Excitingly (actually, scarily too), our major summer exhibition, Writing Britain, opens on 11 May. It’s a showcase for our great Eng Lit collections: from a 14th-century manuscript of 'The Canterbury Tales' to the original handwritten versions of classic stories such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or 'Alice’s Adventures Under Ground,' as it was originally called) or Middlemarch, to letters by Ted Hughes, Charlotte Bronte, or George Orwell.

We’re using all these - over 150 of the Library’s greatest literary treasures – to talk about how writers have described the changing and the eternal spaces and places of the British Isles… and more than that, how great texts shape our perception, and transform our spaces and places. 

It’s part of London Festival 2012: which, for all the early uncertainties around the Cultural Olympiad, is going to be (is already) an inspired mix of amazing arts events and exhibitions. 

The posters for our exhibition have already started to appear on the Euston Road. I’m biased, but they’re brilliant. I’ll add the image to this post - spot the quotes/images…

And more in a minute on loans…