Southbank Centre has unveiled the programme for Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival, running Wednesday 21 October to Sunday 1 November, as part of the venue’s 75th anniversary celebrations—and it’s shaping up to be one of the festival’s most culturally electric editions yet. Curated by Dua Lipa, the schedule brings together literary heavyweights, genre-defying artists, and urgent contemporary voices, balancing big-name conversations with the kind of emerging energy that makes a festival feel alive rather than ceremonial. It’s a line-up built for readers who want more than a book talk—who want ideas in motion, language with impact, and art that speaks back.
One of the most anticipated moments lands on Saturday 24 October at 3pm, when Dua Lipa sits down with Zadie Smith to revisit Smith’s landmark debut novel, White Teeth. Published in 2000 when Smith was just 24, the book arrived with the kind of cultural force that instantly becomes both gift and burden—an artistic legacy formed almost overnight.
Their conversation will explore what it means to grow up inside your own success, learning to live with the expectations that follow a defining early work. The pair will also look outward, imagining what life in London might now look like for the novel’s unforgettable families—the Joneses and the Iqbals—against today’s shifting political and social climate.
Later that same day, Saturday 24 October at 8pm, Dua will be in conversation with her friend Mustafa—the Sudanese-Canadian poet, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker—for an evening rooted in the emotional architecture of poetry.
With Mustafa’s poetry publication NOUR as a focal point, the event will trace his lifelong relationship with the form: the lines that shaped him, the poets who raised him, and the poems that still move him now. Together, they’ll share their poetry idols in a night that also promises readings from very special guests, expanding the stage into something communal and intimate.
On Sunday 25 October at 7:30pm, the festival turns toward one of the most enduring and captivating artists of our time: Patti Smith. In conversation with Dua, Smith will discuss her memoir Bread of Angels, described as intimate and unguarded—tracing her life from a post-war childhood through artistic coming-of-age, her marriage to Fred “Sonic” Smith, and her return to performance after his death. Together, they’ll explore the healing potential of art, the necessity of artistic freedom, and what it means to keep creating when life has broken open and remade you.
Service95 Book Club Events Bring Additional Edge and Range
Dua’s curation also extends through a series of events curated by the Service95 Book Club, in partnership with Southbank Centre. Highlights include:
- A Conversation with Nadia Murad(Thursday 22 October)
- Translated Fiction Showcase(Wednesday 28 October)
- Fierce Sounds, featuring Kae Tempest alongside a stellar line-up of boundary-pushing novelists (Friday 30 October)
- Rewriting Male Tenderness(Saturday 31 October)
Presented in association with Service95, the festival will also feature events with best-selling authors Hernan Diaz (Wednesday 21 October) and Malorie Blackman (Wednesday 28 October), adding further depth to a programme that clearly intends to meet the moment—not just mark the calendar.
With its mix of iconic names and fearless themes, Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival looks set to offer something rare: a literary programme that feels current, curated with care, and genuinely alive—a fitting tribute to Southbank Centre’s 75 years of shaping cultural conversation.
Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre members on Monday 3 August at 10 am, to Service95 members on Tuesday 4 August at 10 am and to the general public on Wednesday 5 August at 10 am.
For more information about the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary celebrations, visit the 75th Anniversary page here.
Dua Lipa photo by Madison Phipps. Sadie Smith photo: Ben Bailey/ Mustafa photo by Jack McKain. Patti Smith Photo Credit: Steven Sebring. Images provided courtesy of South Bank Centre
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