Spotlight

Close Up

‘AI’m not gagging’

Taíno Mendez: 'Large language models [like ChatGPT] may one day mimic us expertly, but as yet I doubt their ability to feel, to experience emotion, to locate the extraordinary, the uncanny, within the quotidian.'

In Conversation

Rianna Simons: 'I think there are two things going on in the play that I try to do. One of them is the characters trying to do something as opposed to doing nothing, and then there's the whole thing of being seen to do something.'

In conversation with Sophie Jai

In conversation with Luca Newman

In conversation with Trish Cooke

Dr Allen Zimbler: 'I'm here to learn and to observe and to just have the privileged of seeing a people who are somewhat different from us in so many ways.'

In conversation with Vayu Naidu

Yvonne Singh: 'One talk that [Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards] gave in Portsmouth, the room filled so much with people that the floor gave way, and 60 people fell into the cellar beneath.'

In conversation with John Siddique

Zena Edwards: 'I wanted to be somebody who embodied an entire stage, changed the atmosphere in the room because of the character.'

In conversation with Delon Jessop

Celeste Mohammed: 'I spend my days immersed in the lives of my characters, exploring the nuances of Caribbean life, peeling back the layers of human experience.'

In conversation with Sophie Jai

In conversation with Luca Newman

In conversation with Trish Cooke

Dr Allen Zimbler: 'I'm here to learn and to observe and to just have the privileged of seeing a people who are somewhat different from us in so many ways.'

In conversation with Vayu Naidu

Yvonne Singh: 'One talk that [Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards] gave in Portsmouth, the room filled so much with people that the floor gave way, and 60 people fell into the cellar beneath.'

In conversation with John Siddique

Zena Edwards: 'I wanted to be somebody who embodied an entire stage, changed the atmosphere in the room because of the character.'

In conversation with Delon Jessop

Celeste Mohammed: 'I spend my days immersed in the lives of my characters, exploring the nuances of Caribbean life, peeling back the layers of human experience.'

In conversation with Sophie Jai

My Hit List

One person's reading, watching, listening and visiting

Jarred McGinnis’ cultural highlights

The writer on the emotional candidness of the book Collapse by Édouard Louis, prehistoric paintings in Chauvet Cave, the haunting beauty of Greer Lankton's artwork, the film No Other Choice by Park Chan-wook and Wetopia's approach to sustainable tourism.

Ella Sinclair’s cultural highlights

Lily-Ann Cunningham’s cultural highlights

Savannah Acquah’s cultural highlights

Amy Jackson’s cultural highlights

WritersMosaic Original Series

Talismans of migration

Toxic debates around migration overlook the fact that it takes enormous courage to upsticks and travel thousands of miles to begin a new life in a foreign land. Migration may be a passport to a better future, but what do you leave behind when you migrate to a new country, and what do you carry with you physically and emotionally wherever you land? Nine writers with migrant backgrounds reveal the secrets of their talismans of migration.

Edited by Colin Grant

Listen now Spotify | Apple | YouTube

Editorial

by Colin Grant

The List

by Snežana Ċurčić

The last ritual

by Eric Ngalle Charles

The most wonderful object in the world

by Maria Jastrzębska

A sick note

by Suzanne Harrington

Month One: the source and the poem

by Roger Robinson

Haunting melodies

by Maggie Harris

Kafan

by Ishy Din

Rolling luggage

by Amanda Vilanova

Summer Wear

by Colin Grant

Featured episode

Rolling luggage

A stylish mother sends her daughter off to England from Puerto Rico with a set of luggage fit for royalty and a precious family heirloom.

Listen now

Poetry films

Four UK based poets read their work and pieces that have been inspirational. Commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, in collaboration with WritersMosaic.

See all films

Poetry films

Four UK based poets read their work and pieces that have been inspirational. Commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation, in collaboration with WritersMosaic.

See all films

Anthony Anaxagorou reads his poem, ‘Things Already Lost’.

3 mins

Marjorie Lotfi reads her poem, ‘The Hebridean Crab Apple’.

3 mins

Anthony Anaxagorou reads his poem, ‘Things Already Lost’.

3 mins

Marjorie Lotfi reads her poem, ‘The Hebridean Crab Apple’.

3 mins

Jo Clement reads her poem, ‘Playing Cards’.

3 mins

Jason Allen-Paisant reads his poem, ‘Right Now I’m Standing’.

3 mins

Jo Clement reads her poem, ‘Playing Cards’.

3 mins

Jason Allen-Paisant reads his poem, ‘Right Now I’m Standing’.

3 mins

WritersMosaic Original Series

Fiction Prescriptions

Great novels offer insights into the human condition but can they also be tools for living? Co-hosts Ella Berthoud and Isabelle Dupuy provide bibliotherapy in our new podcast series. Each month listeners can write in with their dilemmas and our dynamic duo will suggest remedies for the head and heart, drawn from novels, poetry and prose collections.

Listen now Spotify | Apple | YouTube

New Year’s resolutions

by Ella Berthoud and Isabelle Dupuy

Love

by Ella Berthoud and Isabelle Dupuy

The state of the world

by Ella Berthoud and Isabelle Dupuy

Featured episode

The state of the world

Ella and Isabelle reflect on, and provide prescriptions for, the state of the world. How can fiction help us to understand what we are living through, how to handle it and continue to fight for values, for a world we want to live in?

Listen now

Reviews

“Wuthering Heights”

Emerald Fennell's adaptation is visually captivating and provocative, but does it match Brontë’s jagged meditation on race, class and generational trauma?

Danielle Papamichael

Good Good Loving

A family held together by betrayals, love, pain and messy secrets

Nicole-Rachelle Moore

The Secret Agent

A film as much about the contemporary moment as its period setting

Anahit Behrooz

Sinners

A soulful, blues-soaked explosion of music centres this Southern Gothic and slasher horror

Zebib K. Abraham

Belgrave Road

Big questions about ‘home’ haunt the silences between the star-crossed lovers

Sophie Jai

There Is No Meant to Be

Jarred McGinnis's novel explores the succession of male violence that poisoned seven generations of McGinnis sons

Suzanne Harrington

My Father’s Shadow

An interrogation of ruptured father-son relationships

Colin Grant

Pluribus

‘The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness’

Nou Ra

Sentimental Value

‘It’s hard to love someone without mercy.’ Joachim Trier illustrates the intimacy between reconciliation, forgiveness, and the home in Sentimental Value.

Amy Jackson

Close Up

‘AI’m not gagging’

On AI and the future of the novel

Taíno Mendez

On seeing Iran in the news, I want to say

A poet reflects on what it's like to be of Iranian descent and to witness terrible news coming out of Iran.

Marjorie Lotfi

Sad Song of Plantain poem

'I lie as quiet as death in this ‘three for two pounds’ cardboard box'

Roger Robinson

Regarding Turner

What does knowing of the revered British artist's investment in chattel slavery mean for his legacy?

Franklin Nelson

Building Literary Resistance

Personal reflections as a white, non-Muslim, middle-class editor for the journal Critical Muslim

Naomi Foyle

Watching a theatre go dark

What we lost with the Blue Elephant Theatre

Amanda Vilanova

Waste not, want not

The cultural politics of waste

Michael McMillan

Frank Bowling

An interview with one of the foremost artists of his generation, Sir Frank Bowling

Franklin Nelson

Other Wild

Emily Zobel Marshall invites us to heal by connecting to our senses and the natural world

Maria Jastrzębska

Events

Featured event

Iranian Women’s Voices at the British Library

WritersMosaic recently presented an evening of poetry, film and music at the British Library in London to showcase Iranian Women's Voices, inspired by the poet and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad.

WritersMosaic Live
Join us on tour in 2026

Find out more about the literary festivals we’re visiting this year