We’re not saying Dua Lipa has singlehandedly made reading sexy again with her Service95 book club … but we’re not, not saying that. Next up on Lipa’s quest to dominate the literature scene? Her upcoming curation of this year’s London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre, which runs from October 21 to November 1 – and its line-up has just dropped.
A trifecta of literary stars will dominate the opening weekend: Zadie Smith, Patti Smith and Mustafa will all appear separately in conversation with Lipa. London icon Zadie will chat with the No Rules singer about her debut novel White Teeth, which was published in 2000 when she was just 24, and how she’s lived with the legacy of the book since, as well as what London life would be like for its protagonists in the current era.
October 24 sees Lipa take to the stage with Sudanese Canadian poet, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker Mustafa about poetry and their poet idols. Musician and author Patti Smith will join Lipa on October 25 to get into her 2025 memoir Bread of Angels, which traces her life from growing up in the aftermath of WWII, her artistic life, and her marriage to, and the death of her husband Fred “Sonic” Smith.
The programme also includes events with bestselling authors Hernan Diaz, whose 2022 novel Trust won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and British children’s and young adult author Malorie Blackman.
Service95 – the cultural publication Lipa founded in 2021 ¬– will host a special edition of the festival’s Indie Night, which supports up-and-coming authors and independent presses. There will also be Out-Spoken, a celebration of poetry and live music that highlights diverse talent, including Alice Oswald, Max Porter and Kwame Dawes.
Other events include human rights activist Nadia Murad on her new memoir I Choose My Beginning, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Tareq Baconi on Baconi’s book What Now: On Palestine, Freedom, and Our Global Future and the struggle for justice in Palestine, and journalist and author Oliver Bullough leading an evening of discussion and performance centred around threats to freedom of expression for journalists and media.
“For 75 years, the Southbank Centre has been a place where emerging talent shares a space with global icons – a home for the writers, artists and musicians who define their moment and the audiences who discover them here first,” Southbank Centre’s artistic director Mark Ball said in a statement. “As we mark this anniversary, Dua's dedication to sharing her love for books, and her deep curiosity about the world, is exactly the spirit this building was built on.”
London Literature Festival runs from October 21 to November 1 at Southbank Centre. Tickets on sale for Southbank Centre members at 10am on August 3, and to the general public at 10am on August 5.
