Service95 Book Club: Authors of the Estate

Authors of the Estate are taking over The Clore Ballroom on Saturday 24 October, as part of the Service95 Book Club. It's a drop-in afternoon, so you can drift in and out whenever suits you rather than sticking to a fixed start time.

The main thing is the 'Authors' Playground', an interactive storytelling hour they've built. The room is laid out with tables, pens, paper, modelling clay and specially made dice: you roll the dice and respond however you like, by telling a story, sketching, making something or starting a conversation. There's also a screening of the 2025 Authors of the Estate documentary, with captions throughout, so you can catch the film alongside the interactive session.

Authors of the Estate is a community publishing and storytelling project run with residents of St Raphael's and Chalkhill Estates in north-west London. It started as an idea to help neighbours connect through storytelling and grew into a movement of residents writing and owning their own stories; books published in 2015 and 2019 helped them emerge as authors and voices of authority. The Service95 Book Club was founded in 2022 by Dua Lipa, who curates a monthly list of favourite reads and long-form interviews with writers who rarely cross over into pop culture. She's guest-curating the 2026 London Literature Festival, the city's longest-running, which also marks the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary.

It runs from 3pm on Saturday 24 October at The Clore Ballroom, Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX, with a run time of around three hours. Entry is free and no ticket is required.