty International. Following his death, Peter’s daughter Natasha bequeathed his archive to the British Library, including photos, documents, letters and even a carbon copy of the original idea for AI. This evening’s event is a special celebration of Peter and his life’s work, inviting you to discover an extraor…

He was born in Billinge Hospital in Wigan. Lemn is a three times Sunday Times bestselling author, and was the chancellor of the University of Manchester from 2015 until 2022. His first Neon artwork featured in the Chanel exhibition of 2023, and he curated the inaugural Ethiopia Pavilion at The Venice Biennale in 2024. Lemn was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics.

They lead Studio Lemara – a bespoke literary studio developing authors and directing literary strategy for publishers and brands, with clients including Burberry and Stone Island – and serve as the talks and cultural programmer at We Out Here Festival. As former Head of Imprint at the award winning #Merky Books, they acquired and shaped titles including Keisha the Sket by Jade LB, The Race to Be …

She leads the stewardship and public engagement with the archives of Eric and Jessica Huntley. Her work centres on activating Black British histories through archives, writing, and public programming. She has curated and contributed to major initiatives exploring diaspora, education, and cultural memory, and works across cultural and academic sectors to amplify underrepresented voices. Beverley i…

As well as leading calypso workshops in schools and colleges, he divides his time between running a 10-piece band and his own record label. Since February 2000 he has also been Calypsonian-in-Residence for the BBC. Alexander has appeared at festivals across the UK with The Alexander D'Great Trio, including The Cambridge Folk Festival, Notting Hill Carnival and The Barbican. Alexander was UK Calyp…

His books include Bageye at the Wheel, short-listed for the Pen Ackerley Prize, and Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His latest book is I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be. His oral history of migration to Britain, What We Leave We Carry, will be published in June 2026. Grant is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Editorial Director of Write…

Join us during London Climate Action Week for a fun and engaging workshop where you'll learn how to repurpose broken objects by transforming them into something new!We'll get creative with this hands-on upcycling activity, encouraging young people to explore sustainability and innovation. It's a unique opportunity to learn something new and have a blast doing it. See you there!This event is part …

After cataloguing John Berger’s archive at the British Library, Tom Overton spent 15 years following its traces from Moscow to Texas, from the Alps to Istanbul. He worked with Berger on editing Portraits: John Berger on Artists and Landscapes: John Berger on Art, with Matthew Harle on The Underground Sea: John Berger on Miners and the Miners’ Strike, and with Katya Berger on a forthcoming edition…

Many of his books have won illustration awards including the UNESCO Prize, the Greenaway Medal (on three occasions) and the Hay Festival Medal for Illustration. As an author his work includes the highly-acclaimed Ottoline titles and the 2013 Costa Children’s Book Award-winning Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse. Chris has also achieved global success through his New York Times best-selling collab…

This event explores the circulation of knowledge in early modern Central and Eastern Europe through theatre, drama, and print with particular attention to the multilingual, multireligious, and multinational world of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its culture. How did ideas move across languages, confessions, and regions? What was lost or ignored? How has cultural 'gravity' shaped what was…

He has been a correspondent, editor, producer, and manager in the UK and US. His most recent experience is as a supervising editor at NPR. Previously he was senior editor at The New York Times Audio. He won multiple Emmy awards and nominations for his work as a Congress and White House correspondent in the U.S. He was a correspondent, anchor and producer for Univision, ESPN, CNN, and NBC.

A Chartered Engineer and Geologist, she has delivered major UK construction projects and was named the Most Influential Woman in Construction in 2022. Roni serves as a government Non-Executive Director and an advisor for His Majesty’s King’s Awards for Enterprise. A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, she is a dedicated champion for diversity, youth, and community initiatives within the i…

Join us as we take you on a speech-to-text and BSL interpreted tour of our latest exhibition Fairy Tales. This tour is suitable for visitors who are D/deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.   On this tour you will be guided through the exhibition by a curator and will discover the beautiful books and artwork from some of the UK’s most beloved writers and illustrators offering a glimpse of the tales …

Join Seema Anand and Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah for an illuminating exploration of how ancient cultural traditions, ancestral rites and myth can reshape our understanding of modern female sexuality, offering practical and fun insights into navigating sex and intimacy today.Drawing on their books: Seeking Sexual Freedom by Nana Darkoa, and Speak Easy: A Field Guide to Love, Longing and Intimacy by Seem…

A very special opportunity to join Joseph Coelho OBE as he delves into his Fairy Tales Gone Bad series, illustrated by Freya Hartas.Discover how Cinderella became Zombierella and fell in love with a vampire prince. Find new ways to create your own Fairy Tales Gone Bad and even how to write a story using just ten words.Get ready for wordplay, creative inspiration and gruesome tales.Please note if …

A comic jam is where a number of comic book artists collaboratively create a new single comic, each creator designing one part of the story.Candy Gourlay will be drawing alongside Thiago de Moraes, Viviane Schwarz and James Turner. Join our audience to create new and wacky collaborative comics together. Will you get the story you want, or will it be transformed into something radically new?Get re…

Join author, illustrator and comic creator Thiago de Moraes for an interactive and fun draw-along session. Discover his latest series School of Gods and get creative collaborating to design and draw crazy monsters to join the crew. We might encounter creatures like the Horrid Hamsters, the Platitudepus and Jeff, the mobile gnome.Bring all your questions and creativity!We're hosting a day of creat…

Join author and illustrator Erika Meza as she explores her Carnegie Shortlisted book, To The Other Side. a story about two young siblings' journey.The theme for Refugee Week 2026 is Courage. Hear how, wearing colourful masks for bravery and speed, the siblings stay on the move – relying on each other as they courageously attempt to reach their destination.Join in the storytelling, explore Erika's…