Tuesday 09 June 2026 @ 18:30 - 20:00
Free
Second Home Spitalfields, 68-80 Hanbury Street, London E1 5JL
Join Orwell Prize shortlisted writers Tahmima Anam and Sam Dalrymple in conversation with Rohan Silva, chair of the panel for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2026.
Named after George Orwell, the prizes honour writing that meets politics head-on, and that helps us understand the forces shaping public life. At a time when questions of truth, power, democracy, and freedom feel as urgent as ever, the shortlisted books offer us ways to think about the contemporary world.
Across fiction and nonfiction, reportage and essay, the evening will explore the ways in which political writing can challenge orthodoxies, document reality, and offer alternative ways of thinking about our future.
TAHMIMA ANAM is the author of the Bengal trilogy (The Golden Age, The Good Muslim, The Bones of Grace), and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. Her short story ‘Garments’ was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University and now lives in London. Her new novel, Uprising, is a finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
SAM DALRYMPLE is a Delhi-raised Scottish historian, writer and award-winning filmmaker. A Persian and Sanskrit scholar educated at Oxford, with further study in Iran, he has worked across South and Central Asia, including with Turquoise Mountain in Kabul and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Hunza and Lahore. His debut book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, was an international bestseller, and is a finalist for the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.
*Note, this is a Libreria event hosted at Second Home.
