Rachel is the award-winning author of four Sunday Times bestselling books, including ‘The Story of a Heart’ (winner of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction), ‘Dear Life’ and ‘Breathtaking’.
The first Harriet Martineau Lecture was delivered by Ali Smith in May 2013 and featured a call to draw Harriet Martineau’s face onto £5 notes in protest at the decision to remove Elizabeth Fry from the same note. Since then the likes of Kate Mosse, Masha Gessen, Linton Kwesi-Johnson, Sarah Perry, Ellah P. Wakatama, Kit de Waal, Charlotte Higgins and Val McDermid have given the lecture, variously exploring Martineau’s internationalism, inspiration for feminism, and role in the abolition of slavery.
Tickets: £12
Part of City of Literature weekend — a Norfolk & Norwich Festival and National Centre for Writing presentation, programmed by the National Centre for Writing.
Supported by The Martineau Society
