The 19th London Literature Festival, curated by Dua Lipa, brings talks, readings, masterclasses and performances by authors and poets across the Southbank Centre.
The London Literature Festival returns to the Southbank Centre from Tuesday 20 October to Sunday 1 November, its 19th edition. This year it's curated by Dua Lipa, the Grammy and Brit Award-winning artist and founder of the Service95 Book Club, who's shaped the programme around her own reading tastes and brought her club's following along with it. The festival takes over the riverside complex on Belvedere Road, with sessions spread across the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Clore Ballroom and the National Poetry Library.
There's a lot to pick from. Dua Lipa herself will be in conversation with Mustafa, Zadie Smith and Patti Smith at the Royal Festival Hall. Hernan Diaz appears in the Purcell Room, and 'Out-Spoken' brings together poets Alice Oswald and Kwame Dawes. The 2026 Forward Prizes for Poetry will be awarded live, and 'Fierce Sounds' pairs Kae Tempest with Omar Musa. Malorie Blackman will be talking about Noughts & Crosses, Tice Cin presents Safe Spaces, and Hanif and Carlo Kureishi appear together for Are You With Me Now?. Xiaolu Guo delivers her New Statesman/Goldsmiths Prize Lecture, AI-esque.
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Beyond the big names, the festival has grown to lean into how people actually discover books these days — book clubs, podcasts, social media and online communities — rather than sticking to traditional literary circles. It keeps its ties to London's writing scene, too; this year it marks the 40th anniversary of 'Poems on the Underground', Transport for London's long-running programme. Several sessions are free, and the whole thing is supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. It runs from Tuesday 20 October to Sunday 1 November at the Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX.
