The Harriet Martineau Lecture celebrates the legacy of a remarkable, world-changing woman by inviting globally-renowned radical speakers to respond to her life and work.
Made possible with the support of The Martineau Society, the first Harriet Martineau Lecture was delivered by Ali Smith in May 2013 and featured a call to draw Harriet Martineau’s face onto £5 notes in protest at the decision to remove Elizabeth Fry from the same note. Since then the likes of Kate Mosse, Masha Gessen, Linton Kwesi-Johnson, Sarah Perry, Ellah P. Wakatama and Kit de Waal have given the lecture, variously exploring Martineau’s internationalism, inspiration for feminism, and role in the abolition of slavery.
The Harriet Martineau Lecture is presented at Norfolk & Norwich Festival each year.
Martineau’s anti-establishment writing had a cost to her reputation, and she is a writer who should be better remembered.
Born and bred right here in Norwich, Harriet Martineau achieved world-renown and acclaim for the tenacity and rigour of her thinking, her independence and her radical spirit. And yet she has been largely hidden from history and lost to the public imagination. Putting Martineau’s name back on the map of her home city is exactly how this lecture series came to be.
What happier format with which to recognise Martineau’s astonishing contribution to intellectual life, in her lifetime and far beyond it, than by commissioning Ali Smith, Masha Gessen, Lydia Cacho and Anabel Hernández, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sarah Perry, Ellah P. Wakatama, Kit de Waal, Charlotte Higgins, Val McDermid, and now Rachel Clarke, to write back to her by writing forward to us?
Peggy Hughes, Norwich UNESCO City of Literature
Harriet Martineau Lecture 2026
Inspired by the fearless legacy of Harriet Martineau, Dr Rachel Clarke explored the links between gender, medicine and power, drawing connections between Victorian healthcare and the contemporary NHS.
Her lecture considered what Harriet Martineau, one of Britain’s most outspoken writers and campaigners, might make of modern medicine, and what her voice can still teach us about advocacy, compassion and the importance of speaking out in healthcare today.
These lectures are written in the spirit of this radical, pioneering Norwich voice.
Val McDermid
For her lecture, bestselling crime writer Val McDermid explored how Harriet Martineau’s daring writing indirectly inspired her own.
Charlotte Higgins
The 2023 lecture was delivered by award-winning author and Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins on the power of culture as a lens through which to understand current conflicts.
Kit de Waal
Bestselling novelist, memoirist and literary activist Kit de Waal gave a thought-provoking lecture covering a range of topics, including human rights, equality, hunger and, as she calls it, ‘compassion without judgement’.
Ellah P. Wakatama
In 2021, Ellah P. Wakatama and Julianknxx worked together to produce the first Harriet Martineau Lecture by film. The piece, titled ‘None but Ourselves’, takes you on a personal journey of self-discovery through reading and storytelling.
Sarah Perry
For her lecture Sarah Perry, author of ‘Melmoth’ and ‘The Essex Serpent’, explored the notion of the ‘Essex girl’, invoking unexpected moments from history and popular culture.
Lydia Cacho & Anabel Hernández
For our 2017 lecture, two of Mexico’s finest journalists, Lydia Cacho and Anabel Hernández, described their international campaign to lay bare the shocking corruption and violence of the government through writing.
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson considered a relatively underexplored dimension to Martineau’s writings for his lecture: her progressive campaigning on behalf of Black emancipation. Linton analysed Martineau’s works, Society in America and The Hour and The Man, considering parallels with CLR James’ classic of Marxist historiography The Black Jacobins.
Masha Gessen
Celebrated journalist, author and activist Masha Gessen delivered the third annual Harriet Martineau Lecture, exploring freedom of speech and investigative journalism.
Kate Mosse
For her lecture, novelist, non-fiction and short story writer Kate Mosse drew on her own experiences as a novelist and cultural commentator to reflect on Martineau’s legacy and life.
Ali Smith
Ali Smith delivered the inaugural Harriet Martineau Lecture in 2013, where she led a call to draw Harriet Martineau’s face onto £5 notes in protest at the decision to remove Elizabeth Fry from the same note.
