The London Literature Festival is well into its run at the Southbank Centre, which has been hosting the programme since Tuesday 20 October and will keep it going until Sunday 1 November. This year's line-up is curated by Dua Lipa, founder of the Service95 Book Club, and the festival is supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. The events are spread across the centre's usual rooms: Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, the Clore Ballroom, the Level 5 Function Room, the Sunley Pavilion and the Weston Pavilion.
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The two biggest draws both sit in the Royal Festival Hall. On Thursday 24 October at 15:00, Dua Lipa joins Zadie Smith to talk about White Teeth, and the following evening, Friday 25 October at 19:30, she sits down with Patti Smith on Bread of Angels. Tickets for both start at £91. Smith, born Sadie Smith in north-west London, wrote White Teeth as her debut in 2000, which picked up the Whitbread First Novel Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Betty Trask Award. Patti Smith, the Chicago-born singer, poet and author, published Bread of Angels in November 2025 and has since been awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts and the Harold Washington Literary Award in Chicago.
Beyond those two, there is plenty left to catch. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Tareq Baconi appear on Thursday 21 October with Nesrine Malik for On Freedom, and Hernan Diaz talks about Ply on the same day. Nadia Murad speaks on Friday 22 October, and VE Schwab is on Friday 25 October with Victorious. Towards the end of the month, Malorie Blackman marks Noughts & Crosses at 25 on Wednesday 28 October, Michael Douglas brings One Helluva Ride on the same day, and Tice Cin presents Safe Spaces on Thursday 29 October. The festival closes on Sunday 1 November with Hanif and Carlo Kureishi on Are You With Me Now? and Xiaolu Guo delivering her 2026 New Statesman/Goldsmiths Prize Lecture, AI-esque. Guo, born in China in 1973, has seen her work translated into 28 languages and published Call Me Ishmaelle earlier this year.
Poetry and awards are woven in too. Out-Spoken: October runs on Wednesday 23 October, and Thursday 24 October doubles up with the 2026 Forward Prizes for Poetry Ceremony and the Poems on the Underground 40th Anniversary. The Wasafiri: New Writing Prize 2026 is on Saturday 31 October, the Creative Future Writers' Award Showcase on Friday 30 October, and The Goldsmiths Prize Shortlist Readings on Sunday 1 November.
Families are covered as well, with The Children's Bookshow presenting Katherine Rundell on Wednesday 21 October, The Smeds and the Smoos running from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November, Search for a Story drop-in activities from Thursday 29 October, and Cardboard Citizens: The Meaning of Home on Saturday 30 October. There are also free events scattered through, like Creative Encounters: Poetic Constellations on Wednesday 21 October, Wavelengths: October on Thursday 22 October, and WordPlay for the younger ones. The Southbank Centre is at Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, with Waterloo and Embankment as the nearest tubes, and the venue is cashless.
Published Date
21 October 2026
