Zadie Smith, Patti Smith and Mustafa are among the star names lined up to be interviewed by Dua Lipa, as the pop star reveals her curation of this year’s London Literature festival at the Southbank Centre.
The festival, now in its 19th year, will run from 21 October to 1 November, with the Brit award-winning singer shaping a programme of events in collaboration with her Service95 book club.
Lipa said curating the programme had been “a true joy”, adding that she wanted to bring together “some of the most exciting writers, poets and thinkers from around the globe”, alongside more familiar names.
Lipa will sit down with Zadie Smith on 24 October to discuss her 2000 debut novel, White Teeth, published when Smith was just 24. The pair are expected to reflect on “learning to live with an artistic legacy earned at such a young age”, and how the novel’s characters might fare in Britain today.
The night after, she will interview Patti Smith about her memoir Bread of Angels, which charts Smith’s life from childhood, through her marriage to Fred “Sonic” Smith, and her return to music after his death.
The programme will also feature appearances from the Sudanese Canadian poet and musician Mustafa, the Nobel peace laureate Nadia Murad discussing her memoir, I Choose My Beginning, and a conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Tareq Baconi on Baconi’s new book about Palestine.
Other events include a translated fiction showcase, a poetry and music night with Kae Tempest, and Censorship Live!, a collaboration with English PEN examining threats to free expression.
Lipa has increasingly established herself as an advocate for reading. She launched her book club in 2023 as an extension of her wider cultural platform Service95, which sees monthly selections and long-form author interviews with writers including Margaret Atwood, George Saunders and Olga Tokarczuk. Last month, she opened a permanent collection of 100 banned, censored and challenged books inside the historic Livraria Lello bookshop in Porto, Portugal.
Mark Ball, the Southbank Centre’s artistic director, said Lipa’s “deep curiosity about the world” made her a fitting curator for the venue’s 75th anniversary. “It’s a milestone year and she’s the perfect curator to help us celebrate it,” he added.
The literature festival also includes free family events and a wider national programme, part of Southbank Centre’s efforts to reach a million people across the UK in 2026.
Last year, the festival was curated by Self Esteem, and previous headliners include Ai Weiwei, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Tom Hanks and Yulia Navalnaya.
Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre members on 3 August, Service95 members on 4 August, and the general public on 5 August.
