The PTI announce ‘In Conversation’ with Award-Winning Author, Zadie Smith

Education charity, The PTI (@PTIEducation), is delighted to announce an ‘In Conversation’ event with best-selling author, @ZadieSmith, for their James Sabben-Clare Annual Lecture taking place on 17 June 2021. 

Teachers and their students in year groups eleven to thirteen are invited to join the virtual Q&A event to learn and be inspired by the award-winning author, essayist, and short-story writer.

Zadie Smith has written novels including White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as two collections of essays, Changing My Mind and Feel Free. In 2002, Zadie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was listed as one of Granta’s 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and again in 2013. 

Her novel, White Teeth, won multiple literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. On Beauty was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and NW was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. 

Chris Pope, Co-Director, The PTI, said: “It is an immense privilege to have Zadie Smith join us for our annual lecture this year. Throughout the pandemic, students from across the country have been transported into the wonderful world of fiction to escape lockdown and I know many would have indulged in Zadie Smith’s truly marvellous stories. I hope this ‘In Conversation’ will inspire reluctant bookworms to pick up a book, and potentially inspire the next generation of authors”. 

This event follows a long-line of excellent, annual lectures hosted by The PTI, with previous speakers including Prof Simon Schama, Sir Tom Stoppard, Stephen Fry, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bill Bryson OBE, Andrew Graham Dixon and Dr Helen Czerski. 

The ‘In Conversation’ will take place virtually at 14.00 – 15.30 on 17 June 2021. 

This event is free; however, places are limited, and tickets will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Once you have registered, you can send the registration link to students so they can register too. Please note students should not book on the PTI’s website.