HOTA – Home of the Arts – on Australia famed Gold Coast – will host the global debut of Writers Revealed: Treasures from the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London in April this year, an exhibition showcasing the collaboration between two established British institutions.
The British Library holds over 170 million items, across its sites in Yorkshire and London. On the other hand, the National Portrait Gallery, which sits behind the National Gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square, is home to the largest collection of portraits in the world.
The exhibition will open on 12 April and offer an opportunity for Australians to come face-to-face with some of the most well-known figures in English literature. Over 100 rare manuscripts and first editions, along with 70 portraits, will be displayed together for the very first time.
The exhibition will feature prominent and influential literary figures from the 16th century to the present day, including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters, William Blake, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien and contemporary luminaries, Sir Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith.
Alexandra Ault, Lead Curator of Modern Archives and Manuscripts at the British Library, says: “We are thrilled to collaborate with the National Portrait Gallery on Writers Revealed, a truly unique exhibition that brings together some of the most exceptional objects from our collections. Visitors will experience rare first editions and exquisite manuscripts alongside celebrated portraits of the writers who created them. The exhibition features over 70 authors from a diverse range of backgrounds, spanning 500 years of English literature.”
Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator of 17th Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery, says: “Featuring treasures that rarely leave our Gallery in London, this major new exhibition will bring HOTA’s visitors closer to some of the most important figures in English literary history, from William Shakespeare to Zadie Smith. Encountering these displays, visitors will discover what is revealed and what is hidden when life, writing and portraiture intersect.”
The exhibition aims to captivate visitors, giving them an insight into the lives and creative processes of these iconic writers.
HOTA’s exhibition space will be transformed for 16 weeks, allowing visitors to view artefacts including handwritten and illustrated letters from Tolkien to his grandson that echo his work in The Lord of the Rings, a diary entry by Lewis Carroll discussing Alice in Wonderland, Virginia Woolf’s handwritten manuscript for Mrs Dalloway, Jane Austen’s writing desk, and the only portrait likely to have been painted of William Shakespeare during his lifetime.
Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate says: “These literary wordsmiths have sparked our collective imaginations for centuries. We now have an incredible opportunity to learn more of their literary craft, their manuscripts and personal lives. Securing exhibitions of this calibre underscores the emergence of HOTA as a real arts and cultural heartland for not only the city but the entire region.”
Writers Revealed: Treasures from the British Library and National Portrait Gallery, London is on view at HOTA in Queensland, Australia, from 12 April to 3 August 2025; ticketed.
