On Wednesday 12th July there will be a re-hang of the sculptural 'Wasted Books' exhibition by artist Jacqueline Nicholls as we welcome the works from the Art Library into the Art Reading Room.

There will be some disruption in the Art Reading Room for the hanging of the works on the 12th July, however the room will remain open and accessible to all members throughout the day. 

There will be a total of twenty-one sculptural works by Jacqueline Nicholls, each taking their form from the different ways that books carry this ambiguity and transform. Some show how earlier readers have left their trace, marking the once pristine book with their ghostly presences. And some push the definition of a book to the limit. 

Disintegrating to a stage of disrepair, while retaining their essential ‘bookness’, each book sculpture plays with a fragment from TS Eliot’s The Waste Land, the text merging into the form of the book. 

We do not receive our culture untainted; it comes to us laden with the attitudes, contexts and perspectives of the past and we can be left with the complexity of grappling with work that is beautiful yet damaged. And damaging. TS Eliot’s writing, full of illusions, fragments and multiple voices, is profoundly poetic, but it can also be deeply discomforting.

Jacqueline Nicholls is an artist, award-winning visual poet, and cultural events producer. Her art practice explores writing systems, and books as objects. This interest is informed by her Jewish heritage, a tradition that values scholarly word-play as a sacred act. Jacqueline has exhibited internationally, and her work is held in public and private collections. Artist residencies include Beit Venezia in Venice, Italy, and Manchester University Jewish Studies Department’s project ’50 Jewish Objects’. Jacqueline has an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins.

The Library has traditionally differentiated the loan allowance between those who live within 20 miles of the Library (10 books at any one time) and those who live further away.

In order to offer an equal service to all members and simplify our systems, we have decided to allow a loan allowance of 15 for all members.

Those who wish to borrow more than 15 books at any one time are able to increase their allowance for an additional fee in sets of five up to 40. The change will come into effect at the beginning of July.

The London Library is delighted to announce the newest cohort of its flagship Emerging Writers Programme, which supports early-career writers and is now entering its fifth year. 
 
40 participants were selected from a field of almost 1,400 applicants, a record-breaking number, by a panel of judges comprising, poet and playwright Caroline Bird, screenwriter and playwright Moira Buffini, non-fiction writer Travis Elborough, novelist and short story writer Zoe Gilbert, novelist Ayisha Malik, and literary agents at Aitken Alexander Emma Paterson and Chris Wellbelove.  
 
The emerging writers hail from across the UK, from Edinburgh to Brighton, including Northern Ireland and Wales, spanning an age range from early twenties to early seventies. This year’s cohort is working on a diverse array of projects, taking us from Iraq to Hong Kong, India to Ukraine, gothic fairytales to murder mystery, Haitian revolution sci-fi to time-travelling ninjas, cheese, wine, lotteries and luxury, cannibalism, hirsutism, and kleptomania. Also, for the first time, the programme welcomes two new genres: food writing and translation.  
 
Of the 40 writers, nine are working on non-fiction, including five memoirs and three food writing projects. Eight are novelists, seven are writing for stage/screen, five are poets, five are writing for children or YA, four are short story writers and two are working on translations 
 
The London Library’s Emerging Writers Programme is geared towards supporting writers who have not yet published a full-length work of fiction, non-fiction, collection of poems, or had a full-length work professionally produced for stage/screen. The 2023/24 Programme will run from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.  
 
Participants benefit from one year’s free membership of The London Library alongside a programme of writing development and networking opportunities, peer support, and guidance. Membership to The London Library includes: access to its collection of around one million books and periodicals (almost all of which can be borrowed), a vast eLibrary, atmospheric workspaces in a beautiful building, a members suite, nationwide postal loans, and discounted tickets to the Library’s popular public events programme. The cohort will be following in the footsteps of the many writers, readers and thinkers who have made the Library their home for over 180 years.  
 
Claire Berliner, Head of Programmes said: ‘We were blown away by the vast number and astonishing quality of the applications we received and the judges had a very hard time making their selection. We are delighted to welcome this talented and diverse cohort of writers to the Library and excited to see where they take their ideas and imagination while on the Programme.’ 
 
 Philip Marshall, Director of The London Library said: ‘For over 180 years, The London Library has inspired and supported writers at all stages of their careers. We are delighted to have received a record-breaking near 1,400 applications in this our fifth year of the Emerging Writers Programme, showing just how valuable the Library and the programme is to aspiring writers of all genres and disciplines. We look forward to welcoming forty new writers into our literary community.’

Find out more about our new Emerging Writers cohort