Dua Lipa to interview Zadie Smith at London Literature festival

The pop star is curating the 2026 festival, which also features Patti Smith, Mustafa and Ta-Nehisi Coates, as part of the Southbank Centre’s anniversary year 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