Created in collaboration between Nick Hern Books and fellow drama publishers Bloomsbury, Faber and Concord Theatricals, the (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play Lists highlight fantastic plays by writers of colour, selected by a panel of expert advisors, which are great for 11-18 year-olds (and beyond) to read, study and perform.

The Play Lists aim to support schools to create more representative and inclusive drama experiences within the English and Drama curricula. They form part of the wider Lit in Colour campaign founded in 2020 by Penguin and The Runnymede Trust.

The 2024 Play List, which has just been released, features nineteen wonderful NHB-published plays by writers including Waleed Akhtar, Sonali Bhattacharyya, debbie tucker green, Sami Ibrahim, Benedict Lombe, Arinzé Kene and Lynn Nottage. You can read the full 2023 and 2024 lists here.

Matt Applewhite, Managing Director at Nick Hern Books, said:

'We have been delighted by the enthusiastic reception to the first (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List – but not surprised. We knew there was a very real, very urgent need for more plays by more diverse writers to be more widely known, read, studied, performed and celebrated, and we have been actively working for some time to diversify and broaden our list of authors. The sense of the canon being disrupted and rewritten is exciting and long overdue. Thank you to everyone who has dived into the first list – we hope this second list offers you another springboard for rich discoveries.'

Everyone at Nick Hern Books was saddened to hear of the death of wonderful actor and NHB author Timothy West, who died on 12 November, aged 90. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.

Here, NHB's founder and Publisher Nick Hern offers a personal tribute to Tim and his books, which we are very proud to publish.

'Publishing, like most other activities, is subject to the laws of chance and unintended consequences. Which is how I came to publish Tim West’s first two books.

'I was about to re-publish a neglected classic, a book about comedic acting by Athene Seyler and to bring it out on her 100th birthday, for which she was still very much alive, but I needed a new foreword by someone already renowned for the comedy of her performances. Prunella Scales, it turned out, had known the book since childhood. Problem solved.

'Shortly afterwards, instead of the hoped-for book proposal from Pru, came a suggestion from her husband that the letters he had written home from a multitude of tours might make for amusing and instructive reading. They did, and I’m Here I Think, Where Are You? duly made its debut in 1994, Tim’s recording of it becoming a staple of BBC Sounds. It absolutely captures his slightly ironic – but also affectionate – view of his profession and his fellow actors.

'A few years later, he was ready to write a "proper" autobiography. A Moment Towards the End of the Play came out in 2001 and sold well especially on the back of personal appearances by Tim – he was much loved. As indeed was Pru Scales, largely thanks to her phenomenal ‘turn’ as Sybil Fawlty. So the idea of getting them to co-author a book on acting was a no-brainer, though coaxing it out of them was not so easy, involving as it did alternating paragraphs in which each of them disagreed with what the other had just written! The resulting book, So You Want To Be An Actor? (published in 2005), is still very much in print nearly twenty years later.

'Throughout this period Tim and I would meet regularly, if infrequently, for lunch, at which he would lament that he really wanted to write another "proper" book but was bereft of a subject. Neither of us was to know that the elevation of his hobby to a TV series would see the waterborne antics of him and Pru on the canals transform them both into National Treasures.

'Tim’s gain was my loss – no more books about theatre for me! – but of course I can’t begrudge him this phenomenal late flowering. It only went to show the rest of the country what a thoroughly nice chap he was. An unintended consequence, if ever there was one.'

We're excited to be partnering with Outside Edge Theatre Company – the UK’s leading charity dedicated to addiction recovery through theatre and drama – to present Script Club: a new playreading and events initiative to support the development of writers from underrepresented backgrounds.

Each Script Club event will focus on a specific play, with participants receiving free, digital access to the playtext provided by NHB, followed by an in-person Q&A session with the playwright at the Bush Theatre, London. Participants will be able to explore each play with its writer, learn about how it was conceived, written and developed, and gain valuable inspiration, insight, advice and support in their own journeys as writers.

The first Script Club takes place in December 2024 with Winsome Pinnock, focusing on her seminal play Leave Taking. Script Clubs in early 2025 will be held with Conor McPherson on his contemporary classic The Weir, and Waleed Akhtar on his Olivier Award-winning play The P Word.

It is presented in association with theatre companies Cardboard Citizens, Clean Break and Synergy Theatre Project – who, together with Outside Edge, work with people affected by addiction, homelessness and with experience of the criminal justice system. The events are open only to members of these four organisations, who have been contacted with information on how to sign up. Future Script Clubs and contributing playwrights will be announced at a later date.

Matt Applewhite, Managing Director of Nick Hern Books, said: ‘Outside Edge, Cardboard Citizens, Clean Break and Synergy do incredible, inspirational work, supporting some of London’s most vulnerable individuals. It’s a privilege to partner with them on this new initiative, bringing people together in an inclusive environment to share the power of a great play.’

Matt Steinberg (Artistic Director and CEO) and Naomi Hopkins (Participation and Operations Manager) of Outside Edge Theatre Company, said: ‘We’re excited to partner with Nick Hern Books to offer this extraordinary opportunity for our participants and the members of theatre companies with whom we have long-standing relationships. Script Club will provide the writers from our organisations with a safe and supportive community in which they can develop as playwrights, connect with their peers and learn from the best playwrights working across the nation’s stages. This partnership is a powerful example of how organisations can join together to support people from underrepresented backgrounds to access professional development opportunities with leading industry professionals.’

Waleed Akhtar, Oliver Award-winning playwright, who will participate in Script Club in 2025, said: ‘I jumped at the chance to be a part of this initiative. It’s what theatre should be about: reaching communities and people who have traditionally been ignored by the mainstream. It’s why I wrote The P Word – and continue to make work.’