The British Library in London is set to launch a major exhibition exploring the life and career of Agatha Christie, featuring rare letters, notebooks, manuscripts and personal artifacts that highlight the world’s best-selling novelist’s extensive travels and wide-ranging passions, per smithsonianmag.com.
Titled “Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery,” the upcoming exhibition opens on October 30, 2026, and runs through June 20, 2027. Curated by Lucy Rowland, the display aims to take visitors back to Christie’s childhood in Devon, England, while documenting her journey to becoming the iconic “Queen of Crime.” Exhibition highlights include the typescript of an unpublished short story written when Christie was 18, a notebook detailing Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes methods, and feedback from fellow crime writer Dorothy L. Sayers.
The multi-section exhibition examines different chapters of the author’s life, starting with her early years and progressing through her service as a pharmacy dispenser during World War I, globe-trotting adventures that included surfing in Hawaii, and her support of archaeological excavations in the Middle East alongside her second husband, Max Mallowan. Visitors will also be able to view her 1937 Remington typewriter, which she used to write the 1939 novel And Then There Were None, as well as her Leica camera and personal photo albums.
Christie remains the best-selling novelist of all time, with her books having sold at least two billion copies globally. James Prichard, Christie’s great-grandson and CEO of Agatha Christie Limited, noted that the exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of her death by offering both reflection and celebration of her enduring literary legacy.
- Featured image: Agatha Christie boards a train in 1922, during a 10-month trip around the world with her first husband. © The Christie Archive Trust