Events in London
» Whats On Events in London
Talks and discussions
Monday 27 April
* Chasing Freedom: Simukai Chigudu in conversation with Gary Younge, on his book, a story of the inheritance of violence, of struggle, and of African liberation, 2-4pm, £10, Foyles, Charing Cross Road. Info: Foyles
* How totalitarian reform revived authoritarian rule in China, Minxin Pei on his latest book, 5-6.30pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1
Tuesday 28 April
* Chasing Freedom: Coming of Age at the End of Empire, Simuka Chigudu on being born in post-colonial Zimbabwe, shaped by his family’s buried trauma of war and liberation, 5.15pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1
Wednesday 29 April
* Humanising Conflict, Jomana Karadsheh, Khalid Abdalla, Farah Nabulsi, Tara Kangarlou, Faisal Al Yafai discuss how human-centered storytelling can shape the understand of conflict across the Middle East, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
* The 2026 Peruvian general elections, Gonzalo Banda Lazarte, Viviana Baraybar-Hidalgo, Maria Luisa Puig, 2-3.30pm, University College London, 51 Gordon Square, WC1H OPN
* Climates of Migration: Ecology, Literature and Propaganda, Dominic Thomas,
4:30-6pm, King’s College, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS
* Turning the tide: Reimagining democracy for a new era, what can be done to revitalise democracy around the world, Ambassador Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Stefan Kossoff, Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Anusree Biswas, Elina Mossadegh Rashti, Cecillia Makonyola, Shandana Khan Mohmand, 9-11:00am, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: Institute of Development Studies
Thursday 30 April
* Frontline Sudan, Mo Hashim, Leila Molana-Allen, Jérôme Tubiana, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QHJ. Info: Frontline
Friday 1 May
* Decolonisation: Lessons From Post-Colonial Uganda, Mahmood Mamdani, 5.30-7pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street WC1
* Gender, religion and the rise of the far right in the UK, Louise Raw, Subir Sinha, Stephen Cowden, Rosie Lewis, 4-5.30pm, SOAS, Thornhough Street, WC1. Info: Webinar
* Development Studies Week 2026, where can a postgraduate degree in development take you? Part of the University of Sussex Development Studies Week 2026, 10am, online. Info: Institute of Development Studies
Tuesday 5 May
* Accelerating the health equity impact of interventions for infectious diseases in Africa, launch seminar for the Infectious Disease Equity (InDiE) Consortium, Richard Cookson, Grace Kumwenda, Cesar Victora, Primrose Matambanadzo, 2-3pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT
* Advancing food security in a changing climate: Lessons from Ethiopia and the road to COP32, screening of documentary, Ethiopia Wheat Transformation Journey + discussion with Ambassador Biruk Mekonnen, Jodie Keane, Edward Davey, Binyam Yakob Gebreyes on Ethiopia’s climate-resilient wheat production journey and its implications for food security, trade, development finance and climate action, 4-5.30pm, online. Info: Overseas Development Institute
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
* 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
* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate
* 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
* Beatriz González, the groundbreaking Colombian artist explores the power and impact of the images we encounter every day, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS until 10 May. Info: Barbican
* 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
* Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart, through large-scale installations made from everyday objects, industrial materials and used items of clothing, the Chinese artist invites us to see the familiar in new ways, £19 (includes admission to Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life), Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 3 May. Info: Hayward
* 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
+ 1 May, Learning in Exile: When schooling doesn’t mean learning, discussion, 12-1.30pm
from Wednesday 29 April
* Being There - Witness, Truth and Trust, news photographs from the last year including pictures by Mariam Dagga and Hussam al-Masri, who were killed in Gaza, St.Art Gallery, 36 Eastcastle Street W1W 8DP until 3 May. Info: Rory Peck Trust
Performance
* The Authenticator, latest play by Winsome Pinnock ("the godmother of black British playwrights") sees two historians - of Ghanaian and Nigerian ancestry respectively - take on the task of authenticating the records of a former white Jamaican plantation owner: race, class, humour and a dash of spookiness, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX until 9 May. Info. National
* Between the River and the Sea, Yousef was raised as a Christian-Arab-Palestinian-Israeli kid in Haifa, and is now raising two Jewish-Arab-Austrian kids in Berlin. Only he’s facing a custody battle, so things are getting complicated. A story about family, fear, and imagining a future beyond borders, £15-£30, Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 9 May. Info: Royal Court
* Pray For Me, work-in-progress exploring faith, deafness and identity, as a Black Deaf woman confronts ideas of cure, belief and belonging through poetry, movement and music, 3pm, New Diorama, 15 - 16 Triton Street, Regent's Place, NW1 3BF until 9 May. Info: CPT
* Jeezus!, Catholic guilt collides with unrepentant queerness in this sinful, heart-pounding mix of live music, dark humour, and Latin heat from award-winning migrant-led company Alpaqa, £13-£19, £3 unemployed, pay what you can Saturdays, New Diorama, 15 - 16 Triton Street, Regent's Place, NW1 3BF until 9 May. Info: New Diorama
Sunday 3 May
* Destiny, special performance of the critically acclaimed 1976 play, a forensic examination of British fascism with an enduring relevance + past-show panellists David Edgar, Roger Allam, Umar Butt , Kenan Malik, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Asad Rehman, 2pm, 6.30pm, £30-£20, The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH. Info: Cockpit
Tuesday 5 May
* Nadeem Islam: An hour of stand up, a Bengali deaf man who just wants to breathe, get a normal coffee and see the blue sky for once, 7pm, £12 - £18, Camden Peoples Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1 2PY. Info: CPT
Film
* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, Hackney Picturehouse
+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup
+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’
* I, Poppy,a complex power structure governs the lives of poppy farmers in India, who are caught between the corrupt government and the black market, Curzon Bloomsbury until 28 April
* The Stranger, Albert Camus’s classic of existential literature is brought to life in 1930s Algeria, where the daily life of an indifferent Frenchman is shaken by the death of his mother and an encounter on a beach, Picturehouses Central, Clapham, Crouch End, Finsbury Park, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood
Tuesday 28 April
* The Gas Station Attendant, a daughter reflects on her South Asian father’s life, his never-ending pursuit of the American dream, and the human capacity to love and survive + filmmaker Q&A, Curzon Bloomsbury
Wednesday 29 April
* Piagol, one of only 15 South Korean films released in 1955 - a year now seen as the beginning of a Golden Age for Korean cinema, 6pm, Korean Cultural Centre, Grand Buildings, 1 - 3 Strand, WC2N 5BW. Info: KCC
from Friday 1 May
* UK Asian Film Festival, until 10 May. Programme includes Ghost School, Creative Minds of Tomorrow, Mera Lvari, Mamun — In Praise of Shadows, The Unexpected, Umrao Jaan, The Unbroken, 100 Sunsets, Never Had A Chance, Calorie, The Model, Future Forward, Bayaar, Touche, Shadow Box + shorts and discussions. Info: Tongues of Fire
* Queer East Festival, exploring 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 debut 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 and 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
Saturday 2 May
* Black God, White Devil, a restored Brazilian film landmark where faith, banditry and revolt collide, 6.10pm, BFI Southbank
* Boy and the World (O Menino e o Mundo), a young boy searches for his father in a Brazilian favela, making new friends and facing the dangers of life there; audio description and closed captions via WatchWord smart glasses will be available, 12.15pm, £4 under-16s, National Film Theatre.
Sunday 3 May
* Zemetaye, Addis has a good marriage, two children, and a stable life. But when an incident triggers a memory from a past relationship, she is forced to question her reality and choose between the life she has, and the life she wants, 3pm, £18, Rich Mix
Sunday 3 - Monday 4 May
* Coup 53, ten years in the making, the film tells the story of the Anglo-American coup that overthrew Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstalled the Shah, Curzon Bloomsbury
Monday 4 May
* Sao Paulo Incorporated, corporate success and personal collapse in a defining modernist city portrait, 6.30pm, BFI Southbank
TV and radio
Sunday 26 April
* Colombia with Simon Reeve, repeat of intelligent travelogue, 8pm, BBC2
Monday 27 April
* One to One: a move from China to the UK aged 9 meant a new language for journalist Cindy Yu. How did that change her upbringing and view of the world?, 2.45pm, Radio4
Wednesday 29 April
* Suez: 24 Hours That Broke the British Empire, history documentary, 2.40am, Channel4
from 29 April: The House of the Spirits, adapted from Isabel Allende’s magical realism novel about four generations of a Chilean family, Prime Video
Thursday 30 April
* Suez: 24 Hours That Broke the British Empire, history documentary, 2.40am, Channel4, 3.25am, Radio4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.