Writer in Residence, Romesh Gunesekera, started at Somerset House in November 2009. He will be working on several projects during his residency including the forthcoming Picture This at Somerset House - Writers' Talks in The Courtauld Gallery, a series of ‘salons’ around different themes and workshops with schools and community groups. His most recent event was A Flow of Words.

Previous Writer in Residence Ruth Padel’s projects included Picture This At Somerset House - Writers Talks in The Courtauld Gallery, That Mighty Heart: Poets' Visions of London, and Darwin, Poetry & Science.

Our Writer in Residence programme began in January 2008. Each year a writer is invited to curate a programme of literary talks and events, alongside working on their own writing, using Somerset House and its environs as inspiration.

Somerset House is also home to the Royal Society of Literature, an organisation which was founded by King George IV in 1820, to 'reward literary merit and excite literary talent'. The RSL run a regular programme of lectures and debates. Recent and forthcoming highlights include; David Hare on documentary and fiction, Seamus Heaney on a lifetime in poetry, Hilary Mantel discussing the art of historical fiction and Ian McEwan on originality.