ART & LITERATURE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS

ART & LITERATURE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS

 

Since 2014, Simon Oldfield has curated the first major programme combining art and literature at the Royal Academy of Arts, in collaboration with Pindrop.  

 

Originally curated in collaboration Tim Marlow,  Simon Oldfield shares the stage with leading authors, actors and thinkers including Dame Eileen Atkins and Dame Sian Philips performing The Dictator: The Story of Ak and Humanity by Yefim Zozulya in response to Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932; Booker Prize-winner Graham Swift reading his short story, Haematology, against the backdrop of the exhibition Charles I: King and Collector; actor Lisa Dwan reading Samuel Beckett’s ground breaking works, Foirades/Fizzles in response to the exhibition Jasper Johns: Something Resembling Truth; and author William Boyd and actor Ed Stoppard reading selected stories amongst the soaring installations in the Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined exhibition. 

 

To complement the programme we launched an annual non-profit literature award for original short fiction. The RA & Pindrop Short Story Award runs in conjunction with the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, offering a unique platform for emerging and established writers to showcase their short fiction.  The collaboration has revealed new and exciting writing talent from across the globe. Many of the winners of the award have gone on to great things, including Sophie Ward who’s winning story was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2020.

 

We are honoured to have worked with these incredibly talented luminaries at the RA: Stephen Fry, Ben Okri, Sebastian Faulks, Dame Eileen Atkins, Gwendonline Christie, Julian Barnes, Will Self, William Boyd, Graham Swift, Bethan Roberts, Claire Fuller, Sophie Ward, Cherise Saywell, Lisa Dwan, Juliet Stevenson, Dame Penelope Wilton, Lionel Shriver, Tim Winton, Dame Sian Philips, A C Grayling and Russell Tovey.

 

Born out of the programme at the RA, Scribner (Simon & Schuster) published A Short Affair, an anthology of original short fiction by bestselling authors and new voices discovered through the RA & Pindrop Short Story Award, accompanied by illustrations by Tracey Emin, Eddie Peake and other artists from the Royal Academy of Arts.