A.S. Byatt, Colin Thubron, Helen Simpson and Ben Okri consider four very different aspects of love: love as enchantment, and love as madness; passion in youth, and compassion in old age. They read their favourite passages on love both from their own work, and from the work of other, discussing Shakespeare's notion that 'The lunatic, the lover and the poet are of imagination all compact'.


Speaking of Love (A.S. Byatt, C. Thubron, H. Simpson, B. Okri)

Malika Booker’s writing spans poetry, theatre, monologue, installation and education, and is rooted in storytelling. In 2001, she co-founded Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, to create a nourishing and encouraging community of writers dedicated to the development of their writing craft. It is now a firmly established writers’ collective based in London. Malika is Douglas Caster Cultural Fellow at Leeds University, and in 2017 was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. As well as reading from her own work, she introduces two poets she greatly admires. Nick Makoha was born in Uganda, but fled Idi Amin’s tyranny as a boy. On completing a degree in biochemistry in the UK, he realised he had a vocation as a poet. Kim Moore’s debut collection, The Art of Falling, won the 2017 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

We are grateful to the T. S. Eliot Estate for sponsoring this event.

Three Poets

PREMIERE: Henrik Villard - Palme [Gents & Dandy's]
Release Date Traxsource Promo: 21.09.2018
Release Date Worldwide: 05.10.2018

Henrik Villard
Soundcloud | https://soundcloud.com/henrikvillard
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/henrikvillard

Gents & Dandy's
Soundcloud | https://soundcloud.com/gentsndandysrecords
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/gentsndandysrecords

PREMIERE: Henrik Villard - Palme [Gents & Dandy's]

Set on ‘a Wednesday in mid-June’, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (like James Joyce’s Ulysses) takes place over the course of a single day. Virginia Woolf’s biographer Hermione Lee talks to novelist Alan Hollinghurst about Woolf’s legacy and influence, especially on his most recent novel, The Sparsholt Affair. During this celebration of one of the 20th Century’s most important novels, literary critic Elaine Showalter, author of the seminal A Literature of their Own, and Sarah Churchwell, Chair of Public Understanding in the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, discuss the significance of Mrs Dalloway and its ongoing influence on literary culture.

Dalloway Day 2018

November 2018 marks 100 years since the end of the First World War. The RSL is marking this anniversary by looking back to Wilfred Owen’s words for peace, and looking forward to how poetry today can take us towards a more peaceful future. We have commissioned 14 of our poet Fellows to respond to Wilfred Owen's life and work and to the theme of peace. The resulting anthology is called Peace Poetry.

One of the commissioned poets, Helen Mort, reads her poem 'The Swimmer' - a response to Wilfred Owen's lifelong love of swimming.

The Swimmer, Helen Mort

Founded in 1820, the RSL acts as a voice for the value of literature, honouring and supporting emerging and established writers whilst creating a bridge between authors and audiences of all backgrounds and experiences to engage as many people as possible with the wealth of literature in the UK.

Three Poets

Royal Society Literature