Each year, London Literature Festival aims to bring together readers of all ages to ‘celebrate the power of the written and spoken word’, with a big name celebrity curator leading the charge. And excitingly, the 2025 edition will have singer songwriter Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem) in the hot seat, in a festival that runs from Tuesday October 21 - Sunday November 2. She'll be joined by Dolly Alderton for an event to launch her debut book, A Complicated Woman, followed by a night of music and poetry alongside multi-disciplinary artists Tom Rasmussen, Marged, Travis Alabanza, Seraphina Simone and Pam Ayres.
Elsewhere in the festival, there'll be appearances from massive literary and cultural figures including Sebastian Faulks, Jimi Famurewa, Zadie Smith, Adam Buxton, Malala Yousafzai, Claire-Louise Bennett and Reese Witherspoon & Harlan Coben. There'll also be a focus on international women's voices, with celebrations of new work from Sayaka Murata, Chris Kraus, Alexis Wright, Bora Chung and Olga Ravn. And the poetry line-up will Pfeature Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Out-Spoken, Rachael Boast and the National Poetry Library open day. As ever, there'll be plenty of opportunities for kids to get involved too, with events with the children’s laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce and a run of Mog the Forgetful Cat.
Visit the Southbank Centre's official website for full details.