Events in London
» Whats On Events in London
Talks and discussions
* London Literature Festival, includes 28 Oct, Malorie Blackman: Noughts & Crosses at 25; 31 Oct, Real-life stories from journalists, writers and activists, readings and discussion confronting rising threats to expression; Wasafiri: New Writing Prize 2026, the magazine announces the winners. Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX until 1 November. Info: Festival
Monday 26 October
* Elections in Brazil Roundtable, Oswaldo E. do Amaral,Lucio R. Renno, Lígia Mori Madeira and Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, 6 - 8pm, King’s College, Room: 2.09Strand, WC2R 1AE
Tuesday 27 October
* Stories From Syria, evening of storytelling, writing, and critical thinking from Syria, featuring the launch of short story collection The Book of Damascus and a short film by Julie-Yara Atz, and panel discussion, 6.30pm-8pm, £5, The Arab British Centre, 1 Gough Square EC4A 3DE. Info: Syrian stories
* Geography and the wealth of nations, Jeffrey D Sachs, 6.30 - 8pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
* The rise of the global shadow fleet and the geography of flags of convenience
Discover how shadow tankers, flags of convenience and weak regulation create risks for people, the environment and the future of maritime responsibility, 7-8.30pm, £10/£12 - £5/£6, in person and online, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
Wednesday 28 October
* From hunger hotspots to political action: what should the UK do when a hunger crisis is coming, Kirsty McNeill MP, Basháïr Ahmed, Awssan Kamal, Surer Mohamed, 5 - 6.45pm, in person and online, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI
* How to prevent World War Three, Gideon Rachman, 7pm, £20 - £68, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, South Kensington, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
Thursday 29 October
* Pan-Africanism: A History, Hakim Addy, 6.30 - 8pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
* Seen, heard, protected? Gender, intersectionality and the protection of civilians, Omar Ahmed Abenza, Gray, Jean Mobert Senga, Habiba Ali Dubad, Jan Michalko, Toni-Anne Vinell Stewart, Lisa Bakels, Felicity Gray, 3 - 4.30pm, online. Info: Overseas Development Institute
Saturday 31 October
* Censorship Live!, stories from journalists, writers and activists, readings and discussion confronting rising threats to expression, midday, from £17, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road SE1 8XX. Info: Southbank Centre
Monday 2 November
* The UNESCO Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak: now, then and the future, an update from Nina Anuar’s 13 years of service under three park managers, witnessing change, challenges and growth, 2.30pm, free, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
* How sustainable (or unsustainable) is China’s miracle growth since Deng’s reforms?, Kent Deng on his new book, 5.30pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1
Tuesday 3 November
* Murder, War and America’s Undoing in the Middle East, Kim Ghattas in conversation with Jeremy Bowen, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
* The rise of the global shadow fleet and the geography of flags of convenience, 7 - 8.30pm, in person £10, online £5, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
* In Conversation With Sri Mulyani Indrawati, 6.30 - 8pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street WC2
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
* 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
* Korea, exploring over two millennia of Korean art and culture, £18, British Museum, Great Russell Street WC1B 3DG until 31 January. Info: Korea
+ Two millennia of K-history: hard to remember, hard to forget
* 100 Years of the Slavery Convention, exploring the links between historical and modern forms of exploitation in slavery, Friends House, 173 Euston Road, NW1 2AE until 2 November. Info: Exhibition
* Reimagining Democracy, exhibition of illustrations by artists from refugee and migrant backgrounds, Kensington Central Library, 12 Phillimore Walk, W8 7RX until 30 October. Info: Counterpoint Arts
* Sanle Story: The Colour Years, photographs capturing daily life, youth culture and fashion in Burkina Faso, £7 - £12, Photographers Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1 until 21 February. Info: Gallery
* 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
* 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: Meekyoung Shin, Ayoung Kim, siren eun young jung and Gala Porras-Kim, Korean Cultural Centre, Grand Buildings, 1-4 Strand WC2N 5BW. until 31 December. Info: KCX
* 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
* Our Bodies Have Been Bridges, three feminist artists from the Americas whose work acknowledge how bodies carry memory and ancestry while resisting erasure; Charan Singh: Your Tongue in My Mouth, celebrating the lives and collective resistance of gender fluid communities in India. Both free, Autograph, Rivington Place EC2A 3BA until 13 February. Info: Autograph
* Transnational Diaries, text and photo collages portraying the everyday lives, stories and journeys of Chinese migrant traders running family-owned shops in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD until 16 December. Info: Pelz
+ 6 November, Transnational Diaries: A Conversation Across Borders, Mara Nogueira and Birkbeck College colleagues, 5.30 - 7.30pm, free
* Golden Threads: Dress From Saudi Arabia, luxury garments from the Najd region, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW& 2RL until 30 May. Info: V&A
* Windrush Food Culture Exhibition, explores the culture and its impact on Britain, Royal Maritime Museum, Romney Road SE10 9NF until 3 January. Info: Museum
* Sculpted Heritage, small display of African and diaspora sculptures, ceramics, and wooden artefacts from Lily Reddie’s personal collection. plus stories about the works. free, Southwark Heritage Centre and Walworth Library, 145-147 Walworth Road SE17 1RW until 31 October. Info: Display
Performance
* Blood of My Blood, South Carolina, 1862. As war rages beyond the plantation, Ginnie Good raises five children in a cabin that will outlast them all. Today, in the same cabin, now a trendy Airbnb, a pregnant Black woman communes with her ancestors, seeking answers to questions she's afraid to ask anyone else, £15-£30, Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 7 November. Info: Royal Court
* The Hungry Ghost, Mei Leng Yew’s sexy horror rom-com exploring what lies between superstition and rationality, £15 to £25. Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 31 October. Info: Bush
* Fences, alive with rhythms of blues and jazz, humour and heartbreak, August Wilson’s Pulitzer prize-winning masterpiece, set in the 1950s, is a 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
* For The Culture, Celebrations of Blackness Festival, “an act of resistance, a space for joy, reflection, and conversation, a place to champion and celebrate Black British artists, activists, and thinkers within our community”, Lyric Square, King Street W6 0QL until 31 October. Info: Lyric
* The Moth, UK-based South African playwright Paul Herzberg's psychological thriller is set across three decades after a chance meeting on a train between a Black British journalist and a White South African ex-soldier. Its departure point is apartheid and the writer;s own experience of serving as a soldier in the Angola Border War, £18 - £29, Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road SW10 9ED, until 21 November. Info: Finborough
from Wednesday 28 October
* The Bridge, Alaa Shehada performs his tale of family and connection in which he has to deliver olive oil from his mother in Jenin to her sister in Amman, that means he must cross ‘the bridge’ in the heart of Jordan Valley – the only way Palestinians in the West Bank are permitted to leave or return home. £15 to £35, concessions available, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road W12 8LJ until 11 November. Info: Bush .
Thursday 29 October
* Let The Light Pour In Live, Lemn Sissay, based on the four lines he has written every morning for 10 years, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, £21.50 - £39.50, online. Info: FANE
Monday 2 - Wednesday 4 November
* Lightstreams, new play about family, racism, mental health, sacrifice, resilience and belonging, developed through interviews with migrant health and social care workers across London, Essex and the south-east, Gives voice to the human stories behind migration and care, Theatre 503, Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BW. Info: Lightstreams
Film
* NAZA, the film that’s caused a storm in Israel; it reveals the systems behind Israel’s calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, by the people who designed and operated them, Curzon Bloomsbury, Castle, Lexi, BFI until 29 October; Barbican, Garden; Picturehouses Central, Crouch End, Finsbury Park, Gate, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood
* The Eyes of Ghana, a fascinating voyage through Ghanaian cinema and a portrait of the country, from cinema’s inception through to the present day, Curzon Bloomsbury until 29 October
+ A love letter to Ghanaian cinema gold
* Hong Kong Film Festival, free virtual programme available online until 31 October. Info: HKFF
+ The return of the Hong Kong Film Festival
* Made in Taiwan, classic and contemporary works from the region, Garden cinema until 6 December. Info: Garden
* Film Africa, features include documentaries Camera Arabe, Crocodile, Let Them Be Seen, Life After Seaham, My Father and Qaddafi, Tutu; features include In a Whisper, Submergido, Obi Is A Boy, Lady, Language of the Wind, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Behind the Palm Trees, Calle Malaga, Congo Boy, Clarissa, O Profeta, Ben’imana, One Woman One Bra, Chronicles Of A Siege, Dahomey, Dao, Her Daughters’ Mother, Strawberries, Dear Ajayi, Variations Of A Theme, until 1 November. Info: Film Africa
+ Rwandan mother and daughter are challenged when Never occurs Again
+ The war reparations scam that snagged a South African community
+ Two sides of Nigeria: raucousness and restraint
+ The Bedouin land that turned into concrete
+ Congo Boy becomes a Bangui man and hits the jackpot
+ Inspirational biopic of the Arch who helped topple apartheid
+ One Woman One Bra and one non-message film with a message
* I Am Furious Black, retrospective tracing the career of William Greaves, a filmmaker, producer and activist whose trailblazing work defies racial and artistic barriers across the 20th century, Barbican until 28 November
Monday 26 October
* Inside Iran: War and Revolution, documentary with footage and first-hand testimony from citizens, journalists and grieving families, many speaking anonymously and at significant personal risk + Ben Zand, Maya Rostowska and Tom Giles, 7 - 8.30pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2n 1 QJ. Info: Frontline
* Bamako, docudrama takes the world financial systems to task in this unusual and fascinating courtroom drama, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
* Fear of the Dark: Lola Young on Race, Gender and Sexuality in Cinema, Baroness Lola Young discusses the impact of her acclaimed book and its ripple effect across the last three decades, 6.15pm, National Film Theatre
* Flame in the Streets, a committed trade union boss fights against discrimination at work while being confronted with his own racial prejudices when his daughter falls in love with a Jamaican teacher, 8.35pm, National Film Theatre
Tuesday 27 October
* Burning An Illusion, Menelik Shabazz showcases the complexities of Black love and community in 1980s London, 2.40pm, National Film Theatre
* The Cycle of Love, true story of a 23-year-old Delhi street artist who sets off on a 6,000-mile bicycle journey across Europe and Asia to find the woman who captured his heart during her visit to India, Lexi + 29 October
* My Father and Qaddafi, Jihan K is a Libyan American filmmaker, best known for this critically acclaimed feature-length documentary debut + intro by director, 8.45pm, National Film Theatre
Wednesday 28 October
* Tongues Untied, blending documentary and performance, Marlon Riggs’ classic essay film is required viewing for anyone seeking to learn more about the Black Gay experience in 1980s America + pre-recorded intro by writer Jason Okundaye, 6.45pm, National Film Theatre
Thursday 29 October
* Loving, inspired by the landmark 1967 US case Loving vs Virginia, which challenged the laws prohibiting interracial marriage + pre-recorded Q&A with Lola Young and actor Ruth Negga, 5.50pm, National Film Theatre
* A Screaming Man, Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun tells a haunting story of a father’s sacrifice during wartime, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre
Saturday 31 October
* Daughters of the Dust, the first feature film directed by an African American woman to get a theatrical release, Julie Dash’s debut has paved the way for generations of filmmakers, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
Saturday 31 October - Sunday 1 November
* Cotton Queen, in a Sudanese cotton-farming village, teenage Nafisa grows up on her matriarch grandmother's heroic tales of resistance against British colonizers. But when an ambitious businessman returns from abroad with genetically engineered cotton and a high-stakes development plan, Nafisa finds herself at the center of a battle for her village's future, Riverside Studios
Sunday 1 November
* Belle, inspired by the remarkable life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy admiral and raised within the household of Lord Mansfield, this 18th century drama is a stirring exploration of race and justice and a life caught up in the legal challenges to the transatlantic slave trade, 3.10pm, National Film Theatre
* Muerte es Vida, Mexico and monarch butterflies + Q&A with director Ali Alvarez, 5.30pm, Castle
Monday 2 November
* Inside Gaza, the first feature-length documentary about the lives of journalists on the frontline in Gaza + Q&A with producer Yann Ollivier, Mai Yaghi and Phil Chetwynd, 7.30pm, Ciné Lumière. Info: Cine Lumiere
* Palestine Cinema Days Around the World, marking the 109th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, screening of Blessed Blessed Oblivion & With Hasan in Gaza, 4-6pm, Arab British Centre, Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW. Info: Centre
* A Dry White Season, adaptation of André Brink’s novel that confronts the brutal realities of apartheid through the moral awakening of a white Johannesburg schoolteacher who agrees to help his black gardener search for his detained son, only to uncover a system built on torture, silence and fear, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre
from Monday 2 November
* Korean Film Festival, 22 films opening with Kim Mi-jo’s The Journey to Gyeong-ju, star-studded crime drama in which a grieving matriarch and her three daughters embark on a road trip + Q&A with director Kim Mi-jo and actor Lee Jung-eun; and closing with Park Hoon-jung’s Tristes Tropiques + Q&A. Also includes En Route To, The Mutation, Mad Dance Office, BFI Southbank, Ciné Lumière, ICA, until 16 November. Info: Programme
Tuesday 3 November
* Possible Love, riveting portrait of class and the disparity between the have and have nots in contemporary Korea, 5.50pm, National Film Theatre
* Baby Mother, celebrated as the first Black British musical and a landmark of British cinema, 9.15pm, National Film Theatre
TV and radio
Sunday 25 October
* Music Matters: Outside In, classical musicians of colour talk about diversity, 3pm, Radio3
Monday 26 October
* Global Eye, news magazine, 7pm, BBC2
* Escaping Idi Amin, two part documentary about the expulsion of 80,000 people of Asian origin from Uganda, 9pm, BBC2
* Victoria, film drama about a Kerala beautician who plans to elope with her Hindu boyfriend after clashing with her conservative Catholic family, 2.25am, Channel4
Tuesday 27 October
* Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Braithwaite Story, documentary about the Harlem photographer, 10pm, BBC4
* Sorry, I Didn’t Know, Black comedy quiz, 11.35pm, ITV1
Wednesday 28 October
* Escaping Idi Amin, two part documentary about the expulsion of 80,000 people of Asian origin from Uganda,11.30pm, BBC2
Thursday 29 October
* Junoon, 1978 Hindi film starring Shashi Kapoor, 1am, Channel4
Saturday 31 October
* Full Circle With Michael Palin, to China by boat from Korea and a steamer down the Yangtze, 7.40pm, BBC4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.