Library
Welcome to the RSL Library, where we have collected our archive material in one place for the first time. Browse by genre, search for your favourite writer or look through by theme. You will find audio recordings and images of our events over the past ten years, as well as selected RSL Review articles.
New to the library
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Alice Oswald and Robin Robertson read from their work
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Lara Feigel and Juliet Gardiner discuss writing of the Blitz
Biography
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Tom Staley discusses his life studying James Joyce
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Victoria Glendinning on her biography of Leonard Woolf
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Hermione Lee discusses her biography of Edith Wharton
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Jenny Uglow on Sarah Losh of Wreay
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Jane Ridley and William Shawcross on writing about royalty
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William Hague on the relationship between Pitt the Younger and Wilberforce: contrasting friends
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Daphne Park speaks about British Intelligence, with readings from Lucy Fleming
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A.S. Byatt, Bidisha and Philip Hensher discuss Irish Murdoch's work
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Michael Holroyd discusses 'A Book of Secrets' with Sara Wheeler
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Anne Chisholm, Michael Holroyd and Alison Light discuss Bloomsbury's relevance to the 21st century
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Michael Holroyd talking to Eleanor Bron about his biography 'A Strange and Eventful History'
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John Carey on his biography of William Golding
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Dmitry Bykov leads a discussion of Russian writer and translator Boris Pasternak
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John Carey on meeting someone from William Golding's past - RSL Review 2010
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Bidisha, Caryl Phillips and Susannah Clapp discuss Angela Carter's legacy
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Simon Sebag Montefiore on Stalin's relationship with writers
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Ali Smith and translator Jull Costa celebrate the life and work of Jose Saramago
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Colin Thubron considers past versions of himself, and the future of literature - RSL Review 2010
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Ronald Harwood, Victoria Glendinning, Jackie Kay and Hanif Kureishi on their struggles and successes
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Anne Chisholm on her biography of Frances Partridge - RSL Review 2009
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Vikram Seth describes the experience of living in George Herbert's house - RSL Review 2008
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Philip Mansel remembers Lesley Blanch - RSL Review 2008
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Peter Parker considers the vision and career of Edward Upward - RSL Review 2006
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Tom Stoppard and Michael Holroyd interview themselves - RSL Review 2005
Drama
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Eileen Atkins in conversation with Ronald Harwood
Fiction
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Penelope Lively leads a conversation about biographical fiction
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V.S. Naipaul in conversation with John Carey about his life and career
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Rose Tremain on writing about subjects removed from her own life
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A.S. Byatt reflects on the experience of having her portrait painted
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Penelope Lively and Helen Simpson on literary brevity
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Norman Manea in conversation with Paul Bailey
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Marilynne Robinson interviewed by Maya Jaggi
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Romesh Gunesekera talks to Michael Morpurgo about our need for stories
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Susan Hill and Sarah Waters on ghost stories
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Elaine Showalter on the Brontës and American women writers
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Beryl Bainbridge and Hilary Mantel on the art of historical fiction
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Adam Foulds Pankaj Mishra, Chris Petit and Kamila Shamsie on literature and politics
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Ian McEwan on originality in science and the arts
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Lucasta Miller looks at the appeal of the gothic - RSL Review 2010
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Michael Ondaatje on his life and work
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Philip Hensher and Tahmima Anam discuss the Bangladeshi novel
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Sebastian Faulks interviewed by Jane Thynne
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Caroline Moorehead leads a conversation about suffering and human depravity
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Michael Cunningham in conversation with Christopher Potter
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Amitav Ghosh in conversation with Linda Grant
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Anita Desai and Maggie Gee discuss the creative process - RSL Review 2004
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Linda Kelly on detective fiction - RSL Review 2009
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Philippa Pearce reflects on the changes in children's fiction - RSL Review 2006
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P.D. James and Ruth Rendell on crime writing after Agatha Christie - RSL Review 2006
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Paul Gravett on the graphic novel - RSL Review 2006
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Alan Judd on the fiction of the Second World War - RSL Review 2005
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Hilary Spurling on the relationship between M.M. Kaye's friendship with Paul Scott - RSL Review 2005
Non-fiction
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Colin Thubron in conversation with Tash Aw about 'Shadow of the Silk Road'
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Orlando Figes on a Gulag love story
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Kate Pullinger on digital fiction - RSL Review 2013
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James Lasdun and Susie Orbach on cyber-stalking
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Lara Feigel and Juliet Gardiner discuss writing of the Blitz
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David Gilmour debating the British Empire
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Colin Thubron in conversation with Victoria Glendinning
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Margaret Atwood and Sir Brian Hoskins on climate change and the future
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Ferdinand Mount on literature and politics
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David Hare on journalism and art
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David Dabydeen and Charles Nicholl on Francis Barber's friendship with Dr. Johnson
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Rory MacLean interviews Georg Salzmann on books that escaped Nazi bonfires - RSL Review 2009
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Philip Pullman, Frances Wilson and Jenny Uglow on the e-book - RSL Review 2010
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Fiona Sampson on writers and music or art - RSL Review 2011
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Richard Eyre on cuts to the arts - RSL Review 2011
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Iain Sinclair on Hackney
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Sarah Edworthy on Lynne Truss and her 'journalistic addiction' to sport - RSL Review 2010
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Frances Wilson and Richard Davenport-Hines talk about RMS Titanic
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Karen Armstrong on religion
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Adam Phillips on creativity and mental health
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A panel discussion chaired by Polly Toynbee on studying English
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Edmund de Waal in coversation with Penelope Lively
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Hilary Spurling in conversation with Xinran
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Jonathan Ketes reviews the rewards and difficulties of teaching - RSL Review 2004
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James Fergusson reveals a high profile dispute over the RSL Benson Medal - RSL Review 2004
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Ysenda Maxtone Graham on being a nominee-turned-judge - RSL Review 2004
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The house of fame - RSL Review 2009
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Katie Waldegrave on her charity, First Story - RSL Review 2009
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Caroline Moorehead on her work with refugees in Cairo - RSL Review 2004
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How to preserve a writer's work by James Fergusson - RSL Review 2009
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Michael Holroyd on the inability of banks to deal with writers - RSL Review 2004
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Michael Frayn and A.C. Grayling on philosophy and writing - RSL Review 2008
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Anthony Gardner on the emotion behind Thomas Hardy's Christmas cards - RSL Review 2008
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Michael Morpurgo on literacy among children - RSL Review 2008
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Rory Stewart on writing about place - RSL Review 2007
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Romesh Gunesekera on the lure of the capital - RSL Review 2007
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Michael Holroyd on Stephen Potter - RSL Review 2007
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Colin Thubron and Tash Aw on an ancient travelling route - RSL Review 2007
Poetry
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David Harsent and Jo Shapcott read from and discuss their work
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Dannie Abse and Alan Jenkins discuss loss
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Amit Chaudhuri and Sunetra Gupta on Tagore
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Peter Porter in conversation with Fiona Sampson
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Seamus Heaney in conversation with Bernard O'Donoghue
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Seamus Heaney discussing his life and work
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David Harsent discusses Seamus Heaney's life and work
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Alice Oswald and Robin Robertson read from their work
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A poetry discussion between Mimi Khalvati and Fiona Sampson
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Poets Wendy Cope, Jackie Kay and Hugo Williams discuss their favourite poetry
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Andrew Motion on his life and work
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A celebration of Peter Porter, led by Sean O'Brien
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Claire Tomalin and Philip Pullman on John Milton
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Rowan Williams in conversation with Fiona Sampson
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Christopher Ricks on his book 'True Friendship'
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RSL Director Maggie Fergusson on prose-writing Fellows who began as poets - RSL Review 2008
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Jonathan Keates on poetry and song - RSL Review 2007
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Poets David Harsent and Lavinia Greenlaw speak to young poets Emma Jones and Ahren Warner
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Linda Anderson on Elizabeth Bishop
Short story
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Helen Simpson, Bernard MacLaverty and E.A. Markham read from their 2006 collections of short stories
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Jackie Kay at the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize evening 2012
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Jane Gardam and Adam Mars-Jones at the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize evening 2010
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V.S. Pritchett Prize winner 2011 - The Redemption of Galen Pike - RSL Review 2012
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Adam Foulds and Rose Tremain at the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize evening 2011
Schools Outreach
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Tom Stoppard at George Greens' School
Awards
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2012 RSL Jerwood Award Winners Ramita Navai, Edmund Gordon and Dr Gwen Adshead
