Spending Round Settlement 2015/16 – Statement

The British Library has been informed that it will receive a reduction in its Grant in Aid of 5% in the 2015/16 financial year. This follows news that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will receive an overall reduction of 7.7% in 2015/16.

British Library acquires W.H. Auden’s previously ‘lost’ journal

• Acquired for £47,475 on Wednesday 12 June

The British Library has this week acquired one of just three journals kept by W H Auden. The journal, which provides a fascinating juxtaposition of personal and political preoccupations, gives an intimate insight into Auden during one of the most important periods in his life. Used by the celebrated poet between August and November 1939, the unpublished journal has been in private hands since Auden’s death in 1973 until last month when it was unearthed and put up for auction by Christie’s.

The British Library releases Virginia Woolf’s last unpublished work providing a quirky and fascinating insight into the Bloomsbury Group and life at Charleston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This week the British Library publishes The Charleston Bulletin Supplements, Virginia Woolf’s last known unpublished work.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.