Remember me
The Southbank Centre has named Dua Lipa as curator of its 2026 London Literature Festival, placing one of pop’s most visible literary advocates at the helm of the capital’s longest-running festival of literature and spoken word. The Grammy and Brit Award-winning artist, who founded the Service95 Book Club, will shape a series of events for the opening weekend on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, alongside programming across the wider festival in collaboration with Service95 Book Club.
Running from Wednesday 21 October to Sunday 1 November, the 2026 edition arrives as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary year and during the National Year of Reading. Now in its nineteenth year, the London Literature Festival has established itself as a fixture of the city’s cultural calendar, bringing major authors, public thinkers and new voices into conversation on one of London’s most prominent arts sites.
Dua Lipa, curator of the London Literature Festival in the Southbank Centre’s 75th year. Dua’s curatorship reflects a reading life she has made increasingly public. In 2023, she launched the Service95 Book Club as part of Service95, her global culture platform. Each month, she selects a title and speaks with its author for the club’s podcast, building an audience around reading that extends well beyond traditional literary spaces. She has also used that platform to advocate for readers who face barriers to access, including those affected by book bans and incarceration.
Commenting on her curatorship, Dua Lipa said: “Reading has anchored me through every chapter of my life – from being the new kid at school in a new country to finding quiet refuge on tour. Curating the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival is a dream come true. I’m thrilled to indulge one of my greatest obsessions: books and the brilliant minds behind them. I can’t wait to dive into the imaginations of some of my favourite authors in one of London’s most iconic cultural spaces.”
For the Southbank Centre, the appointment places literature within a broader anniversary programme that looks to the institution’s postwar origins while inviting contemporary artists to recast its public role. It also signals an effort to connect literary culture with audiences who may first know Dua through music, fashion or digital media, but who have followed her growing commitment to books, authors and reading communities.
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, said: “The Southbank Centre was borne out of the 1951 Festival of Britain – a moment that galvanised the nation using art, music, science and design to imagine a brighter future. 75 years later our anniversary programme is capturing that optimistic spirit of ‘51 by inviting global creative talent to help us celebrate the unifying power of arts and culture and to conjure up visions of the future.
“Dua Lipa is a global cultural force with millions of fans around the world, and her passion for the written and spoken word has inspired a new generation of readers. We’re absolutely thrilled that Dua will take the reins of our flagship London Literature Festival, applying her incredible creative talent, her advocacy and her reach to connect audiences to our finest writers.
Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature & Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, said: “Books and reading belong to us all and Dua is the ultimate champion of the role they can play in our lives. From her thoughtful interviews with writers to her appetite for arresting new voices, Dua’s passion and insight have sparked a global conversation around books and shone a light on reading as a creative and collaborative act.
“In the National Year of Reading, we’re delighted to be collaborating with Dua for the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival, to draw fresh audiences into our iconic spaces. It promises to be a momentous year for the festival and a highlight of our 75th anniversary.”
Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival will be developed in partnership with the Service95 Book Club and will feature a mix of established and emerging writers, alongside free events intended to widen access and bring new audiences into the festival. That emphasis on openness and discovery sits at the centre of the programme’s ambition: to treat books not as a sealed-off world, but as part of a larger cultural conversation.
The festival will form one of the headline moments in the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary celebrations. The wider programme includes You Are Here, a site-wide takeover created, directed and designed by Danny Boyle, Paulette Randall, Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl on 3 May, Harry Styles’ Meltdown from 11 to 21 June, Goalhanger’s The Rest Is Fest from 4 to 6 September, and a return by Anish Kapoor to the Hayward Gallery from 16 June to 18 October.
Beyond the Southbank Centre site, the anniversary year also includes a national programme of art, literature and music intended to reach one million people across more than 40 towns and cities in all four nations of the UK.
The full line-up for Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival, along with ticket release dates, will be announced in summer 2026. The festival follows Self-Esteem’s curatorship in 2025 and continues a history of presenting internationally recognised figures from across literature, politics and culture. Previous headliners have included Ai Weiwei, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman, Tom Hanks and Yulia Navalnaya.
This year’s edition also lands against a troubling backdrop for reading culture. A 2025 survey by the National Literacy Trust found that only one in three children aged eight to 18 read in their spare time, marking a steep decline since 2005.
The drop was especially pronounced among primary-aged children, with reading continuing to attract lower engagement among boys than girls. In that context, the London Literature Festival will include events designed to engage young people with books and storytelling, with creative collaborations from the world of gaming, special workshops and a programme of free events. This strand is supported by Bukhman Philanthropies.
©2026 The Southbank Centre
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