British Library’s American Writers’ Week welcomes a new line-up of hosts, including writer and creative director Jack Guinness. He began his career as a model and has since become the founder of LGBTQ+ community The Queer Bible, brand director of Gay Star News and published an essay collection.
Georgina Godwin joins the new list, as an independent broadcast journalist who has interviewed figures from literary giants and debut novelists to prominent politicians, musicians and artists. She is also a chair of literary events for the Royal Society of Literature, has judged many literary prizes, and presents Monocle on Saturdays.
Writer and critic Eric Karl Anderson, who has sat on the judging panels of numerous literary awards and authored an award-winning novel, will be joining. He is known online as Lonesome Reader, posting prolifically on Youtube and his Blog to open communication with fellow readers.
Writer Rebecca Watson has also been announced as a host. As a novelist, her work has been chosen as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and her non-fiction has been published widely, including in the Guardian, the TLS, Granta and British Vogue. She has presented a documentary for Radio 4, and is now a commissioning editor and writer for FT Weekend.
Running later this month, the British Library presents a unique five-day series of conversations with some of the most essential voices in contemporary American literature.
From 28 September to 2 October 2026, the Week marks the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the United States and brings together critically acclaimed authors including Joyce Carol Oates, Alison Bechdel, Armistead Maupin, Rabih Alameddine, Jeanine Cummins, Daniel Kraus, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Katie Kitamura.
American Writers’ Week is presented in association with Festival America, who will be bringing a selection of authors to the London event series. Founded in Vincennes in 2002, Festival America is a bi-annual celebration hosted in Paris showcasing the richness and diversity of writing from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, and has become a major European meeting point for authors, translators, publishers and readers.
The programme spotlights writers whose work reflects on the creative lives, histories and identities shaped by the United States, whether it is the country of their birth, adoption, or one they chose to leave, offering audiences a rare opportunity to explore the past, present and future of American storytelling.
Across the week, audiences will hear from Joyce Carol Oates, the five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee author of Blonde, Them and The Fox and The Frenzy who will reflect on violence, imagination, patriarchy and other themes explored in her recent works. Writer and graphic novelist Alison Bechdel, creator of the acclaimed graphic memoir Fun Home and the long-running strip Dykes to Watch Out For, will discuss her creative life and cultural impact. Armistead Maupin, author of the iconic Tales of the City series and the memoir Logical Family, will speak about his groundbreaking chronicles of queer life. Rabih Alameddine, winner of the National Book Award for The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) and author of The Wrong End of the Telescope, will explore storytelling, memory, queer identity and Lebanon’s modern history. Jeanine Cummins, bestselling author of American Dirt and the new novel Speak to Me of Home, will discuss migration, belonging and family. Daniel Kraus, author of Angel Down, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, of Whalefall, appearing soon as a major film, and co-author with Guillermo del Toro on The Shape of Water, will examine his genre-blending work in horror and fantasy. Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed, will reflect on otherness, solidarity and the responsibilities of fiction in his new essay collection To Save and to Destroy. Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Audition and Intimacies Katie Kitamura will discuss identity, performance and psychological depth across her work.
Tickets for the events are available here, either to attend in person or to watch online either live or for two weeks after on catch up. Pay What You Can pricing for online events and over 50% discount for young people (16-25).
