As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, the Southbank Centre proudly presents its Summer Literature and Spoken Word Season, running from May to September 2026 — a vibrant programme of landmark cultural moments that celebrates creativity, connection and inclusive access for all. From internationally recognised literary awards to powerful performances, inspiring conversations and boundary-pushing new voices, the season brings together artists and audiences to explore stories that challenge, move and inspire.
Reflecting the Southbank Centre’s longstanding commitment to accessibility and inclusion, the programme is shaped by the belief that creativity thrives through diversity of voice, identity and lived experience.
Accessibility is embedded throughout the season, with wheelchair access, BSL interpretation, live captioning (STT) and comprehensive access support available across events and venues, helping ensure everyone can fully experience the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary celebrations this summer.
This summer season programme features a powerful line-up of literary and cultural events, including civil rights scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw reflecting on justice, race and power; digital creator Amelia Dimoldenberg exploring the future of online media and content creation; acclaimed novelist Dave Eggers discussing creativity and idealism through his latest work; and award-winning writer Omar El Akkad examining morality, conflict and contemporary politics. The season also includes conversations with fashion designer Paul Smith on creativity and culture, alongside singer and actor Olly Alexander exploring the future of queer storytelling and representation.
Southbank Centre Summer 2026 Literature and Spoken Word Programme Key Events
Kimberlé Crenshaw: Backtalker – Saturday 23rd May 2026, 2pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 15+, STT
American civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw tells the story of justice and power in the US through her memoir, in conversation with Afua Hirsch and introduced by Thandiwe Newton.
When Kimberlé was five years old in Ohio during the civil rights era, she was the only girl denied a lead role in her nursery play. Puzzled by her teacher’s behaviour, she spoke up – and never stopped.
That instinct to question power, to challenge what others accepted as fair, has shaped not only her own life but the way we now understand race and gender.
In her memoir Backtalker, Kimberlé traces her journey from a spirited girl in Canton, Ohio, to one of the most influential legal thinkers today.
Through childhood lessons and painful reckonings – a boyfriend’s violence in college, a back door at Harvard Law, the silencing of women in the civil rights movement – Crenshaw learned to see the patterns others missed, refusing to stay behind the lines the world drew for her.
Kimberlé’s voice has since echoed through some of the most charged moments in recent history – including Anita Hill’s testimony and the rise of Black Lives Matter – insisting that true justice means seeing the whole picture.
Book tickets: Kimberlé Crenshaw: Backtalker
Dave Eggers: Contrapposto – Wednesday 1st July 2026, 8pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 15+, STT
Join world-renowned author Dave Eggers for an evening of captivating conversation about his book, Contrapposto.
This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.
A highly acclaimed author of numerous works – including The Circle, A Hologram for the King and The Eyes and the Impossible – Dave Eggers is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the American Book Award and the Newbery Medal; and co-founder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centres.
Book tickets: Dave Eggers: Contrapposto
Anish Kapoor in Conversation with Darian Leader – Wednesday 8th July 2026, 8pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 15+, STT
Enter the remarkable world of Anish Kapoor: the internationally celebrated artist shares rare insight into his work with author and psychoanalyst Darian Leader.
For more than four decades, Anish Kapoor has experimented with an extraordinary range of materials to create sculptures and paintings that provoke disorientation, wonder and heightened awareness – works that turn the world not only upside down, but inside out.
This summer, Anish returns to the Hayward Gallery with an ambitious exhibition that occupies the entire building, including three outdoor sculpture terraces, with a diverse array of works that evoke powerful and uncanny feelings.
Together, Anish and Darian explore the psychological, spatial and philosophical dimensions of Anish’s practice, offering rare insights into the work of one of the most remarkable artists of our time.
Book tickets: Anish Kapoor in Conversation with Darian Leader
Paul Smith: Threads – Thursday 10th September 2026, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 15+, STT
Join the British legend Sir Paul Smith on an effervescent journey through his life, as told in his book Threads.
Paul takes us from the humble beginnings of his first shop – tucked behind a dark, damp corridor – to opening his first London shop in the ‘up-and-coming’ Covent Garden, and on to his international conquest.
The book traces his memories of dressing rockstars, actors and athletes, giving a unique perspective on fashion, art, music and culture in the last half century. There are anecdotes aplenty from a cast of characters including David Bowie, Daniel Day Lewis, Giorgio Armani and Sir Alex Ferguson.
Threads is the story of how a young boy from a modest upbringing in Nottingham, guided by his father’s lasting message of hard work and repairing everything by hand, became a symbol of innovation and creativity. And of how, in a world of increasingly globalised homogeneity, he has fought to hold on to the precious independence at the heart of his vision.
Paul Smith has grown into a global business, selling to five continents, over 70 countries and 3,000 shops. He was knighted for services to fashion in the 2000 Birthday Honours, followed in 2020 by his appointment as one of 65 members of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Book tickets: Paul Smith: Threads
Future Sounds: RAP Party x Out-Spoken – Friday 18th September 2026, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £15, For ages 12+, BSL
What might eloquent voices from our music and literary circles have to say about our future? What could be the soundtrack to our oncoming lives? How might our concerns be cast in verse?
Come chill and find out at this edition of Inua Ellams’ Rhythm and Poetry Party, inspired by the Letters to the Future festival and the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary.
The format is simple: ten writers each share a piece of work followed by two songs for the DJ to play – and for you to move to.
Join a house-party chill atmosphere, hearing from the voices of writers including Anthony Anaxagorou, Inua Ellams, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Rachel Long, Caitlin O’Ryan and Joelle Taylor.
In collaboration with Out-Spoken, founded by poet Anthony Anaxagorou.
Book tickets: Future Sounds: RAP Party x Out-Spoken
Amelia Dimoldenberg: The Future of Digital Media – Friday 18th September 2026, 7.30pm, Royal Festival Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 12+, STT & BSL
Meet Amelia Dimoldenberg, the trailblazing host and producer, who curates a panel of friends and collaborators to decode the digital in the era of content creation’s explosive growth.
In 2020, there were around 40,000 full-time digital creators in the UK. In 2025, around 300,000. And globally, there are now over 200 million content creators.
The creative mind behind the wildly popular Chicken Shop Date series, Amelia brings together a host of experts to dig deeper into one of the fastest-growing economic sectors – digital creators.
How can the next generation create meaningful work that stands out and reaches an audience? With so many voices competing for attention and algorithms that favour quick clicks over long-form nuance, breaking through the noise feels harder than ever.
Are we just creating content for content’s sake? Who are the innovators and thinkers already showing us what’s possible? And how can emerging talents break through in such a crowded space?
Amelia has spent over a decade building a huge global following across her platforms with her unique comedic approach and engaging content. She has served as the red-carpet correspondent for the Academy Awards for three consecutive years. She founded her own production company, Dimz Inc., and last year she launched Dimz Inc. Academy, aiming to ensure young people from all backgrounds have access to the creative media industries.
Book tickets: Amelia Dimoldenberg: The Future of Digital Media
Rebecca F Kuang: The Future of Education – Saturday 19th September 2026, 2pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 12+, STT
Bestselling author Rebecca F Kuang curates a panel of thinkers to unpack the challenges and transformative ideas redefining learning in the 21st century.
Universities and colleges have long been heralded as crucibles of innovation, intellectual freedom and social mobility. But in recent years, higher education has been reshaped by rising costs, shifting labour markets and the use of artificial intelligence.
What will the next decade of higher education look like in the face of unprecedented new challenges? How can universities grapple with AI and navigate a new political framework to push forward the boundaries of knowledge? And who are the innovators shaping new models of learning and research already?
Rebecca F Kuang – author of Yellowface, Katabasis and Babel: An Arcane History – curates a panel of friends and thinkers to explore these knotty and pressing questions. Together, they spotlight the transformative ideas that redefine what it means to learn and teach today.
Rebecca is a multi-award-winning author and number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller. She is currently pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Her forthcoming novel, Taipei Story, arrives in the autumn.
Book tickets: Rebecca F Kuang: The Future of Education
Olly Alexander: The Future of Queer Storytelling – Saturday 19th September 2026, 7pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 12+, STT
Join singer, actor and LGBTQIA+ advocate Olly Alexander to uncover the bold, creative pioneers paving the way forward and telling the queer stories that matter.
Olly curates a panel of friends and collaborators to tackle pressing concerns about shrinking opportunities for the next generation of queer creators.
The past decade delivered a remarkable wave of LGBTQIA+ storytelling across TV, literature and film that shifted cultural conversations and influenced real-world change – including the acclaimed drama It’s A Sin, starring Olly – prompting many to declare a golden era for queer stories.
But in recent years, that sense of steady progress has begun to falter, with representation of LGBTQIA+ characters in major media falling and increasing bans on and challenges to queer media.
The Future of Queer Storytelling asks: how can we respond to this shift and shape the future of queer storytelling? What action can we take to sustain the stories that matter at a moment when visibility and creative freedom feel increasingly uncertain?
Olly Alexander remains a defining force in pop culture, spanning music, stage and screen. As Years & Years, he earned two UK No.1 albums, ten Top 40 singles and amassed billions of streams. He’s performed in global arenas and on the West End, and his role in It’s A Sin earned him a BAFTA nomination.
Book tickets: Olly Alexander: The Future of Queer Storytelling
Mya-Rose Craig: Beyond the Climate Crisis – Sunday 20th September 2026, 2pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 12+, STT
Headlines across the globe report on environmental breakdown, climate policy and alternative solutions. But what if the question we’ve all been missing isn’t how we stop the crisis – but what comes after?
Join record-breaking ornithologist and environmental campaigner Dr Mya-Rose Craig as she brings together a panel of leading voices to ask what kind of world we want to live in once we’ve solved the climate crisis. At the centre of the discussion is the pressing need to re-evaluate our relationship with the natural world in the wake of destruction.
Moving beyond carbon targets, policy debates and short-term fixes, this conversation asks something deeper: how do we transform our values, behaviours and assumptions so that a crisis like this never happens again?
Come along and leave with new hopes for the future.
Dr Craig is an author, environmentalist and campaigner for equal access to nature, to stop biodiversity loss and climate change and for global climate justice.
Book tickets: Mya-Rose Craig: Beyond the Climate Crisis
Letters to My Younger/Future Self – Sunday 20th September 2026, 6pm, Royal Festival Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 12+, STT & BSL
The Royal Festival Hall transforms into a space for sharing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
A dazzling array of talent, representing seven generations of standout performers, enchants and captivates in a truly unique evening of entertainment, under the creative direction of current CEO and artistic director Paul Roseby. Supported by Netflix, who since 2023 have partnered with National Youth Theatre to create over 4,000 free opportunities to inspire the next generation of behind-the-scenes talent into creative careers.
The National Youth Theatre is globally renowned for being a creative home for many of the best actors, dramatists and performers. Its illustrious alumni include actors Adeel Akhtar, Daniel Craig, Helen Mirren, Regé-Jean Page, Andrea Riseborough, Matt Smith and Susan Wokoma; comedians Tom Allen and Joel Dommett; dramatists Miriam Battye, James Graham, Lennie James, Sarah Solemani and Jack Thorne; and musicians Ed Sheeran and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
Line-up to be announced.
Book tickets: Letters to My Younger/Future Self
Ash Sarkar: The Future of Relationships – Sunday 20th September 2026, 6.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £20, For ages 12+, STT
Lecturer, broadcaster and bestselling author Ash Sarkar addresses the urgent issues of our time through the lens of art and culture.
Ash takes up the mantle as the inaugural speaker for the Southbank Centre Lecture – a new annual event bringing in leading public figures to unpack the pressing topics of today.
In 2026, we’re more connected to each other than in any other period of history. We can FaceTime family in other countries, message friends on countless different social media platforms and arrange a date with a stranger in minutes. By all metrics, we should be swimming in meaningful and enriching relationships.
But with the World Health Organization reporting that loneliness is linked to nearly 900,000 deaths globally each year, and with over a quarter of UK adults battling chronic isolation, is the increase in connection just an illusion?
What is causing this decline in the quality of our relationships? Are the systems that were once heralded as the means of bringing us together, in fact, just driving us apart? And how can we reclaim our real-life social networks and fight for a world that brings us back together?
Ash Sarkar is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster based in London. A contributing editor at Novara Media, her work focuses on current affairs, popular culture, politics and social issues.
She’s written for The Guardian, HuffPost UK and The Independent, and is a frequent presence on British television and radio, including on Question Time, Good Morning Britain and Radio 4’s Moral Maze. Minority Rule, published by Bloomsbury, is her first book and a Sunday Times bestseller.
Book tickets: Ash Sarkar: The Future of Relationships
The Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist Announcement – Tuesday 22nd September 2026, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 15+, STT
Join the judges of the Booker Prize 2026 – Chair Mary Beard and fellow panellists Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu and Patricia Lockwood – as they announce the shortlist for this year’s prize live on stage.
For the second year running, the Booker Prize shortlist is announced live on stage at a public event at the Southbank Centre.
This year’s judges, in conversation with Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood, reveal what it is like to judge the Booker and share why each book earned its place on the Booker Prize 2026 shortlist.
Book tickets: The Booker Prize 2026 Shortlist Announcement
Omar El Akkad in Conversation – Thursday 24th September 2026, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tickets from £22, For ages 15+, STT
The award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad discusses his international bestseller, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.
This is a book for those who have tired of moral emptiness. This is a book for everyone who wants something better.
Omar was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. He is a two-time winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award and the Oregon Book Award. His books have been translated into 13 languages. His debut novel, American War, was named by the BBC as one of 100 novels that shaped our world.
Book tickets: Omar El Akkad in Conversation
You can view details of all events happening from May to September 2026 by visiting the Southbank Centre event page.
Accessibility information at the Southbank Centre
Details on how to join the Southbank Centre Access Scheme and accessibility information, including wheelchair access, concession tickets, queuing exemptions, captions, BSL and other facilities, can be found on the Southbank Centre Access page.
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