Creating Beyond the Mainstream

In this Ethical Matters talk, novelist and screenwriter Courttia Newland reflects on what it means to be an artist operating in the margins and shares his experiences and observations for those facing similar hurdles and choices. Courttia explores key aspects of creating beyond the mainstream: centring your own voice, reading outside of the white Western canon, and how success shapes the work of historically excluded creatives. In his book, The Art of Opposition, he explores the work of other oppositional artists, including Percival Everett, Lou Mensah, Iain Banks, Jean Binta Breeze and others. The result is a startling provocation and a galvanising vindication of refusing to conform. Courttia Newland is the author of nine books, including The Scholar and Cosmogramma. His novel, A River Called Time, was shortlisted for the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke Award Science Fiction Book of the Year. Newland is the editor of the seminal IC3: The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain, spanning poetry, short fiction, memoir and essays. As a screenwriter, he has co-written the BBC series Small Axe and The Woman in the Wall. This event is part of Bloomsbury Festival 2026.