The London Library 182nd Annual General Meeting 2023

Retirement and Election of Trustees

The following Trustees retired at the 2023 Annual General Meeting: Howard Davies, Will Harris, Giles Milton, Rick Stroud.

ALAIN AUBRY was approved for a second (and final) term of trusteeship.

The following Members were put forward for election and approved as Trustees:

SIMON GODWIN has been a Library member for 14 years and is a member of the Founders’ Circle of supporters. With an extensive career in financial services, Simon was most recently a founding Partner and Finance Director of Fundsmith, the asset management firm. He is currently working with a number of high growth companies including being Chair of GaitQ Limited, a medical devices spin-out from Oxford University. This will be Simon’s third charity governance position; he is on the Board of Trustees at the Royal Institution and is the co-founder and trustee of Levelling Up:STEM. Other than enjoying reading a broad range of both fiction and non-fiction books, he is also keen on theatre and is a supporter of the Hampstead and Park Theatres. Simon has been appointed as Chair of the Board by the Trustees and will take up this role when Howard Davies steps down. Learn more here. 

SIMON KING a Library member for much of his adult life, Simon is Head of Corporate Affairs at Hakluyt, the strategic advisory firm for businesses and investors. He has a global role as a member of the company’s senior leadership team, and currently divides his time between New York and London. He has previously worked for the firm in Tokyo and Berlin. Before joining Hakluyt in 2014, Simon spent 15 years as a civil servant in the British government. He spent four years in 10 Downing Street, working first for Gordon Brown and then for David Cameron. His last role in government was as director of strategy and delivery for Theresa May when she was home secretary. Simon has a lifelong interest in philosophy and the arts. Inspired by the poet and literary critic William Empson’s encounter with Buddhist sculptures in Kyoto and Nara in the 1930s, he is currently writing a book about various cultural, intellectual and religious connections between East Asia and Western Europe. Much of his research for this has been carried out in the Library. For the last year, Simon has served as a co-opted member of the Library’s Development Committee.

Appointment of auditors

The Trustees proposed the re-appointment of MHA MacIntyre Hudson as the Library’s Auditors for the financial year 2023-2024. The re-appointment was confirmed.

Membership fees from 1 January 2024

The Trustees proposed to increase the ordinary annual fee by £30 from £585 (£48.75 per month) to £615 (£51.25 per month) in 2024, an increase of 5.1%. Those paying by annual Direct Debit will receive a £50 discount and pay £565, an increase of 3.7%. These increases are significantly lower than recent levels of inflation, in recognition of the cost pressures we know members are currently facing. Proportionate increases will be applied for the other annual membership categories including Life membership. The Trustees therefore proposed the following membership fees for the year commencing January 2024, which were approved at the AGM. 

Read the annual report and find out more

We are delighted to present our proposed building improvement plans for The London Library, ahead of applying for planning permission to Westminster City Council this summer.

Click the link below to find out more, share feedback and learn how you can get involved in The London Library Capital Campaign: Building Connections.

Find out more →   

The London Library Ambassadors Programme

We are delighted to announce our London Library Ambassadors, who will help raise awareness of the Library and expand the Library's reach and impact.

The Ambassadors were chosen for their longstanding support in which each member has, on numerous occasions, voluntarily offered their time, expertise and platform for the Library. Their work spans genres, from historic writing to poetry and academia, reflecting our wonderfully creative and diverse community.

We are glad to publicly extend our gratitude for their valued, ongoing commitment to the Library.

Raymond Antrobus MBE FRSL is a multi-award-winning poet, writer and educator. He is the author of Shapes & Disfigurements (Burning Eye, 2012) To Sweeten Bitter (Out-Spoken Press, 2017), The Perseverance (Penned In The Margins / Tin House, 2018) and All The Names Given (Picador / Tin House, 2021).      

Sarah Churchwell is a Professor in American Literature and Chair of Public Understanding of the Humanities at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She is the author of four books. She was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2021 and has contributed to radio, television, and documentary film projects. She was co-winner of the 2015 Eccles British Library Writer’s Award.

Inua Ellams is a Nigerian-born, UK-based poet, playwright and performer who has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the BBC. His latest play was an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters set in Nigeria, staged at the National Theatre. The Actual, his fifth poetry release and first full collection, was published in 2020 by Penned in the Margins.

Harriet Evans is the author of 13 bestselling novels, two of which have been Richard and Judy book club selections, and one of which won the Good Housekeeping Book of the Year Award. Formerly an editor in publishing, she now writes full time and lives in Bath, somewhat curtailing her physical time at the Library, though it remains her favourite place in the world. Her latest novel, The Stargazers, is out in hardback in September 2023.                  

Katy Hessel is an art historian, broadcaster and curator dedicated to celebrating women artists from all over the world, through projects including the Great Women Artists Instagram and podcast. Her bestselling recent book, The Story of Art Without Men, was the 2022 Waterstone’s Book of the Year.

Victoria Hislop is the author of eight bestselling novels mostly set in Greece. Her work has been translated into 40 languages and three have been adapted for Greek television. She became a Greek citizen in 2020 and when not travelling for research, Victoria writes in the London Library.

Suzannah Lipscomb FSA, FRHistS is an award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster. She is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Roehampton and Senior Member at St Cross College, Oxford. She is the author of five books on the sixteenth century and an established television presenter. She hosts the Not Just the Tudors podcast from History Hit.

John O’Farrell is the author of a dozen books including The Man Who Forgot His Wife, May Contain Nuts, Things Can Only Get Better and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain. Other writing credits include Spitting Image, Chicken Run (and its forthcoming sequel) and the Broadway musicals Something Rotten! and Mrs Doubtfire. As a broadcaster he has appeared on Have I Got News for You, Question Time and Newsnight Review and he co-hosts the podcast We Are History.

Neil Pearson is a BAFTA nominated actor, best known for his roles on Drop the Dead Donkey, Between the Lines, and the Bridget Jones films. He is also an author of Obelisk: A History of Jack Kahane and the Obelisk Press, a collector of rare books and a bibliophilic antiquarian book dealer who specialises in the expatriate literary movement of Paris between the World Wars.

Hallie Rubenhold is a bestselling author, social historian, broadcaster and historical consultant for TV and film. Her books include three works of non-fiction and two novels, of which, The Covent Garden Ladies and Lady Worlsey’s Whim, have inspired television dramas; Harlots and The Scandalous Lady W. Her most recent book, The Five; The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper is a Sunday Times Bestseller and won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.