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Events in London

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14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 22 September

* Colombia through its greatest novels, Juan Gabriel Vásquez and Erna von der Walde, 7pm, £10, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB. Info: Library

* BBC Women Reporting the World, book talk with Colleen Murrell, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

Tuesday 23 September

* The Booker Prize 2025 Shortlist Announcement, a glimpse behind the judging room doors of the world’s most significant award for a single work of fiction, with live readings, 7.30pm, £20, concessions available, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Southbank Centre

* Alt Reich: The Network War to Destroy Democracy, Nafeez Ahmed and Hardeep Matharu, 6.30pm, £10, Waterstones bookshop, 82 Gower Street, WC1E 6EQ. Info: Waterstones

* Tackling Fake News & Misinformation, Manny Ahmed, Georgina Lee, Jon Williams, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* Fireside chat with Dmitry Grozoubinski on ‘Why Politicians Lie About Trade’, 4-5pm, in person and online, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank, SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI

* Democracy Contested: Why are governments becoming more autocratic?, Don Leonard, Oluwole Ojewale, 4-5.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Wednesday 24 September

* The EV Era: geopolitics, technology and the race for green transport, inaugural episode of new vlogcast, 9-10am, Overseas Development Institute. Info: ODI

* Tax Expenditures: Challenges in the UK and Beyond, Hazel Granger, Adrian Sinfield, David Phillips, 9.30am-1pm, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI

Thursday 25 September

* Writeback: An Evening of Writers Off-Duty, Musa Okwongo, Eliza Clark, Olivia Sudjic, 7-8.30pm,£10, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB. Info: Library

Saturday 26-Sunday 28 September

* Summit Photo 2025, explore how photography and photojournalism can address environmental and humanitarian challenges, single day ticket £75, evening ticket £25, livestream £25/ day, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS

Saturday 27 September

* Words Across Waters: Afro Litfest, Kelechi Okafor, Warsan Shire and Momtaza Mehri, £22, 11am-8.30pm, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB. Info: British Library

Sunday 28 September

* The Migration Question, Leila Simona Tanali, Matilda Rosina, in person and online, 3pm, £6-£11, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WCR 4RL. Info: Conway Hall

Monday 29 September

* Kuba Shand-Baptiste: Soon Come draws on her experiences growing up in north-west London as a British-Caribbean person through her story inspired by true events, 6.30pm, £0-£20 and online until 11 October. Info; FANE

Tuesday 30 September

* Climate action in an age of rising populism, discussion on climate action as far-right movements gain ground across Europe and the US, in person and online, 7-8.30pm, £5-£12, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS

* Transnational Repression Journalism, Rhys Davies, Catherine Philp, Sahar Zand, Ben Keith, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Eventbrite

* Globalisation in retreat: implications for the Global South, celebrating Raphie Kaplinsky’s contribution to development studies, with Gary Gereffi, Khalid Nadvi, Lizbeth Navas-Aleman, Adrian Wood, 4-5.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Exhibitions

* Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, exhibits include sexual slavery of ‘Comfort Women Corps’ in World War Two and of Yazidi women and girls by ISIS in 2014, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 2 November. Info: War Museum

+ Sexual violence in conflict: ‘The cheapest weapon known to man’

* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, from ancient Mesopotamia and Victorian London to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, the exhibition combines art, science, history, technology and indigenous knowledge to deepen understanding of our relationships with freshwater, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 1 February. Info: Wellcome

+ Thirst: an exhibition bridge over troubled water

* Ancient India: living traditions, the origins of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art in the nature spirits of ancient India – and how they live on 2,000 years later, from £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 19 October. Info: Museum

+ Starring role for snakes in Ancient India exhibition

* Mumbai + London: new perspectives on the ancient world, small exhibit focussed on Greek god Dionysius and India’s Vishnu, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 11 January 2026. Info: Exhibition

* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide

* 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/ 7887 8888

* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage, free, second Saturday of every month, V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A

* African Deeds, showcases a collection that includes diaries, cassette interviews, videos, photos and documents of three generations of family history, inspired by grandfather Thomas’ land title deeds brought from West Africa in 1901, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA

* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre

* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September. Info: Serpentine

* Making Egypt, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, £10, Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA. Info: V&A

* Wellcome Photography Prize, top 25 entries from categories including health problems in South Africa and climate change, free, Wednesdays–Saturdays, Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, NW1 1AT until 18 October. Info: Exhibition

* More Than Human, how design can help the planet thrive by shifting its focus beyond human needs, £14.38 students £5, Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street W8 6AG, until 5 October. Info; Design Museum

* Virtual Beauty, exploring the impact of digital culture and technologies on the traditional definitions of beauty today, pay what you can, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA until 28 September. Info: Somerset House

* Imaging Peace, outdoor exhibition featuring global community peace photography projects, part of ‘Lost & Found: Stories of sanctuary and belonging’, a free programme of arts and ideas at King’s College, Strand, WC2R 2LS. Info: Peace exhibition

from Friday 19 September

* Earth Photo: London, still and moving images on planetary issues, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR until 14 October. Info: RGS

from Wednesday 24 September

* Against Erasure – Photographs from Gaza, the work of 11 Gaza-based photographers, P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD until 10 October. Info: P21

from Friday 26 September

* New Earth Theatre’s Living Archive, the UK’s first public archive dedicated to celebrating British East and Southeast Asian theatre, photographs, scripts, programmes, oral history excerpts and new writing, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street EC1V 9LT until 11 October. Info: Town Hall

* Storm, work by the 12 shortlisted Prix Pictet photographers, from climate disasters, displacement to the simmering tensions within divided societies, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2R. Info: Prix Pictet

Film

* Mistress Dispeller, desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover to break up her husband’s affair. Elizabeth Lo's intimate film follows the drama from all corners of the love triangle, Curzon Bloomsbury until 24 September

* The Shadow Scholars, an estimated 40,000 Kenyans write academic papers for global students but what’s the value in academic institutions when degrees can be bought + filmmaker Q&A, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury until 24 September

* The Dating Game, in a country where eligible men outnumber women by 30 million, three bachelors turn to China's best-known dating coach in search of love, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 25 September

* Ghost Trail, political and psychological thriller in which a Syrian literature professor in Strasbourg recognises his former torturer and sets out to track him down, Curzon Bloomsbury, ICA until 25 September; Cine Lumiere until 29 September

* Tape, Hongkong remake of a 1999 US film about three former students trying to work out the truth about an alleged rape years before, Cineworld Leicester Square, Odeon Luxe Haymarket, Picturehouse Central, Vues Shepherds Bush & Westfield Stratford City

* Anna May Wong: The Art of Reinvention, “I want to be an actress, not a freak. I want to feel that people go to see my pictures because I perform well, not just because I am an Oriental” - a celebration of Wong’s trans-national life, an inspiration for Asian diasporic communities, National Film Theatre, until 28 September

* Taiwanese Cinema: Now and Then, Garden cinema until 15 October

* HongKong Film Festival, 52 films including 34 shorts. Highlights include Montages of a Modern Motherhood, Ten Years, Queerpanorama, Clara Law retrospective: Drifting Petals, They Say The Moon Is Fuller Here, Farewell China, Goddess of 1967; Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio, two new Anthony Wong features - Valley of the Shadow of Death and Next Stop, Somewhere. Until 28 September. Info: HKFF

* From Ground Zero: Stories From Gaza, 3-6-minute films by 22 Palestinian filmmakers living through the genocide; Rio, Westfield White City; Curzon Soho; Odeons Acton, Greenwich, Kingston Upon Thames, Swiss Cottage, Uxbridge; Curzon Bloomsbury; Act One; 24 Sept, Curzon Bloomsbury; 23 Sept, Ritzy Picturehouse; from 23 Sept, Finsbury Park Picturehouse, 24 Sept, Hackney Picturehouse; 1 Oct, Curzons Camden and Aldgate. Info: Cosmic Cat Films

* Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, documentary on the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed since the war began, Garden Cinema until 28 August

from Thursday 25 September

* Brides, two 15-year-old girls attempt to travel to Syria in this compassionate and thought-provoking film (on 25 Sept., Q&A with director Nadia Fall, writer Suhayla El-Bushra and actors Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar), National Film Theatre, until 2 October

Performance

* Black Power Desk, two sisters divided by grief and radical politics, motivated by love in 1970s London — but will their fight for the community be worth the damage to their sisterhood?, from £10, Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL, until 28 September. Info: Brixton House

+ ‘Why do I know more about Rosa Parks than our history?’ The musical bringing Britain’s Black history to the stage

* Brown Girl Noise, four brown girls walk into an audition… and walk out with a revolution. When the roles they’re offered start to look more like stereotypes than stories, the four South Asian women decide to flip the script and take the stage for themselves, in a celebration of South Asian womanhood, Riverside, 101 Queen Caroline Street W6 9BN until 28 September. Info: Riverside

Monday 22 September

* Refugee Prose Hour, the voices of refugee writers including Sita Brahmachari, Nasrin Parvaz, Ahmed Zaidan and Tanya Rupande, online, 6-7pm. Info: TogetherintheUK

from Tuesday 23 September

* Uprooted - Ephemeral Ensemble, a tropical-punk, ecofeminist rallying cry inspired by the voices of displaced Latin American peoples and frontline environmental defenders, £3-£19, New Diorama Theatre, 15 - 16 Triton Street, NW1 3BF, until 25 October. Info: New Diorama

* Scenes From The Climate Era, vignettes of conversations around the climate crisis that shape our everyday lives, communities and the biological world around us, £22-£5, The Playground Theatre, Latimer Road W10 6RQ until 25 October. Info: Playground

Thursday 25 September

* Algerian Sauce - A Comedy night With Mehdi Walker, 7.30pm, Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA. Info: Rich Mix