New Light Through Old Windows – Modern Literary Adaptation, from a Writer’s Perspective

_{Wednesday, 12 May 2027, 18:00. Holborn, Barnard’s Inn Hall.}_{Free for everyone. Limited reserved tickets available for RSL Members and Fellows.}

In this lecture, playwright and writer Hannah Khalil challenges the idea that adaptation is easy or merely a commercial strategy, arguing instead that it is complex and creatively liberating.

Drawing on examples from other writers, as well as four of her own adaptations (The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Anderson, Shakespeare and Fletcher’s King Henry VIII, Arabian Nights and Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle) she shows how literary adaptation allows playwrights to reimagine outdated themes and address contemporary issues within familiar stories.

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Speakers

Hannah Khalil held the Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University, Philadelphia, USA in 2021 and was a Creative Fellow of the Samuel Beckett Archive for 2021/2022. She co-conceived and acted as co-artistic director for the Not Beckett international festival of new plays. She is currently an Honorary Fellow of Birkbeck University. In 2022 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is an Associate Artist of Shakespeare’s Globe.

The Royal Society of Literature Series

This series brings together leading writers, scholars and artists to explore how literature shapes the ways we understand history, identity and storytelling. Hosted in partnership with Gresham College, the series examines Black performance and Shakespeare, the recovery of overlooked lives and forgotten histories, and the creative possibilities of literary adaptation. Together, these lectures reveal how writers revisit the past, challenge inherited narratives and create new ways of seeing the world through literature.

Presented in partnership with Gresham College.