Events in London
» Whats On Events in London
Talks and discussions
Monday 18 May
* Surviving the New Geography of Climate Change, Arthur Snell and Peter Frankopan, 6.15–7.30pm, £16.80/ livestream £6.50, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street,WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit
* German Development Minister’s Talk, Reem Alabal-Radovan, 6-7pm, SOAS. Info: Booking essential
Wednesday 20 May
* The 2026 Colombian General Elections, Nestor Castaneda, Catalina Ortiz, Ana Maria Otero-Cleves, Jennifer Scotland, 2-4.30pm, London University College London, 51 Gordon Square, WC1H OPN. Info: UCH
* Humanitarian Efforts in Ukraine, Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, Maria Botcharova, Luke Harding, Harry Blakiston Houston, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
Thursday 21 May
* Net Migration Figures - Policy, Politics and Public Attitudes, Madeleine Sumption, Sunder Catwalk, Heather Roof, 12-1pm, Info: British Futures
* The Observer Book Club: Braver New World, John Kampfner, David Miliband, James Harding on a new book on building a better society by learning from others, such as Japan’s inter-generational care system to Moroccan solar panels, 6-7pm, in-person and online, Royal Society of Arts, 8 John Adam Street, WC2N 6EZ. Info: RSA
* Agriculture for Development in a Changing World, panel discussion, 2-4pm, online. Info: Institute of Development Studies
* Tangerinn Emanuela Anechoum in conversation with Saleem Haddad, Haddad discusses her prize-winning debut, described as “the novel for a displaced generation”, 7-8.30pm, £10, Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road. Info: Foyles
Friday 22 May
* Exploring Black British Literature - Live With Malorie Blackman, 1pm, free, British Library, 96 Euston Road NW1 2DB. Info: Library
Saturday 23 May
* Activating the Archive: A Workshop on Preserving Community History, the role of archives during migration and cultural rupture, In partnership with An Việt Archives, 1 - 4pm, £10, Autograph, Rivington Place EC2A 3BA. Info: Autograph
Tuesday 26 May
* The Scramble for Critical Minerals, Cleodie Rockard, 6.30pm, New Cross Community Library, 283-285 New Cross Road SE14 6AS. Info: Global Justice Now
* Stories of Power and Survival: An evening with Yassmin Abdel-Magied, the Sudan author discusses her novel, At Sea, drawing on her time as an offshore oil rig engineer. She traces one woman’s struggle to survive an impending natural catastrophe while negotiating the oil industry’s dynamics of power, gender and ambition, £15-£32, The Kiln, 269 Kilburn High Road NW6 7JR. Info: Kiln
* Writing Brazil, Writing the World, Milton Hatoum in conversation with Maya Jaggi, 7-8.30pm, £12, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB. Info: Library
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
* Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific, work by more than 40 artists from 25 countries, V&A South Kensington until 10 January. Info: Vam.ac.uk
+ Striking voices in the Asia-Pacific region
* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i
* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i 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
* Hurvin Anderson, 80 new works by the British-Jamaican artist, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 23 August. Info: Tate
* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition
* 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
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Water Pantanal Fire, photography exhibition revealing the fragile beauty of the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland that sprawls across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, free, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2DD until 31 May. Info: Museum
* Bouchra Khalili: Circles and Storytellers, the culmination of the French-Moroccan artist and educator’s long exploration of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes and its theatre groups, Al Assifa and Al Halaka, free, Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW until 14 June. Info: Mosaic
* Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, the shortlist includes Amak Mahmoodian (Iran) on the effects of exile on memory and identity, imagining a world without borders, £10/£7, Photographer’s Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street W1 until 7 June. Info: Prize
* The Arab Hall: Past and Present, commissioned short film by Syrian director Soudade Kaadan, three art installations and exhibition and publication containing extensive new research, Wednesdays to Mondays, free with £14 House entry fee (conc. available), Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W8 7BH, until 4 October. Info: Leighton House
* Donald Locke: Resistant Forms, works by Guyanese-British ceramicist, sculptor and painter, free, Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road NW3 until 30 August. Info: Art Centre
* Nhu Xuan Hua: Of Walking on Fire, reimagines archival photographs from her family’s time in Vietnam and then Europe, building elaborate visual reconstructions that echo how memory in the diaspora can blur and slip from view, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 19 September. Info: Autograph
* The Lost Paintings: A Prelude to Return, 53 artists from Palestine and the diaspora in London, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD, until 29 May. Info: P21
* The Music is Black: A British Story, how Black British music has shaped British culture from 1900 to the present day 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
* Learning in Exile: Stories of Displacement and Education in the Rohingya Community, centred on the experiences of Rohingya children and youth since 1982, Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell Square, WC1B 5DP until 30 May. Info: Holocaust Library
* Ain Bailey: The Jamaica Project, films and compositions, free, Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road NW3, until 14 June. Info: Arts Centre
* When words fall silent, cinema speaks: Zineb Sedira’s installation on Algeria’s key role in African cinema in the 1960s and ‘70s, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 17 January. Info: Tate Commission
Performance
* The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, musical based on an international best-selling book, and a Netflix film by Chiwetel Ejiofor. It tells the true true story of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba who dreams of saving his Malawian village — but no one believes he can, from £25 @SohoPlace, 4 Soho Place, W1D 3BG until 18 July. Info: @SohoPlace
* Assata Taught Me, fictional two-hander based on Assata Shakur, escaped convict and former Black Panther turned FBI’s Most Wanted Woman in 2016 Cuba, Riverside, 101 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9BN until 24 May. Info: Riverside
* Noughts and Crosses, a segregated society teeters on a volatile knife edge and a romance will lead a young couple into terrible danger in this gripping Romeo and Juliet story by Malorie Blackman adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz, £18-£46, Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street E8 1E3 until 24 May. Info: Empire
* Second Class Queer, solo show written, performed and produced by Kumar Muniandy, a gay Tamil-Malaysian, in which five different dates brings him closer to confronting love, identity, loss, and the truth he never shared with his late mother, £16, conc £12, Riverside, 101 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9BN , until 30 May. Info: Riverside
* Work While They Sleep, new Brazilian sci-fi play about the working lives of women in late capitalism and the relentless pressure to increase productivity, 7.15pm; part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture, Camden Peoples Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY until 18 May. Info: CPT
* The Harder They Fall, based on the cult classic film that brought reggae to the world, tells the story of Ivan, an aspiring singer who arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, determined to live out his dreams on his own terms and make it as a music superstar, £10-£53, Stratford East, until 4 July. Info: Stratford East
+ “What’s this groove becoming? How The Harder They Come captured Jamaica and blazed on to stage
from Tuesday 19 May
* kaddish (how to be a sanctuary), a reckoning between a Jewish grandson going to do solidarity work in Palestine and his long-dead grandfather who fought the Nazis in World War II, using the real archival journals of playwright/performer Sam Sherman’s grandpa, £19.50 / £17.50, Old Red Lion, until 23 May. Info: Kaddish
Sunday 24 May
* About Us! Artists' Scratch Showcase, six artists from a global majority background (or tackling the subjects of diaspora and migration), hosted by Awate, share new works in progress. Audiences are invited to give feedback and ask questions in a safe, communal space, 5pm, free, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road. Info: Showcase
Film
* Do You Love Me, personal journey through Lebanon’s audiovisual memory, composed entirely of archival footage, spanning 70 years of film, TV, home videos and photography, Cine Lumiere, 17 Queensberry Place SW7 2DT until 30 May
* Queer East Festival, East and Southeast Asia’s queer landscape. Films include The Outsiders, Yu Kan-Ping’s ground-breaking Taiwanese drama; 3670, portraying the hidden codes of Seoul’s gay scene; A Useful Ghost, a wildly camp feature from Thailand skewering the establishment and cultural hypocrisy; Between Goodbyes, poignant documentary about queer adoption and the legacy of Korea’s overseas adoption programme; A Good Child,funny, moving drag comedy from Singapore; Johanna d’Arc of Mongolia; various London venues until 6 June. Info: Queer East
+ Queer East Festival returns for its seventh edition
+ A love story about animated vacuum cleaners
* Coup 53, the story of the Anglo-American coup that overthrew Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstalled the Shah, Curzon Bloomsbury until 20 May
* The Stranger, Albert Camus’s classic of existential literature is brought to life in 1930s Algeria, where the life of an indifferent Frenchman is shaken by the death of his mother and an encounter on a beach, Cine Lumiere until 25 May
Tuesday 19 May
* Queer As Punk, defying their conservative society with every gig, Farts, Yon and Voyo are Malaysian LGBTQ+ punk band Shh…Diam! The bandmates bring humour, authenticity and punk spirit to their performances, travelling the country and refusing to be silenced by social pressures, Curzon Bloomsbury, Picturehouses Hackney and Ritzy
* My Favourite Cake, 70-year-old Mahin has been living alone in Tehran for decades but decides to revitalise her love life, Lexi + 21 May
* Our Planet, The People, My Blood, exposé of communities devastated by the more than 2,000 nuclear weapons tests that have been conducted worldwide, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury + 21 May
Wednesday 20 May
* All That's Left Of You, in the Occupied West Bank of the 1980s, a Palestinian teenager is swept into a protest that changes the course of his family's life. Spanning seven decades, this epic drama traces the hopes and heartaches of one uprooted family, revealing not only the scars of displacement, but the unbreakable spirit of survival, 7pm, Lexi
* La Haine, golden oldie about three friends, a Jew, an Arab and a Black man, who wander through suburban Paris while awaiting news of a mutual friend seriously injured in a riot. Over the next 24 hours they respond to police brutality and fascism, 8pm, £8, Rio
Thursday 21 May
* Macho Dancer, a young man travels to Manila to work as a dancer, stripper and rent boy in Lino Brocker’s gay drama + intro, 6pm, National Film Theatre
* To The West, In Zapata, Landi and Mercedes are a married couple remaining in the marshlands of Zapata, the toughest area in Cuba. In the midst of a pandemic, shortages and social unrest, they must go to extreme lengths to provide for their son, 6.20pm, Curzon Bloomsbury
Saturday 23 May
* Open Endings, smart, endearing drama from the Philippines about four queer women - exes who have become best friends, 2.50pm, National Film Theatre
* City of God, explosive favela chronicle that transformed Brazilian cinema worldwide, 5.15pm, National Film Theatre
* Bye Bye Brazil, bittersweet journey through a nation where modernity erases popular traditions + intro by Antonio da Silva, 6.30pm, BFI Southbank
Sunday 24 May
* Boy and the World (O Menino e o Mundo), a young boy searches for his father in a favela, making new friends and facing the dangers of life there; audio description and closed captions via WatchWord smart glasses will be available, 12.30pm, £4 under-16s, National Film Theatre.
* Dolores, a stunning central performance dominates this character study of a Brazilian woman who suspects her life is about to undergo seismic change, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre
* Newsreel Retrospectives (1968-72,), Third World Newsreel (TWN), the media arts centre dedicated to nurturing social justice media, offers a collection of 60 digitally preserved films documenting social movement, around the world, Curzon Bloomsbury + 7 June
TV and radio
Monday 18 May
* Crazy Rich Asians, 2018 romcom, 11.10pm, BBC1
* India: Nature’s Wonderland, wildlife, 8pm, BBC4
* Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise, 9pm, 9.45pm, 10.30pm, the underside of sex tourism, BBC3
* Omen, after spending years in Belgium, a young Congolese man returns his birthplace, Kinshasa, to confront the intricacies of his family and culture: strange and absorbing, 1.30am, Film4
Tuesday 19 May
* A History of Britain by Simon Scheme, the last in this repeat series looks at the slave trade, 9pm, BBC4
Wednesday 20 May
* The Last Tree, after a happy childhood in the countryside, a Nigerian-British teenager moves to London where he must navigate an unfamiliar environment on his road to adulthood, 1.50am, Channel4
* To Catch A King, series about tracking down a people-smuggler, 9.30am, Radio4
Thursday 21 May
* Crazy Rich Asians, 2018 romcom, 11.15pm, BBC3
Saturday 23 May
* My Favourite Cake, romantic Iranian comedy drama, 9pm, BBC4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.