A vibrant programme of literary events take place at Somerset House, including poetry and prose readings and programmes for schools. 

Writer in Residence Ruth Padel took up post in January 2009. She recently read poems from her new collection at Darwin, Poetry & Science, an evening celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth, Ruth's great-great-grandfather. 

Ruth's other projects at Somerset House have included Picture This At Somerset House - Writers Talks in The Courtauld Gallery and That Mighty Heart: Poets' Visions of London. 

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 events and talks.