Events
PLEASE NOTE: Online events appear in purple type.
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Facebook: @VWSGB
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Society events (members only)
VWSGB Reading Group: To the Lighthouse
Friday 5 December 2025, 5.30pm GMT
Live online only
This month’s book is one of Virginia Woolf’s most beloved novels, To the Lighthouse (1927), featuring characters based on family members.
We are pleased to offer this online reading group FREE for VWSGB members who want to talk about the works of Virginia Woolf and some of her Bloomsbury friends and contemporaries, to find connections, influences and similarities between them. Come prepared to tell us about your experience of reading the work, whether it’s your first or your hundredth time! What themes or motifs did you notice? Did anything surprise, delight, perplex or anger you? What do you think are the best parts, and why?
Email membershipvwsgb@gmail.com to join the Society, or onlinevwsgb@gmail.com for further information and queries about the Reading Group.
Recordings
VWSGB Online events are recorded and loaded to the Society’s YouTube channel. Members can access recordings for events up to May 2022 using the password supplied to them. (From July 2022 only ticket holders have access to the event recording.)
Recordings of online events to May 2022
Email onlinevwsgb@gmail.com for further information and queries.
Society events open to non-members
25th Annual Birthday Lecture
Saturday 24th January 2026, 2pm
London’s University Women’s Club Library, 2 Audley Square, London W1K 1DB
Our Birthday Lecturer, Professor Michèle Barrett, is a noted social theorist, a distinguished Virginia Woolf scholar and an expert on aspects of the social and cultural history of the First World War. After training as a sociologist at the University of Durham, and taking an MA in the Sociology of Art and Literature at Sussex, Michèle completed her doctorate at Sussex in 1976 with a thesis entitled ‘A Theory of Modernism and English Society Between the Wars, with Special Reference to Virginia Woolf’. During the period of her doctoral studies Michèle also acted as research assistant to Olivier Bell, helping with the preparation of Woolf’s diaries for publication. For more information, please go to: michelebarrett.com/
The Birthday Lecture will be followed by refreshments and a reception including Virginia Woolf-themed birthday cake, wine/soft drinks and nibbles and a raffle with numerous prizes. Ticket holders will also receive a printed copy of the Birthday Lecture.
Cost: £35 (£30 VWSGB members)
Please contact Graham Watts on eventsvwsgb@gmail.com
Other events
Roger Fry (exhibition)
Until Sunday 15 March 2026
Charleston in Firle, near Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6LL
Discover over 60 rarely seen paintings by the Bloomsbury artist who shaped British modernism. Rediscover Roger Fry in the first major show in over 25 years to focus on his work as a painter. Delve into a lesser-known side of the Bloomsbury artist and cultural critic who was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British art. Best known for his work as an art critic, writer and curator, Fry was instrumental in bringing Post-Impressionism to England. His 1910 and 1912 exhibitions at the Grafton Galleries in London, featuring Cézanne, Matisse, Van Gogh and others, were revolutionary. They introduced a shocked British public to this bold new movement, helping to ignite the modernist era in Britain and forever changing the course of British art.
This exhibition features Fry’s vibrant portraits, landscapes and interiors, capturing the essence of his time in Paris during the 1920s. Showcasing artworks from private collections alongside national treasures, the exhibition highlights Fry’s innovative use of colour and his theory of formalism – the idea that a work’s impact comes from its form, the way lines, colours and shapes are arranged, rather than its subject or story.
Tickets £11 from the Charleston website
Letter by Letter (By the Woolfs’ Hands)
Sunday 30 November–Friday 19 December 2025
Nottebohm Room, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, H. Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Exhibition of all thirty-four books personally hand-set, printed, bound and published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf at the Hogarth Press, with their variant bindings, covers and illustrations, designed by Bloomsbury artists such as Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Roger Fry and Dora Carrington. Organised by the Gordon Square Society. This exhibition will travel to the UK in 2026.
For further information, see: gordonsquaresociety.net/tickets
Charleston is Not a Dance (Antwerp)
Friday 5–Sunday 7 December 2025
The second Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury Festival, hosted by the Gordon Square Society, with prestigious events based at historic sites around Antwerp. Includes a concert by Pierre Fontenelle & Max Charue, Virginia Nicholson on ‘My Childhood at Charleston’, Darren Clarke on ‘Is Craft Art?’, Alexandra Harris on ‘The Art of Being Modern’, Gert Voorjans on ‘Sense of Place’, a Bloomsbury-themed banquet and an exhibition of all the books hand-printed by Virginia and Leonard Woolf at the Hogarth Press (see above).
For further information, see: gordonsquaresociety.net/present-upcoming-activities and gordonsquaresociety.net/tickets
Virginia Woolf’s Rooms
6 December 2025–13 June 2026
Live online
This is the Literature Cambridge Virginia Woolf Season. One lecture and seminar per month, live online, with leading Woolf scholars. Each session lasts for two hours. The lectures are recorded and you can listen again for 48 hours after the live event.
• Saturday 6 December 2025. Alison Hennegan on Rooms for Women in A Room of One’s Own (1929)
• Saturday 10 January 2026. Beth Daugherty on Room to Think in Woolf’s Essays
• Saturday 21 February 2026. Karina Jakubowicz on Jacob’s Room (1922)
• Saturday 21 March 2026. Claire Davison on Orlando’s Rooms (1929)
• Saturday 18 April 2026. Angela Harris on Rooms in Mrs Dalloway (1925)
• Saturday 16 May 2026. Trudi Tate on Rooms in The Years (1937)
• Saturday 13 June 2026. Ellie Mitchell on Rooms in The Waves (1931)
Price per session
£33.00 full price
£28.00 students and members of the VWSGB
Book on the Literature Cambridge website
Contact: info@literaturecambridge.co.uk
Woolf Works (ballet)
Saturday 17 January–Friday 13 February 2026
Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London WC2E 9DD
Wayne McGregor’s award-winning ballet returns to London’s Royal Opera House for ten performances. The ballet features pieces inspired by Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves, as well as details from Woolf’s own life, and features an extract from the only extant recording of Woolf’s voice. Music by Max Richter.
Tickets on general sale from 15 October 2025
The Waves (performance)
Thursday 16 April–Saturday 23 May 2026, 7.30pm, plus matinees Tue and Sat 3pm
Jermyn Street Theatre, 16B Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6ST
Rhoda. Bernard. Susan. Neville. Jinny. Louis. They begin by the coast. Then, school. Youth. Forming. Swelling. Terror. Joy. Working. Falling. Fame. Grief. Alone. Together. The Waves is a tender, thrilling story about growing up together. Major new talents Flora Wilson Brown and Júlia Levai unite to bring Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece to heart-thumping life.
Tickets £32 (£28 concessions) available online
For further information, please email: office@jermynstreettheatre.co.uk
35th Annual International Virginia Woolf Conference: ‘Virginia Woolf and Sound’
Wednesday 24–Sunday 28 June 2026
İstanbul Bilgi University
This year’s conference seeks to explore the rich and varied dimensions of sound in Woolf’s writing, her historical and cultural milieu, and the broader literary and artistic landscapes that shaped and were shaped by her work. As sound studies continues to expand the boundaries of how we understand sensory experience, media and cultural production, its intersection with Virginia Woolf studies offers rich terrain for rethinking literary form and perception. From the rhythmic structures of her prose to her representations of listening, voice and acoustic space, Woolf’s work engages with sound not only as aesthetic texture but as a means of exploring subjectivity, embodiment and social experience.
Organised by Demet Karabulut Dede.
For further details, see the İstanbul Bilgi University website
Virginia Woolf and the Natural World
Thursday 9 July–Monday 13 July 2026
Live online
This is the Literature Cambridge Online Virginia Woolf Summer Course 2026. Join us for five days (3.5 hours per day) of intensive study, with lectures, tutorials, talks, discussions and more.
Lecture list
Alison Hennegan, Women and Nature in Jacob’s Room (1922)
Karina Jakubowicz, Gardens in To the Lighthouse (1927)
Hollie Wells, Land and Sea in The Waves (1931)
Trudi Tate, The Weather in History: The Years (1937)
Ellie Mitchell, Earth and Sky in Between the Acts (1941)
Talks
Ann Kennedy Smith on Woolf, Rupert Brooke and the ‘Neo-Pagans’
Harriet Baker on Nature Writing in Virginia Woolf’s Asheham Diary
Other talks and readings to be confirmed shortly
Fees
£550 VWSGB members
£590 Full price
Book on the Literature Cambridge website
Vanessa Bell & Duncan Grant
Thursday 12 November 2026–Sunday 11 April 2027
Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
This major exhibition features the work of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, delving into the extraordinary relationship between the artists, and tracing their remarkable creative partnership that spanned more than fifty years. The exhibition explores Bell and Grant’s legacy as part of the Bloomsbury group, whose commitment to freedom and radical experimentation had a significant influence on the course of art, literature and societal thought in Britain.
The exhibition features more than 250 works, including vivid portraits, still lives, landscape paintings, decorative works on furniture, ceramics, textiles and much more. Duncan Grant’s studio, relocated for the exhibition from Charleston, is an unmissable highlight. As well as emphasising Bell and Grant’s shared creative endeavours, visitors will see how the artists also forged their own paths. This joyful exhibition celebrates their extraordinary artistic partnership, and the enduring impact these two remarkable artists had on British art.
Tickets will be available from the Tate Britain website
36th Annual International Virginia Woolf Conference
Thursday 17–Sunday 20 June 2027 (pre-conference events Wednesday 16 June)
Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Organised by Ane Thon Knutsen. Further details to follow.
Monks House
Rodmell, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 3HF
Visits must be pre-booked (includes National Trust members)
Explore the country retreat of the novelist Virginia Woolf, where she wrote many of most celebrated novels. Leonard and Virginia’s personalities saturate the house and it should feel as if they have just stepped out for a walk. You can explore the house at your own speed and there are room guides on hand to help you to bring the house alive. The beautiful English country garden was designed by Leonard Woolf and has incredible views of the Sussex Downs. Virginia Woolf was greatly influenced by the garden wrote many of her major works in her writing lodge. Her short story ‘The Orchard’ was inspired by the garden. With the tranquility of the Sussex Downs through the window and the garden surrounding her, it was the perfect place to write.
Facilities
There is a small shop selling guidebooks, postcards and some second-hand books. Outdoor privy located in the garden. Dogs are permitted in the garden on a lead, but there are no dog bins at the property. There is a small parking area for cars and bicycles nearby, and the Abergavenny Arms in Rodmell serves tea, coffee and cake when Monks House is open.
Volunteer guides
Would you like to be a volunteer guide at Monks House? Meet other Woolf enthusiasts and work, surrounded by Bloomsbury treasures, in the house where Virginia and Leonard Woolf lived for so many years. Training will be provided. Read more about volunteering for us. If you’re interested, please phone 01273 474760 or email monkshouse@nationaltrust.org.uk
Charleston
Charleston, Firle, East Sussex BN8 6LL
Open Wednesday–Sunday/Bank Holiday Monday, 10am–5pm
Visit Charleston to explore the art and lives of artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and their contemporaries. Almost as soon as they moved to Charleston in 1916, Bell and Grant began to paint. Not just the walls, but on every surface imaginable, transforming the house into a living, breathing work of art. Over the following decades, Charleston became a gathering point for some of the twentieth century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers known collectively as the Bloomsbury group. It is where they lived out their progressive social and artistic ideals. Today, it continues to be a place that brings people together to engage with art and ideas.
A visitor assistant will accompany you around the house as you explore the individually designed and hand-painted rooms. Entry to the galleries and the house is by timed ticket and pre-booking is recommended. The shop, café and garden are available to visit without purchasing a ticket. For events, see the What’s On page. You can shop online at the Charleston shop web page.
Tickets £26.50 (concessions available; Friends of Charleston free)
Promoting your event
We would be happy to tell members about your Virginia Woolf event, feature it on this page and post about it on our social media pages (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram) if you are willing to email the following to onlinevwsgb@gmail.com. Please note that we need the full details: if we don’t receive them, we have to do your research ourselves. In a busy period this may not be possible.
For website/member message:
Title of event
Day / date / time
Full address & postcode
Brief description
Ticket price and how to book
Contact email / phone no.
Web address (in full) for more info
–Events are listed in date order and will be deleted when expired, so please make sure all the relevant details appear for each event separately.
For Facebook, as above, plus at least one image. For X/Twitter, please provide a short post no longer than 280 characters (including spaces), and for Instagram, a 100-word paragraph plus image. Please make sure that these include the date of your event and contact details.
Payment (VWSGB events only)
First, book your place at the event by emailing eventsvwsgb@gmail.com
Next, pay for the event by online banking, PayPal, credit/debit card or cheque (sterling only).
1) For online payments, please use the following details.
Bank: Santander
Account Name: Virginia Woolf Society GB
Account No.: 40411044
Sort Code: 09 06 66
2) If you wish to pay by PayPal, please email for details. You may need to add a little extra to cover costs.
3) If you wish to pay by credit/debit card, you can email for a PayPal invoice. You will then be able to pay by Visa/Visa Debit/Visa Electron, Mastercard, Discover, UnionPay, Maestro or American Express.
4) Make out a cheque to ‘Virginia Woolf Society’ and email for details.
Reference: for all payment types, please indicate the event plus your surname (e.g. AGM22 SMITH), so that we can match up the payment with the contact details provided.