Events in London
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Talks and discussions
Monday 21 September
* Omar El Akkad in Conversation, the author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, an urgent reckoning with life in the West, talks to Misan Harriman, 7.30pm, from £26, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX. Info: Southbank Centre
* A Life in Human Rights - the Story of Amnesty International, exploring the archive of the organisation’s founder, Peter Berenson, 7 - 8.15pm, £12, British Library, 96 Euston Road NW1. Info: BL
* Betrayal: Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest, Luke Harding on his new book, 7pm, from £5.95, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
Tuesday 22 September
* The world looks at America in the age of Trump, Madeleine Schwartz, Taran Khan, Barry Malone, Hannah Rosefield, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
* The Disappearers: Marlon James in Conversation with Jason Okundaye, when eight gay men meet for the first time, in Kingston, Jamaica in 1988, answering the casting call for an openly queer play, they are already taking a big risk. But that is nothing compared to what rains down on them when a mob descends on one of their rehearsals, 7-8.30pm, £15, Floyle’s, St James’s Piccadilly. Info: Foyle’s
Wednesday 23 September
* The age of AI-assisted conflict, Nabih Bulos, William Christou on how it has evolved from Afghanistan to Gaza and Lebanon, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ/ Info: Frontline
* The Page as Frontline: Wasafiri 127: Solidarities, Tahmima Anam, lisa luxx, and Lola Olufemi discuss literary activism, and how to bring about change in a world beyond our comprehension, 6pm, free, Majlis, Ibraaz, 93 Mortimer Street, W1W 7SS. Info: English PEN
Thursday 24 September
* On Come What May, We're Here to Stay, historian and 2026 Orwell Prize finalist Taj Alias presents a landmark history of British South Asian political activism published in the wake of the riots of summer 2024, online,.FANE, until 8 October.
* Omar El Akkad in Conversation, the author - born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada and now lives in the US - discusses his bestseller, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, 7.30pm, from £26, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road. Info: Southbank Centre
* Black Cultural Archives, community meeting to discuss the future vision and plans for BCA, iInez Brown, Wanda Wyporska, Harlynn Homan, Inez Brown, in person and online, 6.30pm, BCA, 1 Windush Square SW2 1EF. Info: BCA
* The impact of the West Asia war on Asia, and on Asia–UK economic ties, Sir Vince Cable, 6pm, Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street W1G 7LP. Info: Democracy Asia
Saturday 26 September
* Photographing Palestine, symposium on how has photography shaped the ways Palestine and its people have been seen and understood, including a session focusing on 20th-century photographers from Gaza; with artists, curators and researchers, 10am-5pm, £8 - £10, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road SW7 2RL. Info: V&A
* Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: On freedom, shares the story of her six-year imprisonment in Iran, 7.30 - 8.45pm, from £34.95, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
* Earthmoving: Extractivism, War, and Visuality in Northern Kurdistan, book,launch with Author Eray Çaylı + Nishat Awan, Yeşim Yaprak Yıldız and Austin Zeiderman, 4-6pm, Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road SW5 OSW. Info: Launch
Monday 28 September
* China’s Global Strategy Under Xi Jinping, Olivia Cheung, Steve Tsang, David Lubin, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
Tuesday 29 September
* The Complicit Lens: Media Coverage of Israel's Genocide in Gaza, book lunch with Robin Andersen + Richard Sanders, and Des Freedman, 6.30 - 8.30pm, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD. Info: P21
* Britain and beyond: discovering Islamic heritage, Sadiya Ahmed and Tharik Hussain, in-person and online, 7 - 8.30pm, £6, £12, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. Info: RGS
Tuesday 29 - Wednesday 30 September
* Public finance conference 2026: health spending under pressure, online and in-person, Overseas Development Institute, 4 Millbank SW1P 3JA. Info: ODI
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
* The Arab Hall: Past and Present, the Hall in the 100-year-old Leighton House is a blend of 13th-century Damascus tiles and Victorian architecture. A new exhibition features contemporary art and a dedicated film, offering a deeper look at how Islamic art has influenced British spaces, £14, Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, W14 8LZ until 4 October. Info: Leighton House
* 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
* Anish Kapoor, sculptures and paintings by the Mumbai-born Indian-British artist, £22, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX until 18 October. Info: Hayward.
* 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
* A Life of Navigation, Taiwanese artist Musquiqui Chihying explores our ambiguous relationship with both analogue and digital technologies through installation, video, photography, and sculpture, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, until 18 October. Info: Hayward
* 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
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
from Wednesday 23 September
* Zifzafa, free exhibition of video works by Lawrence Abu Hamdan that address how sound can both sustain and disrupt the richness of community life, Barbican Centre, Silk Street EC2Y 8DS. Info: Barbican
* 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
from Friday 25 September
* The Unclassified, group exhibition of four leading contemporary Korean and Korean-heritage artists: Meekyuong Shun, Ayoung Kim, Siren eun young Jun and Gala Porras-Kim, Korean Cultural Centre, Grand Buildings, 1-4 Strand, WC2N 5BW. Until 31 December. Info: KCX
Performance
* Darkling, one-woman show exploring the impact of the 1984 Bhopal industrial disaster, £15 - £45, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 24 October. Info: Bush
* The Story, when a white teacher is killed in a black neighbourhood, four journalists race to get the headline – at any cost. But when shocking new evidence pulls them into the dark heart of the case, they are each forced to confront what they’re prepared to risk to tell their version of the truth, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX, until 24 October. Info: National
* For coloured girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, “Stories of love and violence, joy and survival - and what it feels like to come out the other side”, Yard Theatre, Queen’s Yard, White Post Lane, E9 until 17 October. Info: The Yard
* Fire, Fire, the latest attempt to put global heating on stage, £15 - £29, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 3 October. Info: Arcola
+ Gaia and pyramids in the line of fire
from Tuesday 22 September
* The First Year (of the Gaza Genocide in the Media), BÉZNĂ Theatre’s multimedia investigation into the relationship between mainstream media, public opinion and state crime, £13 - £19, New Diorama Theatre, 15 - 16 Triton Street, Regent's Place, NW1 3BF, untll 10 October. Info: New Diorama
+ 28 Sept, Shadow World Investigations workshop, 6-8pm; 1 Oct, post-show Q&A: Media Ethics, Mike Berry; 2 Oct, International State Crime Initiative workshop, 4-6pm; 5 Oct, Shadow World Investigations community workshop, 6-8pm; 6 Oct, Producing Political Theatre workshop, 4-6pm; 9 Oct, International State Crime Initiative community workshop, 4-6pm
from Wednesday 23 September
* Palart Festival, UK's largest celebration of Palestinian theatre with productions from across Palestine and the diaspora: The Shroud Maker, Ahmed Masoud’s darkly comic one-woman show about a shroud maker in Gaza; Return to Palestine, an ensemble piece tracing a diaspora Palestinian’s first journey home; El Manshiyyeh, a minimalist meditation on memory from El-Hakawati; 2077: Who Wants to Survive, dystopian thriller from Ramallah’s Ashtar Theatre; Sami Abu Wardeh Hates You, chaotic and defiantly funny exploration of the value of hate today; Two Names, Meet and Part, coming-of-age story about identity and activism in the US; Hanna Shammas Takes it to Heart, a warm stand-up storytelling show from Haifa + talks, workshops and an industry networking event. Developed in collaboration with The Freedom Theatre, Al-Hakawati Theatre and ASHTAR Theatre. Pleasance Theatre, Carpenters Mews, North Road, N7 9EF, until 3 October. Info: Festival
from Friday 25 September
* Sykes-Picot & Air Pressure, two performances bring together audio evidence to confront the violence of borders in the Middle East, 7.30pm, from £24, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS. Info: Barbican. + 23 - 26 September, Zifzafa, free exhibition of video works by Lawrence Abu Hamdan that address how sound can both sustain and disrupt the richness of community life + 26 September, Final Repercussions, sonic and visual experiences exploring the intersection of technology, testimony and surveillance, 7.30pm, £24. Info: Barbican.
Friday 25 - Sunday 27 September
* Look What Fell Out of De Mango Tree, new play about a journey from Jamaica to the US, family, secrets and the stories that set us free, £25. Playground Theatre, Latimer Road, W10 6RQ. Info: Playground
Film
* The Cycle of Love, reconstructs a 1977 journey, when a Delhi street artist set off on a 6,000-mile trip to find the woman who had captured his heart, Picturehouses Central, Finsbury Park, Hackney and Ritzy; Curzon Bloomsbury, until 23 September; Garden cinema until 24 September; Lexi, from 25 September
Monday 21 September
* Victims of Sin, an abandoned baby is saved and raised by Violeta, a rhumba dancer and indomitable mother who faces down all who threaten her new family in this 1950 Mexican film, 2.30pm, National Film Theatre
Tuesday 22 September
* Rebellion, three films on the influence and legacy of poet, author and politician Aimé Césaire + discussion curated and hosted by programmer and writer Jonathan Ali, 5.05pm, National Film Theatre
Wednesday 23 September
* The Eternal Memory, a veteran Chilean journalist with Alzheimer’s and his partner face the inexorable descent of his physical and mental powers together, Lexi
* Poetry Is Political, the power of culture through portraits of Haitian poet René Depestre, Colombian artist Ana Mercedes Hoyos and Martinican French author Aimé Césaire + poetic response by Binta Yade, 8,45pm, National Film Theatre
* Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition, six films selected by London Indian Film Festival, 6.30pm, Genesis
Thursday 24 September
* Life Support, doctors’ firsthand accounts and visceral footage of Israel’s attack on Gaza offers a vital chronicle of the daily struggles of healthcare workers navigating bombed hospitals, dwindling supplies, starvation and the overwhelming influx of casualties — predominantly women and children + Ben de Pear, Daniele Rugo, James Smith, Victoria Rose, 7pm, from £5,94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1Qj. Info: Frontline
+ Phone calls from the Gaza apocalypse
from Friday 25 September
* Hong Kong Film Festival, 21 screenings and events, 17 UK premieres + Classics Revisited and Experimental & Expanded strands. It opens with Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, filmmaker Mary Stephen digs into her family's past to uncover the hidden history of their Western surname. Eleven venues including Barbican, ICA, Close-up Cinema, Rio, Ritzy Picturehouse, and Theatreship, Until 4 October. Info: HKFF
* Hope, set in a remote Korean village, the film follows police chief Bum-seokand officer Sung-ae, who are called to investigate a mysterious creature that has wreaked havoc on the village.
* Shadows of Beirut, a woman returns to Beirut after 25 years to visit her dying father, and has to navigate grief, resentment and unanswered questions and a world she believed she had left behind
Saturday 26 September
* Calorie, In the heat of a sweltering summer in India, three generations of women collide in ways that will reshape their lives forever + intro and panel discussion with director Eisha Marjara, Ritu Soni, Rachel Tribe and Ghazala Hameed, 2.45pm, National Film Theatre
* The Battle of Algiers, riveting film that presents a true-yo-life portrait of the fight for Algerian independence and the French military’s response, 2.50pm, National Film Theatre
TV and radio
Monday 21 September
* Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure, travelogue, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Global Eye, news magazine, 7pm, BBC2
* Finding Britain’s Slave Traders With David Olusoga, two-parter on the dark side of British history and the institutions that are still benefitting, 9pm, BBC2
* Taiwan: The Pacific Breaking Point, 4pm, Radio4
Tuesday 22 September
* Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure, travelogue, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Finding Britain’s Slave Traders With David Olusoga, two-parter on the dark side of British history and the institutions that are still benefitting, 11.50pm, BBC2
Wednesday 16 September
* Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure, travelogue, 6.30pm, BBC2
* Thailand: The Dark Side of Paradise, spotlight on tourist sleaze, 9.30pm, BBC3
* Where is Austin Tice?, inquiry into the disappearance of a US journalist in Syria, 9.30am, Radio 4
Thursday 24 September
* Dispatches: Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed, documents meally-mouth British governments’ responses to events in Gaza since 2023 Hamas attack, 11.05pm, Channel4
* The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu, documentary,midnight20, BBC4
* Omid Djalili: Namaste, the British-Iranian comedian gets his own programme. This week’s topics are social media and cancel culture, 6.30pm, Radio4
Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.