‘It’s time to get ready for my prep school. I go shopping with my mother for my uniform and I think, My God, so many clothes.’ Musa Okwonga, One of Them 

As teachers and pupils heads back to school, it’s our writer friends and Fellows who have been sharpening their pencils, writing their books, making their notes and preparing to take part in our eclectic Autumn/Winter Season. 

Join us for a range of events, online and in-person, covering life-writing, script writing, Romanticism, grime, fame and plenty more besides.  

September began in Brixton’s Black Cultural Archives for a pre-season preview event with Jamaica Kincaid and Paul Mendez. It will end at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre for Northern Ireland Writers’ Day, in partnership with Arts Council Northern Ireland and the Lyric Theatre, featuring a workshop with Bonnie Greer and panel discussion with Bonnie, Fionnuala Kennedy and Stacey Gregg. 

Our October events will be entirely online, with two Vital Discussions On Demand conversations between Lavinia Greenlaw and Emily Ogden, and Fiona Sampson and Polly Atkin, covering topics from romance to the Romantics, living radically and embracing uncertainty. 

November will be a musical month featuring the poetry of grime and a punk icon. We’re partnering with the Museum of London to bring you a conversation between Yomi Ṣode and Caleb Femi illuminating the common ground between UK rap music and poetry. Later in the month we’re are partnering with the British Library on an event looking at life-writing today, featuring Dr Patrick Hayes, Musa Okwonga and Viv Albertine. 

We’ll be joining forces once again with the British Library in December, as well as our friends at BBC Radio 3, for a very special event with Russell T. Davies and Jill Nalder, featuring Sabina Dosani and chaired by Matthew Sweet, celebrating Jill’s new book, Love from the Pink Palace, and the stories of It’s a Sin. 

Members and Digital Events Pass holders will have a bonus December event to look forward to – a Christmas present from us at the RSL – in the shape of an exclusive online conversation between icons of page, stage and screen Zawe Ashton and Adjoa Andoh about their lives in literature. 

We wish you all an excellent autumn and look forward to seeing you online and in person at these events. Find out more here.