15 Standout Events From This Year’s London Literature Festival

This month, the Southbank Centre hosts the 19th edition of the London Literature Festival, the longest-running literature and spoken word festival in the capital. This year it is curated by Dua Lipa and the Service95 Book Club. Dua says: “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.” The programme runs until 1 November and puts a Pulitzer winner and a Nobel laureate on the same bill as an estate publishing collective, a zine-maker, reading work written in Britain’s prisons and actors who will read letters that show how insidious (and at times mundane) censorship can be. Here are 15 events not to miss.

Wednesday 21 October, 7.45pm

Set in a future filled with uncertainty and promise, Ply is a speculative thriller of mind-bending science and punk music that interrogates the role of technology in society. Here, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hernan Diaz takes to the stage to explore his futuristic thriller and the power of technology in a profoundly changed world. (Hear him talk about his previous book, Trust, in conversation with Dua on the Service95 Book Club podcast here.)

Thursday 22 October, 7.45pm

In 2014, Nadia Murad was living in northern Iraq when fighters from the so-called Islamic State attacked her village, massacring hundreds – including her mother and six of her brothers – and forcing her, along with thousands of Yazidi women and girls, into sexual slavery. The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate presents her memoir I Choose My Beginning, which follows the double life that came after: a global symbol of activism on one side, and on the other a woman rebuilding her private relationships while advocating for international accountability for conflict-related sexual violence.

Friday 23 October, 7.30pm 

London’s premier evening of poetry and live music lands at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for a special London Literature Festival edition. Hosted by TS Eliot prize-winner Joelle Taylor, this month features poetry from Kwame Dawes, Alice Oswald and Max Porter, as well as music from Camden Stewart and Reem Kelani.

Friday 23 October, 7.45pm

Championing the independent publishers who bring fresh perspectives and boundary-pushing books into the world, this event will spotlight books that take us out of the ordinary. Expect readings from Amelia Abraham (MACK), Speech Debelle (Watkins Publishing), Bobuq Sayed (Hajar Press) and Jackie Thomae (DAS Editions).

Saturday 24 October, 3pm

Authors Of The Estate began by connecting residents of St Raphael’s and Chalkhill estates in north-west London through storytelling. It has since grown into a documentary and a movement across estates around the UK, one that turns council houses into a publishing house and makes residents who have been stereotyped or left unnamed the authors of their own stories. Artists André Anderson, Abdou Cissé and Nabil Al-Kinani lead an afternoon of creative activities built around the question: what would you publish if you were a publishing house? This one is free with no ticket required.

Saturday 24 October, 3pm

Zadie Smith was 24 when White Teeth, her 2000 debut following the entwined Jones and Iqbal families of north-west London, was published. She joins Dua to discuss the novel’s ambitious scope, how its London might look in today’s political climate, and what it meant to publish such a celebrated book so young. The conversation will be recorded live for the Service95 Book Club podcast.

Saturday 24 October, 4pm

For more than 60 years, Koestler Arts has given people in the criminal justice system a platform for creative work. Its annual awards draw thousands of entries across more than 50 categories, from visual art to screenwriting. This session brings together writers who work in secure settings and civil liberties campaigners for a panel discussion, alongside contemporary poets reading from Koestler’s anthologies.

Saturday 24 October, 8pm 

The Service95 Book Club’s founder shares the stage with Mustafa, the Sudanese Canadian poet, singer, songwriter and filmmaker, to celebrate Nour, his 2025 collection whose title means “light” in Arabic. A meditation on religious devotion, love, grief and the beauty of everyday rituals, it was made available for free in the hope it would be found by those who need it most. The pair will discuss the poems that move them both, with readings from special guests Victoria Chang and Safia Elhillo.

Sunday 25 October, 7.30pm

In celebration of Patti Smith’s recent intimate memoir Bread Of Angels, the legendary musician and writer joins Dua on stage to discuss the book in a conversation recorded for the Service95 Book Club podcast. Charting Patti’s post-World War II childhood in Philadelphia and teenage years in New Jersey to her emergence as a punk-rock icon, the evening will shine a light on one of the most captivating writers at work today.

Wednesday 28 October, 6pm

In June, the Service95 Book Club and Porto’s Livraria Lello opened the Manifesto Library, a collection of 100 books from around the world that challenge power, censorship, exclusion and dominant narratives. London-based artist Zoe Thompson, founder of the community platform sweet-thang zine, leads a workshop in which participants make collaged and illustrated zines inspired by one of those 100 titles, grouped under Power, Control, Voice and Memory. The evening will end with an optional zine swap.

Wednesday 28 October, 7.45pm 

Hosted by Hope Ndaba, this showcase gathers fiction from Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, including short readings by the authors themselves: Nelio Biedermann (Lázár, Switzerland), Gaël Faye (Jacaranda, France and Rwanda), Intan Paramaditha (Night Of A Thousand Hells, Indonesia) and Samanta Schweblin (Good And Evil And Other Stories, Argentina). The evening intends to transcend borders, languages and forms.

Thursday 29 October, 7.45pm 

After her debut Keeping The House marked her out as one of the brightest new voices in literature, author and interdisciplinary artist Tice Cin returns with a multisensory session centred on her latest novel Safe Spaces. Through a series of live monologues, projections, music and sound design, this powerful portrait of the artist as a young musician comes alive as a wide-ranging cast perform sequences from the book.

Friday 30 October, 8pm 

Putting an alternative spin on embracing literature, this session explores what a novel sounds like. Referencing rhythm, form and register, Jacqueline Crooks (Sky City), Omar Musa (Fierceland), Sufiyaan Salam (Wimmy Road Boyz) and Kae Tempest (Having Spent Life Seeking) all bring their expertise to an evening sure to move fluidly between poetry, prose and elements that make fiction feel alive. Hosted by Yomi Sode with sounds by DJ Conrad Kira.

Saturday 31 October, 12pm  

Hosted by journalist and author Oliver Bullough, this session takes on the rising threats to free expression faced by writers, journalists, campaigning organisations and the UK public. Performers read from censored works and from messages sent to writers and journalists. Novelists, journalists, musicians and activists share real-life stories of legal threats, lobby group pressure and state overreach, ranging from the absurd to the sinister. The session closes with a discussion of how to protect the freedoms to write, speak, read and listen.

Saturday 31 October, 8pm

The concept of male interiority forms the focus for this important session structured around compassionate conversations about masculinity, vulnerability and tenderness. Host Lemara Lindsay-Prince leads authors Tomasz Jedrowski, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Cenac Rollins in a conversation that will share insights from their own writing, exploring how literature makes possible what other forms can’t.