Past event
Date:
16 November 2023
Letters Live returned to the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday 16th November 2023 for a very special show in our tenth anniversary year!
Previous shows at the Royal Albert Hall have seen such talent as Gillian Anderson, Olivia Colman, Taika Waititi, Thom Yorke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Corrin, Cynthia Erivo, Jude Law, Florence Welch and Laura Mvula grace the stage, to name just a few.
Letters Live is a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence. Each show always features a completely different array of great performers, reading remarkable letters written over the centuries and from around the world.
One of the joys of Letters Live is that you never know who is going to take to the stage or what letter they are going to bring alive. The result is a glorious event like no other and a truly unforgettable journey through time.
Our year-long global partnership with Montblanc, the luxury Maison with its origins in writing culture, launched publicly at this show. Find out more here.
(Click dates to expand/collapse)
The spectacle sickened me
George Bernard Shaw to The Times
Do
Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse
Cremains
Lydia Davis to funeral parlour
Here is a list of other licences I do not hold
Jackie Morris to the BBC
I look forward to hearing from you GURRRRRL
Joe Lycett to Suella Braverman
We are fighting for the very soul of the world
Nick Cave to Leon and Charlie
I ain’t never seen nothing like it
Nina Simone to Andy Stroud
I would like to apologise on the behalf of mankind
Benedict Winter to a walnut tree
I like words
Robert Pirosh to Various
Seat 29E
A customer to Continental Airlines
Keith the Giant Meat
Cynthia Albritton to Keith Richards
You will show people what beauty truly is
Harnaam Kaur to her younger self
Spaghetti
Spike Milligan to his parents
What a bawling and a tearing of hair there will be!
Charles Dodgson Sr. to Charles Dodgson Jr.
I will be there in the trees
Kathleen Keyes Irish Times
You wouldn’t want waxing to go wrong, would you?
Hannah Scorer to Boots
Sex does not thrive on monotony
Anais Nin to The Collector
Why are children ever born singly?
Katherine Mansfield Anne Rice
Shame on you!
Pliny the Younger to Septitius Clarus
This guy is really a bum
Walter Becker to Rudy Giuliani
Everything begins again
Peter Capaldi to a Doctor Who fan
Don’t ever forget: every day matters
Heather McManamy to her friends and family
Don’t let anyone define who you are
Angelique Kidjo to the girls of the world
He is not a forgiving cat
John Cheever to Josie Herbst
There’s no hope in war
Kurt Vonnegut to the US government
I am not greatly troubled by fans nowadays
Evelyn Waugh to Nancy Mitford
My Dear Bessie
Chris Barker & Bessie Moore
Tom Odell, plus octet
Black Friday
Angelique Kidjo
Kelele
The Spirituals Choir
Wade in the Water
Kae Tempest
People’s Faces