From the Editor

* The Black British Theatre Awards will take place on 26 October. Here’s the shortlist.

* British-Pakistani playwright and theatre maker Aisha Zia has been named as the next creative director of the Kali Theatre Company (“intrepid plays by fearless women”).

Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com

TALKS AND MEETINGS

* Wimbledon Bookfest, Jung Chan, Missan Harriman, Lemn Sisay, Reeta Chakrabarti, Salima Hashmi, Jassa Ahluwahlia, Nussaibah Younis, Aisha Hassan, Keshava Guha and Dur e Aziz Amna, Fiza Saeed McLynn, Juhea Kim, Park Seolyeon, Ela Lee and Bora chung, until 26 October. Info: Bookfest

* Bloomsbury Festival, theatre, music, art, literature, science and family events. Programme includes 17 - 18 Oct, Up In The Mango Trees, a play following a young disabled woman living in Saint Lucia who is encouraged to run for the prestigious title of Carnival Queen; Cancelling Patji, a one act play investigating cancel culture, restorative justice, and intergenerational memory through Korean folklore and ritual; 18 Oct, Meet Maisie Chan, author of award winning children’s books. Info: Festival, until 19 October

Tuesday 21 October

* Green Economy Forum, £146, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* The 21st century resurgence of eugenics and scientific racism, Rebecca Sear, 3.30pm, University College London anthropology, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H OBW. Info: UCL

*  Stella Dadzie: A Whole Heap of Mix Up,  an important  figure in the black women’s movement in Britain since the 1970s, 6.30-8pm, £3, The Feminist Library, 161 Sumner Road SE15 6JL. Info: Feminist Library

* Decade Zero: The fight for justice for people and planet Asad Rehman, 4-5.30pm, online. Info: Institute of Development Studies

from Tuesday 21 October

* London Literature Festival. Programme includes 22 Oct, A Celebration of British-Somali Poetry, Elmi Ali, Samatar Elmi, Yusra Warsama and Warda Yassin, £12; 23 Oct, Bora Chung: The Midnight Timetable, £14; 25 Oct, Poetic Unity, performers from the Black-led charity, free; Global Crip Poetry Celebration, Karthika Naïr, Rachael Boast, Lisa Kelly and Daniel Sluman introduce work by 100 deaf, disabled and neurodivergent poets, from £15; 26 Oct, Debut London Literature, including Lisa Smith, Funmi Fetto, Kelly Frost, from £14; 29 Oct, Jimi Famurewa: Picky. £15; Modern Poetry in Translation at 60, six decades of publishing work that deals truthfully with the contemporary world, with readings and poetry from Gaza, from £5; 30 Oct, Wasafiri: New Writing Prize 2025, including Dalia Al-Dujaili, Erica Hesketh, Monika Radojevic, Anita Barton-Williams, Sawad Hussain and Rahul Soni, £14; Iran: Poetry and Performance, £15; 31 Oct, Pankaj Mishra & Nesrine Malik: Equator, new magazine aiming to depict a new world that Western narratives have neglected, from £20; 1 Nov, On Palestine & Kashmir: Isabella Hammad & Mirza Waheed, discussion about Palestine and Kashmir, £14, 2 Nov, Zadie Smith: Dead and Alive, £20; Malala Yousafzai: Finding My Way, £29.50. Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road until 2 November. Info: Festival

Wednesday 22 October

* The Backstage of Democracy: India’s Election Campaigns and the People Who Manage Them, Amogh Dhar Sharma, 5pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info: SOAS

* China and the new world economic and techynological order, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Robyn Klingler-Vidra, Nikki Sun, James Kynge, 1-2.30pm, King’s College, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS, part of the Lau China Institute’s China Week. Info: King’s

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 2026. Info: Wellcome

+ Thirst: an exhibition bridge over troubled water

* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – a world first public display of work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission included in Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April

+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire

* 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 show 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 tou

* 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

* 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, until 2 November. Info: V&A

* 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;

* Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, “the most important artist” in the US, who places the lives of Black Americans front and centre, £23.50-£25.50, Royal Academy, Piccadilly, until 18 January. Info: RA

+ ‘If you say Black, you should see Black’

+ ‘My paintings don’t fit the narrative’: Kerry James Marshall on why he’s depicting black enslavers

* Storm, 12 shortlisted Prix Pictet photographers, covering climate disasters, displacement and the simmering tensions within divided societies, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2R, until 19 October. Info: Prix Pictet 

*  The Presence of Solitude, through film, photography and costume, Taiwanese artist Val Lee explores isolation, solitude and the human connections that may form in these moments, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road until 11 January. Info: Hayward

* 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

* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno,  Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition  

* Parliament of Ghosts, site specific work by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama that repurposes colonial-era furniture and jute sacks alongside newly crafted elements, inaugural show at Ibraaz, 14 Mortimer Street, W1W 7SS, a space dedicated to Global Majority culture, until 15 February. Info: Ibraaz

from Friday 24 October

+ Secret Maps, the stories hidden in some of history’s most mysterious maps, £20, British Library, 96 Euston Road NW1 2DB until 18 January. Info: Library

ARTS OPPORTUNITIES

* Women writers, directors, performers, musicians and visual artists are invited to submit projects for the Playground Theatre’s planned Women’s Voices: A Celebration

* A residency open call for emerging and mid-career Palestinian artists based anywhere in the world: the fully funded, 11 week residency will be at Gasworks in London from 7 July to 21 September 2026. Application deadline: 12 January.

* The BFI is to invest £150m over the next three years under six headings: audiences, education & heritage, filmmaking & talent development, skills & workforce development, international, and insight & industry.

* The Royal Court Theatre’s first nationwide, open-access Young Playwrights Award invites every teenager in the country to try writing a play..

* New Diorama Theatre is distributing grants of £500 to migrant theatre makers to ease the burden of visa, legal, and other bureaucratic costs affecting migrants navigating UK immigration.

* Entries for the 2026 Open City Documentary Festival are open. Deadline: 28 November

* Black Cultural Archives is looking for 13 ,more members to develop skills, explore culture, and shape the future of the heritage sector. Information here for information and an application form. 

* First or second-generation migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, international students or international workers can enter the Then & Now’ writing competition focussing on your migration story. Details here.

* Good Chance, formed in the Calais Jungle refugee camp, is launching Stage Door 10 - a national programme placing 10 creatives from refugee backgrounds in paid roles across 10 UK theatres and arts organisations.

* Theatro Technis and Hyphen Artist Collective’s offer free in-person & online writing sessions + community chats for hyphenated & global majority creatives.

* Artist Surgeries at the Gate Theatre: on the second Thursday of every month.

* As Yet Unscene is a year-round programme initiative to find and develop scripts in early stages of development. it includes workshops, rehearsed readings and fully-rehearsed performances of longer extracts. Details here

* The Royal Court Theatre’s Writers’ Card aims to help playwrights through mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, subsidised meals and free script printing.

* The Royal Court has also launched a London-wide playwrights award for 13-18-year-olds.

* The Cockpit Theatre’s monthly scratch night enables performers to try out 10-15 minutes of new work + a short Q&A. Also classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.

* Papatango hopes its new Playwrights’ Studio will be a home for playwrights of all levels of experience. Its advantages include digital workshops, lone-to-one, and thousands of pounds in open-access funding.

* Riverside Studios is offering a regular drop-in playwriting group:  “Whether you’re working on a script and want creative inspiration, you're intrigued by the idea of writing a play, or simply want a creative outlet, these monthly meet-ups are informal, fun and open to everyone.” It has also launched songwriting sessions.