Based on ongoing feedback, the Library is pleased to confirm that The Study will remain a laptop-free space for members who wish to engage in silent study without the potential distraction of electronic devices.

The Study takes over from the main Reading Room, which prior to the Pandemic was the Library’s only laptop-free space. In 2020, originally to allow for social distancing, the Library began to permit laptops in the Reading Room. Since that time, usage of the Reading Room has increased by 63%. 

In 2022, The Study was designated a laptop-free space on a 6-month trial basis. This followed the most recent member survey, in which 34% of responding members stated that a laptop-free space in the Library is ‘somewhat important’ or ‘very important’. The trial began in August 2022 and throughout that period, the Library received feedback from members showing appreciation for the provision of a laptop-free space and asking for it to continue.

Members are welcome to use laptops in all other reading rooms and workspaces. The Library is a silent study space throughout and devices must be set to silent mode and used with consideration to other members.

We are committed to offering a mixed range of welcoming study spaces that are conducive to reading and writing and accommodate all member needs. We hope that use of The Study will continue to grow.

The London Library Emerging Writers Programme is now open for submissions for its fifth year. This increasingly influential scheme is geared towards supporting writers at the start of their careers. The Programme is open to anyone, from any background, who is committed to pursuing a career in writing and wants to develop their work.

The Programme is targeted at emerging writers who have not yet published a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction or a collection of poems, or had a full-length work professionally produced for mainstream film, TV or the stage. The Programme offers writers one year’s membership of The London Library (which normally costs £585 per year) alongside writing development masterclasses, networking opportunities, peer support and guidance in use of the Library’s extensive resources. There is no application fee and participation on the Programme is funded by philanthropic donations.

Since the initiative launched in 2019, it has supported 158 previously unpublished writers. In that time, participants have enjoyed increased awareness for their writing from the publishing industry – many have had first books and poetry collections published, secured publishing deals, and been recognised with awards and other writing successes.

Writers Abi Daré, Amber Medland, Daniel Marc Janes, Anastasia Taylor-Lind, Lianne Dillsworth, Isabelle Baafi, Russell Franklin, Krystle Zara Appiah, Carole Hailey, Marina Gerner Gaar Adams, Paolo Chianta, Oakley Flanagan, and Natalie Linh Bolderston are just some of the Programme’s participants who have achieved significant success. 

Applicants will be selected anonymously by a panel of judges including screenwriter and playwright Moira Buffini (Harlots, The Dig, Handbagged), non-fiction writer Travis Elborough (Wish You Were Here, Through the Looking Glasses, Atlas of Vanishing Places), novelist and short story writer Zoe Gilbert (Mischief Acts, Folk) and novelist Ayisha Malik (Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, The Movement).

The fifth year of the Emerging Writers Programme will run from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. Applications open at 11am on 11 January 2023 and close at 11am on 2 March 2023.

Find out more and apply now

The London Library is proud to announce the publication of the third annual volume of From the Silence of the Stacks, New Voices Rise, an anthology of work from the 2021-22 cohort of The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme. The anthology is available to read online or buy now.

Each volume of New Voices Rise showcases an exciting array of bright new talent, featuring contributions spanning prose to poetry, non-fiction to graphic novels, and stage to screen. The third volume will be no different, incorporating 16 works of fiction, 13 poems, eight works of non-fiction, eight works for stage/screen, and one extract each from a graphic novel and graphic memoir. Extracts included in the volume explore a huge range of topics, such as migration and identity, climate change and war, parenthood and childhood, grief and joy, illness, homelessness, inequality, disability, sexuality, myth and religion.

Contributors to the third volume include award-winning poet and photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind (One Language, Doorstop Books), Courtney Conrad (winner of the Eric Gregory Award and Bridport Prize Young Writers Award), Paolo Chianta (BBC Writersroom Comedy Script Room 2020/21), Ella Baron (editorial cartoonist and former Staff cartoonist of The TLS), Gilli Fryzer (winner of the Mslexia Short Story prize 2020), Esohe Uwadiae (She Is A Place Called Home, VAULT Festival 2020), and David Willey (The Stinging Fly, 404 Ink, PANK and Ambit).

The contributors were originally chosen for the Programme from a field of almost 1000 applicants by a panel of judges comprising of travel writer and London Library Trustee Sara Wheeler (Chair); YA and adult fiction writer Sareeta Domingo; screenwriter Karim Flint; poet Will Harris; playwright and screenwriter Alexis Zegerman; novelist, memoirist and writing mentor Tim Lott; the team at Virago; and agents from AM Heath.

Find out more about our Emerging Writers Programme.

Subscribe to our newsletter to hear about applications for our 2022/23 programme.