The British Library releases Virginia Woolf’s last unpublished work providing a quirky and fascinating insight into the Bloomsbury Group and life at Charleston

• Published on Wednesday 12 June 2013

This week the British Library publishes The Charleston Bulletin Supplements, Virginia Woolf’s last known unpublished work. Announced earlier this year by the Library, the Supplements reveal a unique collaboration between the celebrated writer during her most prolific years and her young nephew, Quentin Bell, in the form of a family newspaper produced between 1923 and 1927.

British Library to host major London festival of African literature, featuring acclaimed Kenyan novelist and theorist Ngugi wa Thiong’o

• Friday 5 - Sunday 7 July 2013

The British Library is partnering with the Royal African Society to host the UK’s largest festival of African literature. Africa Writes will bring together established and exciting new writers from across the African continent and its diaspora for a three-day celebration of contemporary African writing.

The British Library explores Benjamin Britten’s literary, poetic and musical influences with a new exhibition, Poetry in Sound: The Music of Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976)

• 31 May - 15 September 2013

As part of the Britten 100 celebrations taking place all over the world, this new exhibition explores the literary, political and historical inspirations behind some of Benjamin Britten’s greatest works, providing a rare opportunity to see exhibits drawn from the British Library’s world class music collections. Alongside handwritten drafts of some of Britten’s best known compositions, including The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra acquired last year by the British Library, Poetry in Sound features some of Britten’s rarely seen manuscripts and unpublished Britten recordings from the Library’s Sound Archive.

British Library publishes updated economic evaluation

The British Library has published an updated evaluation of its economic contribution to the UK, looking at how the British Library creates economic value for its users and society as a whole.