On Wednesday 3 June, we officially opened the New Room - a permanent, dedicated space for programming at The London Library.
The New Room will host events for members, secondary school groups and community partners, allowing us to make our extensive collection and resources more widely available and increasing the Library’s charitable impact.
Designed to welcome both members and non-members, the New Room will serve as a welcoming space, facilitating literary discovery, creativity and enjoyment. It will provide an opportunity for our member groups to meet and discuss according to their chosen interests, enable us to expand the sessions delivered for secondary school students as they progress towards higher education, and support charities and community groups in engaging with the Library’s collection and heritage. The New Room will also provide a home for our Emerging Writers Programme, many of whom have gone on to credit the Programme as a catalyst for their writing careers.
The room itself has been decorated to echo the colour of the Back Stacks green doors, and the green carpet in the Reading Room. The wood stain has been carefully selected to complement the walls, and French polished to high shine. It features books on the shelves and book cover wall art to represent the Library’s rich history, the variety of writing that the Library has inspired for 185 years and the vital role it has played in creative life. From notable books written by past Library members during their membership such as CLR James’s Beyond a Boundary, to published works by former Emerging Writers including Lucy Steeds’ awarding-winning debut, The Artist, and the latest publications by current Library members such as Naomi Ishiguro's Rainshadow Orphans. All are testament to the Library as “The Home of Literary Inspiration”.
Chosen titles also illustrate many instances of creative connections between members. William Thackeray’s The Luck of Barry Lyndon was adapted into film by Stanley Kubrick. The poems of Sylvia Townsend Warner are illustrated by Reynolds Stone, who also designed our bookplates, and our edition of John Masefield’s Box of Delights is illustrated by Quentin Blake. The biographer Anne Sebba is a Library member, as was her subject Enid Bagnold. Our 1771 copy of The Annual Register was one of a number consulted by George Eliot when writing The Mill on the Floss. The books Bram Stoker annotated as he researched Dracula are also displayed from our Special Collections.
The New Room opening marks an important investment in the Library’s future. Our building project, Building Connections is intended to help us make our collection more accessible, support the needs of our growing membership, and ensure our long-term sustainability. The fundraising campaign for Phase Two – the refurbishment of the members' room and creation of a new reading room, phone booths and toilets on the 6th floor; the installation of a new, accessible lift; and the creation of a new roof garden on the existing 5th floor flat roof – will begin soon.
Thank you to the generous donors who helped create the room and continue to make this work possible.
© Lia Vittone Photography
