Power and storytelling

How can an author bring out the stories and voices buried in their research to deliver the impact they are hoping for? And how should writers communicate experiences of power and oppression that are not their own? Whether embarking on a creative novel or an academic monograph, an author is faced with choices about the ways in which they tell their stories.  LSE Press author Naila Kabeer and Philip Hensher will explore the purpose and value of different narrative forms, as well as considering the impact of literature on global communities. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Monica Ali is a bestselling writer whose work has been translated into 26 languages. She is the author of five books: Brick Lane, Alentejo Blue, In the Kitchen, Untold Story and Love Marriage. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2003 was named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. She has been nominated for, amongst others, the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and in the U.S. has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She has taught creative writing at Columbia University, New York, where she was a visiting Professor, and from 2015 to 2018 she was Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of Surrey.

Phillip Hensher is the author of several novels and a collection of short stories, including Other Lulus (1994), Kitchen Venom (1996), and Pleasured (1998). In 2003, he was nominated by Granta magazine as one of 20 “Best of Young British Novelists”. His latest novels are The Northern Clemency (2008), shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book), King of the Badgers (2011), Scenes from Early Life: A novel (2012) and The Emperor Waltz (2014). Philip is a regular broadcaster and contributes reviews and articles to various newspapers and journals including The Spectator, the Mail on Sunday and The Independent. He is a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature. 

Naila Kabeer is Professor of Gender and Development at the Department of International Development.  Naila is also a Faculty Associate at LSE’s International Inequalities Institute and on the governing  board of the Atlantic Fellowship for Social and Economic Equity.  Her new book, Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the ‘Bangladesh Paradox’, will be published by LSE Press in late Summer 2024, and will be free to read and download from their website via Open Access.

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Power and Politics running from Monday 10 to Saturday 15 June 2024, with a series of events exploring how power and politics shape our world. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 13 May.  

Hashtag for this event: #LSEFestival