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Events in London

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14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 1 September

* An African History of Africa, Zeinab Badawi, 7pm, £10, Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DT. Info: Foyles

Tuesday 2 September

* Lorna Goodison & Fawzia Muradali Kane: Dante’s Inferno, discussion of Goodison’s translation of Dante’s poem which casts Jamaican folklorist and poet Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley as Virgil, and moves the action to the Caribbean, where we encounter other poets, including Derek Walcott, local politicians, reggae pioneers and figures from the island’s past, endowing Jamaican patois with beauty and power, 7pm, £10, London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL. Info: www.lrbshop.co.uk

* Gaza: The War on Press Freedom, Jon Williams, Ravita Navai, 6.15pm, £16.80, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* Understanding Netanyahu, Anshel Pfeffer, 7pm, £31.99-£41.99, Smith Square Hall, SW1P 3HA. Info: Intelligence Squared

Wednesday 3 September

* Sustainable agricultural innovation: focus on Ghana, webinar with Irene S. Egyir, Abu Tia Jambedu, Nbuwak Peace Yashim, Niagia Santuah consider how far agricultural approaches prioritising productivity and sustainability may overlap, and the potential role of policy, market and practical innovations, 12-1pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies

* Reframing the accountability of social assistance in Crises, webinar with Louisa M Seferis, Naomi Ayot Oyaro, Harem Karem, Alex Sicotte Levesque, 10-11am. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Thursday 4 September

* Arundhati Roy, with Elif Shafak, 7-8.30pm, £11.53-£63, Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, SW1X 9DQ. Info: Intelligence Squared

Sunday 7 September

* Loving through a Broken Heart: Palestine and Israel in the shadow of Gaza, discussion led by Red David Hardman, 7pm, free but donations welcome for Wi'am the Palestinian Conflict Transformation Centre in Bethlehem and Union Chapel Church, Union Chapel, 19b Compton Terrace, N1 2UN. Info: Union Chapel

Monday 8 September

* The Lure of Strongmen, James Bloodworth and Bonnie Greer, 7.30pm, £10/ £5, Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH. Info: Cockpit

Tuesday 9 September

* Escape from Kabul, Karen Bartlett, Fawzia Amini, Anisa Dhanji on the Afghan women judges who fled the Taliban and those they left behind, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline * How can schools tackle misogyny? Embedding equality in education, Daniel Guinness, Lib Peck, Yona Nestel, Ruth Kagia, Rachel Marcus, 5-6.30pm, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank, SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI

* Prosecuting the Powerful, Steve Cranshaw, 6.15pm, £16.80, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* The Earth convention live: land and soil, Isabella Tree, Thomas Halliday, Minette Batters, Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, 7-8.30pm, £10/£15, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS

* Indigenous Technology, Crafting Memory in the Digital Age, Chao Tayiana Maina, Mutuku wa Muindi, Kimani Njogu, Hannah Andrews, Omer Al Tijani, Zainab Gaafar, Connie Bell, Misha Masek, midday-7pm, in person and online, Brunei Gallery Conference Room, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info: [email protected]

from Tuesday 9 September

* An Evening With the 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Winners, Joshua Lubwama, Faria Basher, Chanel Sutherland, Subraj Singh, Kathleen Ridgwell, Neha Dixit, livestream, £4.99, until 23 September. Info: FANE

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

* Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories and Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA, until 13 September. Info: Rivington Place

* Said Dicko: Tracing Shadows, the multimedia artist from Burkina Faso paints over his prints to create unique work, free, Photographers Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW until 7 September. Info: tpg.org.uk

* 0710 Journeys, Wayne Campbell’s photographs of Gaza protests in Britain and the everyday landscape of the occupied West Bank, £5, P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street NW1 1JD until 5 September. Info: P21

* 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

* Palestinian Childhoods: Solidarity & Ṣumūd, exhibition and programme of events seek to witness and convey Palestinian children’s struggle for everyday life, love, play and learning in the face of loss and brutality, UCL East Marshgate Building, 7 Sidings Street, E20 2AE.until 14 September. Info: UCL. Events include 2-3 Sept, Resisting the Silencing of Palestinian Children, International hybrid conference; 4 Sept, screening, A Short Film About Kids and Tale of the Three Jewels; 8 Sept, Family day, workshops and film; 14 Sept, Beyond the Checkpoints, Youth Voices from Palestine panel

from Tuesday 9 September

* The 419, a playful poetry and photography exhibition, where 14 sonnets by Inua Ellams and 14 portraits by Oluwamuyiwa “Logor” Logo show how money flows through 14 lives on a typical day in Lagos, Nigeria, free, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA until 14 September. Info: Somerset House

+ Sonnets and scammers

Film

* Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi recorded her video calls over a year with photojournalist Fatma Hassona, creating a vivid video testimony of her daily life in Gaza, (Hassona was killed in April in an Israeli airstrike along with several members of her family. ICA until 3 September; Curzon Bloomsbury, Cine Lumiere, until 4 September

* In The Nguyen Kitchen, Stéphane Ly-Cuong blends musical theatre, Vietnamese cuisine and second-generation tension to create a bitter-sweet musical comedy about a Vietnamese-French actress who dreams of a theatre career and her mother who imagines a more conventional path for her daughter, Odeon Luxe Haymarket, ICA until 3 September; Cine Lumiere until 13 September

* Mistress Dispeller, desperate to save her marriage, a woman in China hires a professional to go undercover and break up her husband’s affair. Elizabeth Lo's astonishingly intimate Mistress Dispeller follows this unfolding family drama from all corners of the love triangle, Curzon Bloomsbury until 4 September

* 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 and career, an inspiration for Asian diasporic communities. National Film Theatre, until 28 September

Wednesday 3 September

* Girlhood, Céline Sciamma’s depiction of teenage rebellion is a modern (2014) classic + intro by Abiba Coulibaly, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre

Thursday 4 September

* 2073, blends compelling archive footage and commentary with sci-fi drama in this cinematic warning from a dystopian future to tackle the biggest challenges endangering our present day and the existence of humanity + Q&A with Asif Kapadia, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info: Frontline

* The Second Mother, the story of Val, a live-in housekeeper whose ambitious, clever daughter arrives in Sao Paulo to take the college entrance exams, sparking an upset in the rich household + panel discussion, Lexi, part of Brazilian Summer Nights season

Saturday 6 September

* The Umesh Chronicles, intimate coming-of-age portrait of a young woman in middle-class India in the 1980s captures a society in a state of tumultuous change + Q&A with director Pooja Kaul, 2pm, National Film Theatre

Sunday 7 September

* Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, an unexpected posting to teach in a remote part of Bhutan is not without its surprises — a breathtaking window onto a rarely seen world, midday, National Film Theatre

from Sunday 7 September

* Bright Future, at the time of the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students in North Korea a crucial shift was on the horizon with the impending collapse of the Soviet Union: a pivotal moment is captured by Amateur filmmaker Emilian Urse’s rediscovered footage, Curzon Bloomsbury

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

Wednesday 3-Friday 4 September

* Alt B: Twisted Roots Festival, British East and Southeast Asian artists (Alisha + Alysha, Phoebe Shu-Ching Chan, Lumen Hirata Smith, Georgia Murphy, Isabella So, Jasmine and Peiyao, Akutagawa, Crossroads, Dragon Boiz) showcase work-in-progress extracts, 7.30pm, £8-£15, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8EJ. Info: Bush