In 2019 the South African born, UK-based artist Susanne du Toit was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in London to paint a portrait of the writer Jeanette Winterson for their collection. Since then, inspired by her encounter with Winterson, du Toit has embarked on a project to paint a further 20 women writers, building a stunning series of portraits which plumb, in paint on the canvas, the emotional and imaginative depths of subjects whose work does the same with words on the page. Featuring the likes of Dolly Alderton, Rosie Boycott, Diana Evans, Pascale Petit, Ayisha Malik, Clover Stroud and others, the complete series will be shown for the first time at The London Library, in the Art Reading Room, for the duration of The London Library Lit Fest and beyond. 

Susanne du Toit is a painter, printmaker, and ceramicist who has exhibited widely and won several awards for her work, including the BP Portrait Award in 2013. She has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Pretoria and an MFA, majoring in printmaking and painting, from Massachusetts College of Art. Susanne’s main practice is currently portraiture and she has painted various personalities from the world of arts and entertainment, such as screenwriter Stephen Beresford and actors Timothy Spall and David Schwimmer. 

The exhibition will be on view throughout the festival to members and tours of this and our Wasted Books exhibition will run from the Library Issue Hall at 6.30pm on 27, 28, 29 April and on 30th April from 11.15 & 11.30am, 1.15 & 1.30pm, 3.15 & 3.30pm and 5.15 & 5.30pm. Entry to the exhibitions is free but tickets are essential.

Book a slot now

The limited edition book accompanying the exhibition is available to buy from Eiderdown Books.

You may also be interested in Lit Fest: Silence in the Library, the Revolution (In person & online)