Events in London
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Talks and discussions
Monday 28 September
* China’s Global Strategy Under Xi Jinping, Olivia Cheung, Steve Tsang, David Lubin, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
Tuesday 29 September
* The Complicit Lens: Media Coverage of Israel's Genocide in Gaza, book lunch with Robin Andersen + Richard Sanders, and Des Freedman, 6.30 - 8.30pm, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD. Info: P21
* Britain and beyond: discovering Islamic heritage, Sadiya Ahmed and Tharik Hussain, in-person and online, 7 - 8.30pm, £6, £12, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
Tuesday 29 - Wednesday 30 September
* Public finance conference 2026: health spending under pressure, online and in-person, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI
Wednesday 30 September
* International Translation Day 2026, three translators (Sawad Hussain, Daniel Hahn, Annie McDermott) speak to figures from bookselling, publishing, and online influence, asking what we need from each other in the coming years, 7.15 - 9.45pm, free, Brixton Library, SW2 1JQ. Info: English PEN
Thursday 1 October
* Bunna: From Forest To Cup - A celebration of Ethiopian coffee and prospects for sustainable trade, documentary screening + Ambassador Biruk Mekonnen, Jodie Keane, Anteneh Mulu, Jonathan Morris, Solomon Tekle, 1.30 - 4pm. Info: Overseas Development Institute
* AMR global policy, Sally Davies explores evolving policy landscape on antimicrobial resistance, 1 - 1.50pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT. Info: LSHTM
* America as a revisionist power (and what it means for the rest of the world), Phillips O’Brien, 6.30 - 8pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street WC2
* Brazil Election Analysis - Round 1, webinar with Anthony W Pereira, Germana Cruz, Mahrukh Doctor, Christian Perlingiere, 1 - 2.15pm, Info: Canning House
Saturday 3 - Sunday 4 October
* The Strength Between Us: Resistance, free family-friendly weekend in which “artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, activists and campaigners to explore some of the most urgent issues facing contemporary Britain while celebrating the richness and diversity of its many communities”, curated by Whitechapel Gallery and the Runnymede Trust, 12 - 6pm, Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX. Info: Gallery
Monday 5 October
* Palestine: A British Question?, Humza Yousaf and Husam Zomlot discuss why Palestine resonate so powerfully in British politics, Britain’s responsibility today, and whether Britain’s relationship with Palestine is changing?, 6.15 - 7.30pm, £16.80, livestream £6.50, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit
* Malaria across scales: From global burden to cases on our doorstep, Jackie Cook, Fitsum Tadesse, Claire Rogers, 5..30 - 6.30pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT. Info: LSHTM
Tuesday 6 October
* Reporting The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Iona Craig, Jeanne Carstensen, Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes on reporting beyond the news cycle, the ethics and intimacy of telling other people’s stories, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info: Frontline
* Every last girl: a journey to educate India’s forgotten daughters, Safeena Husain, 6,30 -8pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
* Economies, institutions and gender: two talks on Taiwan’s development, Tsong-Min Wu and Elliott Fan, 7-9pm, SOAS,Thornhaugh Street, WC1
Exhibitions
* Moved to Care: Stories of Health and Migration, explores the contributions of migrants from across the globe to healthcare over the last 150 years, from the 19th century colonial legacy of missionary nurses to the Windrush Generation, free, 20 Cavendish Square, W1G OR until 2 November. Info: Royal College of Nursing
+ Migrant nurses: Looking after Britain’s health
* The Music is Black: A British Story, how Black British music has shaped British culture from 1900 to today through objects like Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar, fashion worn by Little Simz and photographs, £22.50 weekdays, £24.40, V&A East, Queen Elizabeth Park, Olympic Park. Info: V&A East Museum
* The Arab Hall: Past and Present, the Hall in the 100-year-old Leighton House is a blend of 13th-century Damascus tiles and Victorian architecture. A new exhibition features contemporary art and a dedicated film, offering a deeper look at how Islamic art has influenced British spaces, £14, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ until 4 October. Info: Leighton House
* Frida: The Making of an Icon, how Frida Kahlo became one of the most influential artists of all time, from her political activism to global Fridamania, £25, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TC, until 3 January. Info: Tate
+ How the zeitgeist helped create Fridamania
* Rising Voices, Contemporary Arts From Asia, Australia and the Pacific, work by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, £17, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 until 10 January. Info: V&A
+ Arresting voices of the Asia-Pacific
* Anish Kapoor, sculptures and paintings by the Mumbai-born Indian-British artist, £22, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 18 October. Info: Hayward.
* Hybrid forms and live realities: the sculpture of Bharti Kher, the British Indian artist explores the body, womanhood, mythology and cultural identity, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, until 24 January. Info: Exhibition
* Childhood in War, the UK’s first dedicated exhibition exploring how war affects and shapes young lives, Uk oriented but including contemporary stories and quotes from Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ until 28 February. Info: War Museum
* Rudy Loewe: Intimacies of Care – Spaces of Grief and Possibility, the lived experience of Black people whose mental healthcare in the UK is shaped by racist discrimination, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 7 February. Info: Wellcome
* A Life of Navigation, Taiwanese artist Musquiqui Chihying explores our ambiguous relationship with both analogue and digital technologies through installation, video, photography, and sculpture, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, until 18 October. Info: Hayward
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK,Tate Modern, Bankside SE1. Info: Installation
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Zifzafa, free exhibition of video works by Lawrence Abu Hamdan that address how sound can both sustain and disrupt the richness of community life, Barbican Centre, Silk Street EC2Y 8DS. Info: Barbican
* Amar Kanwar, the New Delhi-based artist and filmmaker’s film trilogy investigate legacies of decolonisation and the 1947 Partition, free, Serpentine North Gallery, West Carriage Drive, W2 2AR until 31 January. Info: Serpentine
* The Unclassified, group exhibition of four leading contemporary Korean and Korean-heritage artists: Meekyuong Shun, Ayoung Kim, Siren eun young Jun and Gala Porras-Kim, Korean Cultural Centre, Grand Buildings, 1-4 Strand, WC2N 5BW. Until 31 December. Info: KCX
from Friday 2 October
* Salman Toor: Someone Like You, born in Lahore and currently living in the US, his work “depicts queer and immigrant lives that straddle different cultures and inhabit the tension between intimacy and exposure, belonging and estrangement. What it means to find a community, but also the daily costs associated with visibility”, £10 - £16, Courtauld Institute, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 0RN until 10 January. Info; Courtauld
Performance
* Darkling, one-woman show exploring the impact of the 1984 Bhopal industrial disaster, £15 - £45, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 24 October. Info: Bush
* The Story, when a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX, until 24 October. Info: National
* For coloured girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, “Stories of love and violence, joy and survival - and what it feels like to come out the other side”, Yard Theatre, Queen’s Yard, White Post Lane, E9 until 17 October. Info: The Yard
* Fire, Fire, the latest attempt to put global heating on stage, £15 - £29, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 3 October. Info: Arcola
+ Gaia and pyramids in the line of fire
* The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media), BÉZNĂ Theatre’s multimedia investigation into the relationship between mainstream media, public opinion and state crime, £13 - £19, New Diorama Theatre, 15 - 16 Triton Street, Regent's Place, NW1 3BF, untll 10 October. Info: New Diorama
+ 28 Sept, Shadow World Investigations workshop, 6-8pm; 1 Oct, post-show Q&A: Media Ethics, Mike Berry; 2 Oct, International State Crime Initiative workshop, 4-6pm; 5 Oct, Shadow World Investigations community workshop, 6-8pm; 6 Oct, Producing Political Theatre workshop, 4-6pm; 9 Oct, International State Crime Initiative community workshop, 4-6pm
+ Angry response to the first year (of the Gaza Genocide)
* Palart Festival, UK's largest celebration of Palestinian theatre with productions from across Palestine and the diaspora: Return to Palestine, an ensemble piece tracing a diaspora Palestinian’s first journey home; 2077: Who Wants to Survive, dystopian thriller from Ramallah’s Ashtar Theatre; Sami Abu Wardeh Hates You, chaotic and defiantly funny exploration of the value of hate today; Two Names, Meet and Part, coming-of-age story about identity and activism in the US; Hanna Shammas Takes it to Heart, a warm stand-up storytelling show from Haifa + talks, workshops and an industry networking event. Developed in collaboration with The Freedom Theatre, Al-Hakawati Theatre and ASHTAR Theatre. Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters Mews, North Road, N7 9EF, until 3 October. Info: Festival
from Thursday 1 October
* The Hungry Ghost, Mei Leng Yew’s sexy horror rom-com exploring what takes root in the space between superstition and rationality, £15 to £25. Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Rd, W12 8LJ until 31 October. Info: Bush
from Tuesday 6 October
* Fences, alive with rhythms of blues and jazz, humour and heartbreak, August Wilson’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterpiece, set in the 1950s, is a timeless portrait of grief, love and what it means to be a family in post-war Black America, £10 - £55, Lyric Hammersmith, Lyric Square, King Street, W6 0QL, until 31 October. Info: Lyric
Film
* The Cycle of Love, reconstructs a 1977 journey, when a Delhi street artist set off on a 6,000-mile trip to find the woman who had captured his heart, Picturehouses Central, Finsbury Park, Hackney and Ritzy; Curzon Bloomsbury, until 1 October; Lexi until 30 September
* Shadows of Beirut, a woman returns to Beirut after 25 years to visit her dying father, and has to navigate grief, resentment and unanswered questions and a world she believed she had left behind, Odeon Luxe Haymarket, Ritzy Picturehouse, and Vues Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway and Westfield Stratford City
* Hope, violent mayhem rules the screen in this two-and-a-half-hour Korean police and monster film, cinemas all over town
* Hong Kong Film Festival, 21 screenings and events, 17 UK premieres + Classics Revisited and Experimental & Expanded strands. Eleven venues including Barbican, ICA, Close-up Cinema, Rio, Ritzy and Picturehouse. Until 4 October. Info: HKFF
+ The return of the Hong Kong Film Festival
Tuesday 29 September
* Bodies Adrift: The Short Films of Fernando and Minuca Villaverde, double programme of restored experimental shorts of the Cuban filmmakers, plus the Villaverdes’ Tent City and Carlos Oteyza’s Mayami Nuestro, two restored docs from 1981 exploring, respectively, Cuban and Venezuelan migrant communities in Miami, ICA
Wednesday 30 September
* Knife; The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, explores author Rushdie’s life, career and recovery following an attempted assassination in 2022. The film includes footage shot by Rushdie’s wife - poet, novelist and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths on his remarkable recovery and optimism, 6.10pm, Curzon Bloomsbury until 8 October; Lexi; Picturehouses Central, Crouch End, Greenwich, Ritzy
+ Rushdie film: ‘It’s not just about me. It’s about freedom’
* Palestine 36, historical drama that chronicles the interwoven stories of ordinary citizens during the 1936–1939 Great Arab Revolt against British colonial rule and Zionist settlement + Q&A with Billy Howle and Leila Molana-Allen, 7pm, £16.63, Frontline Club, 12 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
+ Palestine 1936: A story for today
Wednesday 30 September - Thursday 1 October
* Cotton Queen, in a Sudanese cotton-farming village, teenage Nafisa grows up on her matriarch grandmother's heroic tales of resistance against British colonisers. But when an ambitious businessman arrives with genetically engineered cotton and a high-stakes development plan, Nafisa finds herself at the centre of a battle for her village's future, 30 September: Cine Lumiere, + 1 October, Castle + Q&As
Thursday 1 October
* Fiesta, captures carnival traditions of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, and explores the building of post-independence societies in those countries + introduction by Kevin Le Gendre, 8.45pm, National Film Theatre
* Generations - Unveiling the Evolving Cultural Values of Nigerian Diaspora in the UK, documentary, 6.30pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info: School of Oriental and African Studies
Saturday 3 October
* Kikuyu Land, while investigating Kenya's global tea industry, Nairobi journalist Bea Wangondu stumbles upon her own family's concealed secrets, pushing her to peel back the layers of Kenya's colonial legacy, Curzon Bloomsbury, + 3, 4, 7 October
+ Two Kenyans fight on for a glimpse of paradise
* All Is Politics, intimate portraits of influential African and diasporic figures + introduction by Carine Harmand, 3.20pm, National Film Theatre
* The Pan-African Festival of Algiers, documentary on the first gathering of Africa’s independent cultural and political voices from around the world + introduction by Kodwo Eshun, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
Sunday 4 October
* From Saint-Denis to Algiers, French-Algerian history is explored in stories of exiler, belonging and memory, 3.20pm, National Film Theatre
Monday 5 October
* Life Support, since October 2023, Gaza has been sealed from the world except for international doctors who find a humanitarian crisis and a calculated dismantling of life itself + Q&A with the director Daniele Rugo, Victoria Rose and Robert Del Naja, 6.10pm, + 8.55pm, Lexi
+ Phone calls from the Gaza apocalypse
TV and radio
Monday 28 September
* Global Eye, news magazine, 7pm, BBC2
* Finding Britain’s Slave Traders With David Olusoga, second part of documentary that looks on the dark side of British history and the institutions that are still benefitting, 9pm, BBC2
* Michael Palin in The Philippines, 9pm, Channel5
Tuesday 29 September
* Finding Britain’s Slave Traders With David Olusoga, second part of documentary that looks at the dark side of British history and the institutions that are still benefitting, 11.10pm, BBC2
* Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise, sleazy delights for tourists, 1.10am, BBC3
Wednesday 30 September
* Where is AustinTice?, inquiry into the disappearance of a US journalist in Syria, 9.30am, Radio 4
Thursday 31 September
* Omid Djalili: Namaste, the British-Iranian comedian gets his own programme. 6.30pm, Radio4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.