Meet the Author: Zadie Smith

Wednesday 17th June 2026 7:00pm

Brighton Book Festival is delighted to welcome the profound and unparalleled literary voice Zadie Smith to Brighton for this exclusive event. 

Important Note: This event is not included with the Full Festival Pass. 

Novelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read English at Cambridge before graduating in 1997.

Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth, is a vibrant portrait of contemporary multicultural London, told through the stories of three ethnically-diverse families. The novel won numerous awards and prizes, and has been voted one of the most important books of the last 125 years. It has also been translated into over twenty languages and was adapted for both television and the stage. In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have captured her attention in recent years.

Join us as Zadie talks about her work and her new book Dead and Alive, where she takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about Tár and to Glastonbury to witness the ascendance of Stormzy. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North West London and invites us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic – and the meaning of ‘the commons’ in all our lives.

Throughout this thrilling collection, Zadie Smith shows us once again her unrivalled ability to think through critically and humanely some of the most urgent preoccupations and tendencies of our troubled times.

Kuba Shand-Baptiste is an award-winning journalist whose work is interested in identity, human connection and social justice. Her writing examines motives with nuance and offers neglected perspectives. She draws on experiences growing up in North-West London as a British-Caribbean person. Kuba’s work - including essays, features and poetry - has been featured in numerous publications, earning widespread acclaim. She is an engaging public speaker who has participated in panel discussions, lectures, radio shows and podcasts.