2026 PEN Lecture

He will deliver the 2026 PEN Lecture on 29 April.  The annual lecture is organised by human rights organisation English PEN,  in partnership with Newcastle Centre for Literary Arts (NCLA).

Max Porter’s lecture will reflect on English PEN’s charter, which declares for a "free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace”, and affirms that “literature knows no frontiers, and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheaval”. The author will ask what place the Charter’s principles hold in our society, focussing particularly on its phrase “in time of peace”. After delivering his lecture, Max Porter will be in conversation with award-winning writer and NCLA Director Professor Preti Taneja.

New season

The new series of NCLA lectures begins on 17 February when NCLA and the Poetry Book Society (PBS)  launch the PBS Spring Selections with leading poets Karen McCarthy Woolf and Jennifer Wong.

Karen McCarthy Woolf will read from Unsafe (Bloomsbury), a fierce interrogation of colonialism and gentrification in LA and London. Jennifer Wong will launch Light Year (Nine Arches Press), a journey into the life of a migrant and mother. They will also be in conversation with Sinéad Morrissey, Professor of Poetry at Newcastle University.

Poor Artists is the genre defying debut of The White Pube, the collaborative identity of art critics Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad. They have built an international cult following with their innovative writing style and their honesty and irreverence about the realities of making art and the art world today.

They will be in conversation with Alex Pheby, Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University, on 17 March. to discuss the big questions: What is art? Why is it so hard to become ‘an artist’ and why do so many people try anyway? Based on interviews across the art world, and featuring talking babies, zombies and Turner Prize winners, Poor Artists is one of the most surreal, political and original books of 2025.

Professor Preti Taneja, Director of NCLA said: “I am delighted to launch NCLA's 2026 season, showcasing the finest writers and thinkers  working today. In our times of upheaval, our brilliant Spring poets bring much needed solace and make necessary calls to action; radical accessibility to art is more important than ever, and thinking about peace and freedom of expression could not be more urgent. All are welcome to these fresh events, and I look forward to seeing you there."

Details and registration for each talk are available here: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/events/. Each lecture will take place in the Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University. Books will be available for purchase through NCLA’s independent bookshop partner, Forum Books.