Congratulations to Travis Alabanza and Danielle Jawando who have won the 2023 Jhalak prize celebrating books by British/British resident BAME writers. 

Travis Alabanza, None of the Above, winner of the Jhalak Prize is a writer, performer and theatre maker. Danielle Jawando, When our Worlds Collided, winner of the Children's & YA Jhalak Prize, is an author, screenwriter and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Judges described None of the Above, Alabanza’s memoir about being genderqueer, as ‘desperately important’, and said every teenager should read Jawando’s young adult novel When Our Worlds Collided. 

First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize and its new sister award Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, founded in 2020, seek to celebrate books by British/British resident BAME writers. Recognising some extraordinary talent over the last five years, previous winners have included Jacob Ross, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Guy Gunaratne, Johny Pitts, Patrice Lawrence and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi. 

We were delighted to celebrate the prize with an event at The London Library in May featuring Jhalak Prize judge Haleh Agar and Jhalak Children's & Young Adult Prize judge Maisie Chan in conversation with Yassmin Abdel-Magied, and readings from some of the shortlisted authors. Find out more here.

We look forward to welcoming the winners to the Library with two year's complimentary membership and a year's membership for the shortlist. 

This is part of an ongoing partnership between the Jhalak Prize and The London Library. 

You can find information on the Jhalak Prize here.

The Founders’ Circle and Library supporters recently spent a captivating evening exploring the late actor Alan Rickman’s rich and varied archive in The Writers’ Room.

Rare books dealer and former actor Neil Pearson, custodian of the archive, walked supporters through this fascinating paper trail of Rickman’s life, allowing guests the rare opportunity to leaf through the beautifully handwritten diaries and drawings, decipher heavily annotated working scripts and screenplays, and examine notes from friends and admirers, from Emma Thompson, to Tony Blair; from (then) Prince Charles to JK Rowling. Neil’s commentary, both as a former actor who knew Alan Rickman, and collector, gave us a unique insight into his extraordinary life, talent and practice.

Join the Founders’ Circle to attend exclusive events such as these, and to be first on the guest list to The Summer Party, hosted by our President Helena Bonham Carter. Find out more by visiting The Founders' Circle webpage or contact our Patrons & Legacies Manager, Emma van Straaten at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

Friday 9 June and Saturday 10 June

The Library will be closed from 3.30 pm on Friday 9 June and all day on Saturday 10 June to facilitate a significant commercial filming hire. 

To accommodate this closure, the Library building will remain open on Saturday 27 May and Saturday 26 August. Normally, the Library building is closed on the Saturday of Bank Holiday weekends. 

As a charity, filming and venue hire is an essential revenue-generating source of income for the Library. It enables us to continue in our role as a world-class centre of literary activity, writing, and research. 

The Library building will be closed, but members can still use Catalyst to find and request books and access our huge collection of eResources.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the closure.

Should you wish to get in touch about the closure, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The London Library is pleased to announce Simon Godwin as its new Chair of Trustees. The news comes as the Library achieves membership growth for its fifth consecutive year, for the first time in over 30 years.

The appointment will be formally confirmed by members at the next Annual General Meeting in November 2023 to be held at the Library. Sir Howard Davies will step down at the end of his second four-year term as Chair.

Simon has been a Library member for 14 years and is a member of the Founders’ Circle of supporters. With an extensive career in financial services, Simon was most recently a founding Partner and Finance Director of Fundsmith, the asset management firm. He is currently working with a number of high growth companies including being Chair of GaitQ Limited, a medical devices spin-out from Oxford University.

This will be Simon’s third charity governance position; he is on the Board of Trustees at the Royal Institution and is the co-founder and trustee of Levelling Up:STEM, and he is also a supporter of the Hampstead and Park Theatres.

The role of Chair of the Trustees is to provide overall leadership to the Library in partnership with the Director, so as to enable Trustees and staff to work collectively for the good of the Library, for its long-term sustainability and towards the fulfilment of its charitable aims.

The Chair is chosen by the Trustees, gives their time freely and does not receive any remuneration during the year.

Incoming London Library Chair, Simon Godwin, commented, “I am honoured to become the new Chair of this vital and vibrant institution. I have been a huge fan for a long time and it is a place I can always go for inspiration. The Library has a unique place in our cultural landscape, providing a centre of creativity and ideas for over 180 years. It has flourished under Sir Howard Davies’ leadership and I am becoming part of a fantastic team. I look forward to helping build on this success and to continue to broaden its reach.”

London Library Chair, Sir Howard Davies commented, “Congratulations to Simon Godwin on his selection as the Library’s new Chair of Trustees. Simon has been a long-standing member and lover of the Library and I am confident that he will ensure the Library’s future success as one of the UK’s greatest literary institutions.”

London Library Director, Philip Marshall commented, “We are all looking forward to working with Simon as we begin to plan the next chapter in the Library’s story. We would like to thank Sir Howard Davies for his enormous contribution to the Library.”

 

  1. Important improvements to The London Library Building and Services
  2. On display at the Library: you don't need to leave the Library to travel the world... 
  3. The London Library Announces Literary Festival, London Library Lit Fest 2023
  4. Tom Benn Wins The Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Trust Young Writer of the Year Award
  5. Building Works at the Library

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