London Literature Festival 2014

30 September – 13 OctoberHilary MantelKate TempestAlice OswaldSlavoj ŽižekFahrenheit 451 William S Burroughs Night Maya Angelou TributeBooker Prize Readings

3Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

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‘What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like something is change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.’Maya Angelou

Welcome

This autumn we celebrate the power of words to change the world.

Language, and our unique ability to communicate, is one of the most distinctive human attributes. Words help us to share emotion, express our point of view, fi ght injustice and develop democracy.

At the centre of this year’s London Literature Festival is a tribute to the writer Maya Angelou who died in May. She believed: ‘What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like something is change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.’ The passionate belief that the arts have the power to transform lives, and should be available to all, lies at the heart of everything we do.

So come and join us as we welcome some of the world’s fi nest writers and performers: Hilary Mantel, Stephen Fry, Alice Oswald, Kate Tempest, John Cooper Clarke, Colm Tóibín, and Elif Shafak. We celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of William S Burroughs with an extravaganza that includes a specially commissioned cantata from Gavin Bryars and contemplate what a life without the power of the printed word might be like in a rehearsed reading of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451. We’ve also commissioned a new poem by Alice Oswald, Freedom Play by Craig Taylor and we welcome Paines Plough theatre company’s production of one hundred short plays from all over the United Kingdom: Come To Where I’m From. This, like many of our other events all over the site, is completely free.

Wherever you’re from, whether near or far, you can be assured of a warm welcome at Southbank Centre.

Jude KellyArtistic Director

James RuncieHead of Literature and the Spoken Word

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4 5Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

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London Literature Festival Calendar

Tuesday 30 September

7pm The Forward Prizes for Poetry

p.6

Wednesday 1 October

7.20pm Stephen Fry Live: More Fool Me

p.7

7.45pm StorySLAM:Live p.8

8pm I Am Become Words: Poetry, Science and Transformation

p.8 FREE

Thursday 2 October

1pm National Poetry Day Live p.9 FREE

6pm The Pity p.9

8.15pm Michael Donaghy – A Celebration

p.10

Friday 3 October

6.30pm Shami Chakrabarti p.11

7pm Scratch Mixer p.11

8.15pm Jonathan Powell – Talking to Terrorists

p.12

Saturday 4 October

11am –6pm

Fun Palaces p.13 FREE

12 noon – 5pm

The Poetry Butcher p.14 FREE

1pm– 5pm

Young Adult Literature Weekender

p.15

2pm The Green Man p.15 FREE

4pm Eric Hazan on the French Revolution

p.16

6pm Nature Writing: Helen Macdonald and Mark Cocker

p.16

7.30pm John Cooper Clarke p.17

7.45pm Fahrenheit 451 p.18

7.45pm Freedom Play p.19

Sunday 5 October

11am Sunday Papers Live p.20

11am – 6pm

Fun Palaces p.13 FREE

1pm – 5pm

Young Adult Literature Weekender

p.15

2pm Fahrenheit 451 p.18


5pm Fahrenheit 451 p.18


6pm John Healy, John Hall, Nicholas Johnson

p.21

7pm Maya Angelou: A Celebration

p.22

Monday 6 October

6.15pm The Complete Works p.23

7pm Koestler Poetry Workshop

p.24

7.45pm Science Fiction – Home of the Literary Activist?

p.24

Tuesday 7 October

6pm The NAW Public Edit p.25

7pm Colm Tóibín: Nora Webster

p.25

7.30pm Slavoj Žižek p.26

7.30pm Martin Parr p.27

8.15pm Refl ecting on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

p.28

Wednesday 8 October

11.30am Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Agincourt

p.29

7pm Nature Writing: Badgerlands

p.30

7pm The SI Leeds Literary Prize Celebration

p.30 FREE

7.45pm Polari: First Book Prize p.31

8pm Shared Reading: Tom Phillips’ A Humument

p.31

Thursday 9 October

6.30pm Alice Oswald p.32

7.30pm Southbank Centre First Look Book Club

p.33

7.45pm Writing from Prison p.33

8.15pm Sheila Hancock p.34

Friday 10 October

5.30pm Friday Tonic p.35 FREE

6pm – 10pm

Come To Where I’m From

p.35 FREE

7.30pm Hilary Mantel p.36

7.30pm Kate Tempest p.37

7.45pm Hayward Preview: MIRRORCITY

p.38

Saturday 11 October

10am – 8pm


p.35 FREE

12 noon – 4pm

Do It Yourself Zine Day p.39 FREE

2pm How We Are: Vincent Deary

p.39

4pm Josh Cohen: The Private Life

p.40

6pm James Meek: Private Island

p.40

6pm Writing as a Key to Creativity

p.40

7.30pm Language Is A Virus From Outer Space

p.41

7.45pm Jacqueline Rose: Women In Dark Times

p.42

Sunday 12 October

10am – 8pm


p.35 FREE

2pm Danny Dorling: Inequality and the 1%

p.43

4pm Explore Everything: Bradley Garrett

p.43

5pm Penny Readings p.44 FREE

6pm Elif Shafak p.45

6pm Africa39 – Book Launch

p.46

8pm Le Grand Meaulnes Translation Duel

p.46

Monday 13 October

7.30pm 2014 Man Booker Prize Readings

p.47

Free throughout the festival

10am – 11pm

The Debating Chamber p.48 FREE

11am – 8pm

Tom Phillips: Illuminated Tweets

p.49 FREE

A selection of the events will be British Sign Language interpreted and speech to text transcribed. Look out for the symbols next to each event in this brochure.


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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 6*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 6

Tuesday 30 September

The Forward Prizes for Poetry 2014The annual prize-giving ceremony for the Forward Prizes for Poetry

These prestigious prizes celebrate the best of the year’s poetry, honouring exciting new voices alongside established stars.

This year’s awards ceremony promises to be particularly lively, with a richly varied shortlist featuring writers united only in their skill at communicating news from elsewhere – the frontlines of war, of love and of consciousness – powerfully and memorably.

The prize-giving ceremony is introduced by Jeremy Paxman, who chairs a distinguished Forward Prizes jury including poet Dannie Abse and musician Cerys Matthews.

The readings – by shortlisted poets and celebrated actors – are directed by Samuel West.

The evening, described by the Financial Times as the ‘bardic equivalent of the Oscars’, also marks the publication launch of The Forward Book of Poetry.

Queen Elizabeth Hall7pm£12, £10*

For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone.

Wednesday 1 October

Stephen Fry Live: More Fool MePresented by David Johnson & John Mackay with Penguin

A live event to mark the publication of Stephen Fry’s brand new volume of memoirs, More Fool Me.

The Fry Chronicles was the biggest 2010 autobiography in the UK, selling over one million copies worldwide.

Get a sneak preview of the third volume: a heady tale of the late eighties and early nineties in which Stephen – driven to create, perform and entertain – burned bright and partied hard and damned the consequences...

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see the multi award-winning comedian, actor, presenter, writer and raconteur on stage live: when he’s forced to tour he’s a tour de force.

Each ticket includes a hardback copy of the new book (RRP £25.00) to be collected on the night. Please present your ticket in exchange for one book. No cash value.

Stephen is signing copies after the show.

For ages 14+

Royal Festival Hall

7.20pm

£29.50*


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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 8*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 8

Thursday 2 October

National Poetry Day LiveSouthbank Centre and The Poetry Society team up for the sixth year in a row to celebrate National Poetry Day, with ‘Remember’ as its theme. We have been working with a group of young poetry producers who help us to curate a day to remember with poetry and spoken-word performances and poetry fi lm.

The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall

1pm – 6pm

Free

Thursday 2 October

The PityPresented by the Poetry Society

Four of the UK’s most exciting poets premiere work about the First World War.

Commemorating the centenary of the confl ict, the Poetry Society has commissioned contemporary responses from Denise Riley, Steve Ely, Warsan Shire and Zaffar Kunial.

Presented on National Poetry Day, these sequences summon less familiar aspects of the war’s legacy: from Vogue’s directives on mourning attire (‘must not depress’) and the national passion for séances to the notion of no-man’s-land and the rise of modernity.

Supported by The London Community Foundation and Cockayne - Grants for the Arts.

Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall

6pm

£10*

Wednesday 1 October

StorySLAM:LiveCelebrate StorySLAM:Live’s fi fth anniversary at Southbank Centre – if you think you have the literary X-Factor, bring along a fi ve-minute fl ash fi ction story on the theme of ‘Freedom’ for your chance to read on the night. How have words changed the way you think about the world? Stand up and be counted.

Spirit Level (Blue Room) at Royal Festival Hall

7.45pm

£8*

Wednesday 1 October

I Am Become Words: Poetry, Science and TransformationA reading and discussion with three poets who transform scientifi c observation into poetry.

Simon Barraclough is Poet in Residence at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory; Dorothy Lehane is curator of the Poetry Meets Biomedical Science project; and Kelley Swain is editor of Pocket Horizon, an anthology of poems written about history of science objects.

The Saison Poetry Library at Royal Festival Hall

8pmFree but booking essential. To book your place email [email protected]

*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. *No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. *No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 888

I Am Become Words: Poetry, Science and

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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 10

Friday 3 October

Shami ChakrabartiOn Liberty

On 11 September 2001, our world changed. The West’s response to 9/11 has morphed into a period of exception. Governments have decided that the rule of law and human rights are often too costly.

Now, Shami Chakrabarti – who joined Liberty, the UK’s leading civil rights organisation, on 10 September 2001 – explores why our fundamental rights and freedoms are indispensable. She talks with Jude Kelly about the unprecedented pressures those rights are under today. Drawing on her own work in high-profi le campaigns, from privacy laws to anti-terror legislation, Chakrabarti shows the threats to our democratic institutions and why our rights are paramount in upholding democracy.

‘Probably the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years’(David Aaronovitch, The Times)

‘The most dangerous woman in Britain’ (The Sun)


6.30pm

£10*

Friday 3 October

Scratch MixerSouthbank Centre aims to support artists in the development of their work. Scratch Mixer is Southbank Centre’s regular event in which poets and spoken-word artists are specially invited to share their work in progress. If you have a live literature show in development, email [email protected] for more details.

Festival Village under Queen Elizabeth Hall

7pm

£5*

Thursday 2 October

Michael Donaghy – A CelebrationOne of the UK’s fi nest and best-loved poets, Michael Donaghy died at the tragically young age of 50 in 2004. Tonight we mark the tenth anniversary of his death with readings and reminiscence from his friends and family.

Readers include Sean O’Brien, Jo Shapcott, Paul Farley, Don Paterson, Eva Salzman, Greta Stoddart, John Stammers and Adam O’Riordan, as well as his partner Maddy Paxman and son Ruairi.

This event coincides with the publication of three new Donaghy-related books – the new edition of his Collected Poems, Don Paterson’s critical study of his work, Fifty Ways to Read a Poet, and Maddy Paxman’s memoir The Great Below.


8.15pm

£10* © J

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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 12 13Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

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Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 October

Fun PalacesA dream come true for arts and sciences, kids and grown-ups.

In 1961 Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price conceived and designed the Fun Palace: a ‘laboratory of fun’, ‘a university of the streets’, a revolutionary venue where art and science met, encouraging engagement, debate and enjoyment.

Like most revolutionary ideas, the Fun Palace was ahead of its time. It was never built, but its ethos – and even its architectural blue prints – can be seen in arts and community centres across the country and the world.

This weekend we’re turning Southbank Centre into a Fun Palace, standing alongside hundreds of other Fun Palaces across the UK and beyond.

We’re handing the space over to you – to our neighbours and artistic partners, community groups and the general public – and asking: If you had a Fun Palace, what would it be like?

You can have plenty of space, inspiration, and time to think. We are sprinkling the weekend with talks and demonstrations for people of all ages on everything from buildings and the latest in cybernetics, through to the idea of leisure time and the value of the arts today. We’re expecting there to be lots of people to meet and ideas to start from, materials to experiment with and space to think and create. You can come with an old idea or just prepare to have lots of new ones.

So what would you have in your Fun Palace? Come and dream it up with us.

Suitable for all ages

We are grateful to writer Stella Duffy and Sarah-Jane Rawlings for making it possible for anyone and everyone to have their own Fun Palace this weekend, the weekend before Joan Littlewood’s centenary.


11am – 6pm

Free

Friday 3 October

Jonathan Powell – Talking to TerroristsHow to end armed confl icts

Should governments talk to terrorists? Should they ‘negotiate with evil’?

After Labour achieved its landslide victory in 1997, Jonathan Powell spent ten years in government talking to the leaders of the IRA in safe houses across Belfast, Derry and Dublin.

Since leaving Number 10 he has worked with a Geneva-based NGO, negotiating between governments and terrorist groups in Europe, Asia and Africa, and has now established his own NGO, InterMediate, to continue this work.

Without communication, argues Powell, we will never end confl ict. As violent insurgencies continue to erupt across the globe, we need people who will brave the depths of the Mindanao jungle and scale the heights of the Colombian mountains, painstakingly tracking down the heavily armed, faceless leaders of these terrorist groups in order to open negotiations with them.

Jonathan Powell discusses the way in which past negotiations shed light on how today’s negotiators can tackle the Taliban, Hammas and al-Qaeda. And history tells us that it may be necessary to fi ght and talk at the same time.


8.15pm

£10*We are grateful to writer Stella Duffy and Sarah-Jane Rawlings for making it possible for anyone and everyone

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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 1514 Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

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Young Adult Literature Weekender London Literature Festival presents its fi rst ever young adult fi ction mini-fest.

Fizzing with literary market stalls, mini-talks, workshops, performances and The Dystopian Book Club, it features only the fi nest writers, poets and spoken-word artists.

This mini-fest is curated by young people living, reading and writing in London and is recommended for ages 13 – 19.


1pm – 5pm

£8* Day Pass

Saturday 4 October

The Green ManA lyrical story for audiences aged 8 – 11 by Kenny Baraka.

Join hip-hop lyricist Kenny Baraka as he tries out some ideas for a new spoken-word show about making things grow and fi ghting for survival.

This is the story of the Green Man – a guerilla gardener and a man with no family, home or worldly possessions except his trusted potted plant. Surviving only on food grown on rooftops, roadsides and secret hideouts, the Green Man is fi ghting to save the city before there are no trees, grass, fi elds or open spaces left.

He needs help. Join him in Secret Hideout 17...

What happens next? After hearing the fi rst 20 minutes of the story, help Kenny decide the Green Man’s fate...

Creative team: Lisa Mead, Carl Ford and Paul Burgess.

Funded by Arts Council, England.

Recommended for ages 8 – 11

Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden

2pm

FreePlease note, this free event requires a ticket. Please book your free ticket online, by phone or in person (no fees apply).

Saturday 4 October

The Poetry ButcherNeed some help with your poetry writing? Get a slice of feedback from one of our Poetry Butchers.

Not for the faint-hearted, our butchers cut straight to the heart of your poem with their razor-sharp critical expertise.

Only one poem should be brought along on the day, which should be one page of A4 at the most.

To book your place email [email protected]


12 noon – 5pm

Free

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Saturday 4 October

John Cooper ClarkePlus guests

Britain’s best loved and most important performance poet, John Cooper Clarke is as vital now as he was in the 1970s. His acerbic, satirical, political and very funny verse, delivered in a rapid-fi re performance style, resonated with the punk movement then, and today his infl uence can be heard through a wide breadth of popular culture from the Arctic Monkeys to The Sopranos.

Royal Festival Hall

7.30pm

£26.20, £22.50*

Saturday 4 October

Eric Hazan on the French RevolutionEric Hazan presents insights into the legacy of the French Revolution

The Revolution of 1789 has remained a fascinating and contentious subject for over two centuries.

Instead of seeing it as an aberrant bloodbath on the path to a liberal society, Eric Hazan, author of A People’s History of the French Revolution, maintains that it fundamentally changed the Western world.

Examining the history of working people and peasants, Hazan asks: How did they see their opportunities? What were they fi ghting for? What was the Terror and could it be justifi ed? And how was the revolution stopped in its tracks?

Eric Hazan is the founder of the publisher La Fabrique and the author of several books, including Notes on the Occupation and the highly acclaimed Invention of Paris. He has lived in Paris all his life.

J.P. Morgan Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall

4pm

£10*

Saturday 4 October

Nature Writing: Helen Macdonald and Mark CockerJoin two of our fi nest nature writers in conversation

As a child Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the arcane terminology and read all the classic books, including TH White’s tortured masterpiece, The Goshawk, which describes White’s struggle to train a hawk as a spiritual contest.

When her father died and she was knocked sideways by grief, she became obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk. She bought Mabel for £800 on a Scottish quayside and took her home to Cambridge. Then she fi lled the freezer with hawk food and unplugged the phone, ready to embark on the long, strange business of trying to train this wildest of birds.

After the massive, world-spanning, unanimously acclaimed Birds & People, Mark Cocker looks in fascinating detail at his home parish in Norfolk and its wildlife in Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet.

Distilled into a single twelve-month cycle, these writings explore Mark Cocker’s relationship with the East Anglian landscape, to nature and to all the living things around him.

He explores how all wildlife is as essential to our sense of genuine well-being and to our feelings of rootedness as any other kind of fellowship.


6pm

£10*

Nature Writing: Helen Macdonald and Mark CockerJoin two of our fi nest nature writers

As a child Helen Macdonald was determined to become a falconer. She learned the

Distilled into a single twelve-month cycle, these writings explore Mark Cocker’s relationship with the East Anglian landscape, to nature and to all the living things around him.

He explores how all wildlife is as essential to our sense of genuine well-being and to our feelings of rootedness as any other kind

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Freedom PlayCraig Taylor is the author of One Million Tiny Plays about Britain.

He turns his attention to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This specially commissioned event dramatises snatches of overheard conversations and confrontations in order to make a series of snapshot observations – some comic, some troubling and some profound – about how freedom can be taken for granted, hard won – and easily lost.

Level 5 Function Room at Royal Festival Hall

Saturday 4 October, 7.45pm

Sunday 5 October, 3.30pm and 5.30pm

£10*


Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book-paper catches fi re and burns

Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilisation’s enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity.

This is a rehearsed reading of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel of a post-literate future, where books are burned and reading is an act of rebellion. Please bring your favourite book. There may be a moment when members of the audience are asked to read aloud if they wish. Directed by James Runcie, Southbank Centre’s Head of Literature and the Spoken Word.


Saturday 4 October, 7.45pm

Sunday 5 October, 2pm and 5pm

£20* and £15*

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Sunday 5 October

Sunday Papers LiveIn association with The Observer

Grab a coffee and join Observer writers as they discuss the news and features that matter.

From food to fashion, tech to tiki-taka, hear the voices behind the stories along with a panel of special guests.

Just like a perfect Sunday morning, with fewer pairs of pyjamas.


11am

£10*

Sunday 5 October

John Healy, John Hall, Nicholas JohnsonA joint reading by three writers.

John Healy, a former wino and street thief, spent 15 years as a vagrant alcoholic on the streets, but then rose to become a chess master capable of playing several games simultaneously whilst wearing a blindfold.

In 1986, living from hand to mouth on a rundown council estate at Kings Cross, he wrote his savage masterpiece The Grass Arena.

John Hall is a visual writer, poet and infl uential teacher. His is a consistent preoccupation with language, its soundedness, appearance on the page, and what it can get up to in the guise of poems.

Many of his poems rigorously question political language, asking: is this precise, is this truthful?

Nicholas Johnson’s Listening to the Stones is a post-colonial work about French occupation in New Caledonia, paying witness to the events that led to the Heingene and Ouvea massacres of the Kanaks.

His other collection, Cleave, surveys the fi rst agricultural plague of 21st-century Europe; foot and mouth.


6pm

£8*

Sunday Papers LiveIn association with

Grab a coffee and join

From food to fashion, tech to tiki-taka, hear the voices behind the stories along with a panel of special guests.

Just like a perfect Sunday morning, with fewer pairs of pyjamas.


John Healy, a former wino and street thief, spent 15 years as a vagrant alcoholic on the streets, but then rose to become a chess master capable of playing several games

In 1986, living from hand to mouth on a rundown council estate at Kings Cross, he wrote his

John Hall is a visual writer, poet and infl uential teacher. His is a consistent preoccupation with language, its soundedness, appearance on the page, and what it can get up to in the

Many of his poems rigorously question political language, asking: is this precise,

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Monday 6 October

The Complete WorksBlack and Asian poets in the UK: a two-part evening of discussion and performance.

Part One: The Discussion

In 2007 the Free Verse report (Arts Council England) established that of the poets published by major presses in the UK, fewer than 1% are black or Asian. How much has this changed?

Part Two: The Performance

Ten of the most exciting young black and Asian poets in the UK present their work, including Mona Arshi, Jay Bernard, Kayo Chingonyi, Rishi Dastidar, Edward Doegar, Inua Ellams, Sarah Howe, Adam Lowe, Eileen Pun and Warsan Shire.

Hosts for the evening are Roger Robinson (internationally acclaimed musician and poet) and Malika Booker (recently shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney fi rst collection prize).


Part One: (6.15pm – 7.30pm)

Part Two: (8pm – 10pm)

£10*

Sunday 5 October

Maya Angelou: A CelebrationGather Together In Her Name

Maya Angelou was one of the world’s most important writers and activists.

She lived and chronicled an extraordinary life. Rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned author, poet, playwright, memoirist and civil rights activist, working with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

She wrote and performed a poem, ‘On the Pulse of Morning’, for President Clinton on his inauguration; she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and was honoured by more than 70 universities throughout the world.

She wrote seven volumes of autobiography beginning with the extraordinary I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which told of her childhood in 1930s Stamps, Arkansas, the segregated southern US town where her grandmother ran the general store; and of the trauma of rape and the healing power of literature and love.

Maya Angelou was an indomitable force, famed for her spirit and style, courage and laughter. She died on 28 May aged 86. This special evening of song, biography, poetry and testimony, dedicated to her memory, is chaired by Jon Snow and Moira Stuart and directed by Paulette Randall.

The full cast will be announced in September.

Royal Festival Hall

7pm

£25*, £20*, £15*

‘You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness

But still, like air, I’ll rise.’

(From Still I Rise by Maya Angelou)

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Monday 6 October

Koestler Poetry WorkshopRead and be inspired by poetry written by detainees in a workshop with the Koestler Trust.

Each year the Koestler Trust inspires thousands of poems written by people in prisons, secure hospitals, immigration removal centres and secure children’s homes.

In this workshop led by the trust’s literature offi cer, poet Holly Hopkins, explore some of these witty and moving poems to gain an insight into the thoughts and lives of the UK’s detainees.

The award-winning poems are then used as inspiration for your own work – whether you are a regular writer or entirely new to writing poetry.

Part of this year’s Catching Dreams: Art by Offenders, Secure Patients and Detainees exhibition at Southbank Centre’s Spirit Level.


7pm – 9pm

£5*

Monday 6 October

Science Fiction – Home of the Literary Activist?Presented by English PEN

What is it about the sci-fi genre that goes hand in hand with activism and radical thinking? While PEN has support from writers on all fronts, readers and writers of sci-fi engage most energetically with campaigns, particularly around freedom of expression. Taking PEN’s early president, HG Wells, as a starting point, the discussion features writers including Nick Harkaway, James Smythe and writer and editor Anne C Perry. Chaired by writer and activist Sophie Mayer.


7.45pm

£8*

Southbank Centre and The National Academy of Writing present

Tuesday 7 October

The NAW Public Edit The National Academy of Writing offers insights into writing and re-writing effective texts.

The NAW Public Edit takes place in the fi rst hour of this event. Everyone attending may submit a text of up to 2000 words in any genre of fi ction or non-fi ction. Two texts are chosen at random and distributed to the audience in advance. Novelist, non-fi ction writer and NAW Director Richard Beard then publicly edits these texts, working on the principle that writers face similar challenges and an edit for one is an edit for all.

In the second hour, novelist and short story writer Kevin Barry talks about his process as a writer, taking the ‘pen or word-processor?’ question seriously. How do writers get the work done? What does it take to fi x the words on the page?

Plenty of time is allotted for questions.


6pm – 8pm

£15*

Tuesday 7 October

Colm Tóibín: Nora WebsterThe launch of a new novel from one of the greatest novelists writing today.

It is the 1960s and Nora Webster is living with her two young sons in a small town on the east coast of Ireland. The love of her life, Maurice, has just died and she must work out how to forge a new life for herself.

She deals with an endless procession of annoying visitors and with her unnerving aunt, who has both helped and deeply disturbed the daily life of her children. And, most importantly, she must learn how to give her sons a future as she tries to hold onto the past.

As Nora returns to memories of the happiness of her early marriage, something more painful begins to intrude: memories of her own mother and what brought about the terrifying distance between them.

As heartbreaking as Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín’s Nora Webster will live with you long after you’ve read the last page.

St Paul’s Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall

7pm

£8*

Colm Tóibín: Nora WebsterThe launch of a new novel from one of the greatest novelists writing today.

It is the 1960s and Nora Webster is living with

‘A profoundly gifted world writer’ (Sebastian Barry)

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Tuesday 7 October

Martin ParrSince the mid 1980s, the acute observation, wit and colour of Martin Parr’s work has established him as one of the most successful and popular contemporary photographers.

This year, he has been elected president of the prestigious Magnum agency. Parr’s work is testament to his belief that there is nothing as strange as real life unfolding in front of you.

His photographs, which document the idiosyncrasies of British (and more recently global) leisure culture, have received popular acclaim, provoked controversy, and been applauded for their critical observation of the world we have built and inhabit.

In this illustrated lecture, he talks about his work.

Queen Elizabeth Hall

7.30pm

£55* with book (RRP £59.95)

£15* without

Tuesday 7 October

Slavoj ŽižekThe Myth of Western Liberty

Slavoj Žižek is today’s most controversial public intellectual.

His work traverses the fi elds of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political theory.

It takes in fi lm, popular culture, and literature to provide acute analyses of the complexities of contemporary ideology as well as a serious and sophisticated examination of the world around us.

In this special event, he tackles the future of liberty, freedom and democracy: what do they mean in a world post-Arab Spring, WikiLeaks, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden?

Join Slavoj Žižek as he delivers his take on the world today with the high-octane energy that characterizes his work, in the company of Paul Mason, Economics Editor at Channel 4.

Royal Festival Hall

7.30pm

£20*, £15*, £10*

*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone.

controversial public intellectual.

His work traverses the fi elds of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology,

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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 28 29

Tuesday 7 October

Refl ecting on Samuel Coleridge-TaylorPoets Malika Booker and Dorothea Smartt re-imagine the life and works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 – 1912) was born in Croydon to a doctor from Sierra Leone and an English mother. He entered the realms of classical music through the assistance of a benefactor and studied at the Royal College of Music.

Elgar described Coleridge-Taylor as ‘Far and away the cleverest fellow going amongst the young men.’ Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, The Death of Minnehaha and The Song of Hiawatha are amongst his notable works.

Join the two poets as they use poetry to illuminate Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s life and work. They are accompanied by an original musical soundtrack composed by classically trained musicians Music Off Canvas. Composer Philip Herbert also provides biographical insight into Coleridge-Taylor.

With special thanks to the V&A and the Royal College of Music.

Curated by Nkechi Ebite.


8.15pm

£10*

Wednesday 8 October

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Agincourt25 October 2015 is the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt – a hugely resonant event in English (and French) history. Sir Ranulph Fiennes’s new account casts new light on one of the turning points of history.

Three of his ancestors fought in the battle for Henry V and some also fought for the French king.

In this exclusive morning event, one of Britain’s undoubted national treasures tells the story of the battle and talks about his research; including learning to shoot with a long-bow, and his trip to the battlefi eld.

Royal Festival Hall

11.30am

£20* and £15*

Tuesday 7 October

Refl ecting on Samuel Coleridge-TaylorPoets Malika Booker and Dorothea Smartt re-imagine

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31Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfestBook tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfestBook tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfestBook tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

Wednesday 8 October

PolariFirst Book Prize

The fourth annual prize celebrating debut LGBT authors, kindly sponsored by Societe Generale UK LGBT Network.

Tonight’s headliners are award-winning writer Ali Smith and Mari Hannah, winner of the Polari First Book Prize 2013.

Plus Will Davies, Karen McLeod and Justin David.


7.45pm

£10*

Wednesday 8 October

Shared Reading: Tom Phillips’ A HumumentWe invite you to read together from the latest edition of Tom Phillips’ ongoing project A Humument. The project was created by combining carefully selected words from a Victorian novel, which was then layered with visual effects. The audience for this shared reading each have sections to read as we bring this incredible work to life in the library.


8pm

£5*

Wednesday 8 October

Nature Writing: BadgerlandsWith Patrick Barkham

Patrick Barkham delves into the rich history of a mysterious British animal.

Britain is the home of the badger – there are more badgers per square kilometre in this country than in any other. And yet many of us have never seen one alive and in the wild.

They are nocturnal creatures who vanish into their labyrinthine underground setts at the fi rst hint of a human.

Here, Patrick Barkham follows in the footsteps of his badger-loving grandmother, to meet the feeders, farmers and scientists who know their way around Badgerlands: the strange world in which these distinctively striped creatures snuffl e, dig and live out their complex social lives.

As the debate over the badger cull continues, Barkham weighs the evidence on both sides of the argument, and traces the story of badgers from their prehistoric arrival in Britain and their savage persecution over the centuries, to Kenneth Grahame’s fi ctional creation in Wind in the Willow and the badger who became a White House pet.


7pm

£10*

Wednesday 8 October

The SI Leeds Literary Prize CelebrationA Little Dust on the Eyes by Minoli Salgado won the inaugural SI Leeds Literary Prize.

Acclaimed author and literary critic Bernardine Evaristo introduces this debut novel.

A national, biennial award for black and Asian women writers in the UK, founded in 2012, the SI Leeds Literary Prize’s patrons include Bonnie Greer and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

This year sees the announcement of the second award at the Ilkley Literature Festival in October.

This pre-award announcement celebration features discussion and performances, including readings from the 2014 SI Leeds Literary Prize shortlist. It includes the opportunity to meet Minoli and buy her book.

End the night in style at our reception and join us for drinks on the Level 5 Balcony Bar after the event.


7pm – 9.30pm

FreePlease note, this free event requires a ticket. Please book your free ticket online, by phone or in person (no fees apply).

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Thursday 9 October

Alice OswaldTithonus – 46 minutes in the life of the Dawn

The world premiere of a new poem, specially commissioned by Southbank Centre, read by the poet herself.

In Greek mythology, the Dawn fell in love with Tithonus and asked Zeus to make him immortal, but she forgot to ask that he should not grow old.

Unable to die, he grew older and older, until at last Dawn locked him in a room where, several thousand years later, he still sits babbling to himself.

This is an account of his babbling, written in real time, through a series of dawns from spring to midsummer 2014. It is a poem about survival.

The performance begins in darkness and lasts 46 minutes (the length of dawn in midsummer).

Latecomers will not be admitted.


6.30pm

£15*

Thursday 9 October

Southbank Centre First Look Book ClubA book club that allows readers to try books before they’re even published.

Get a fi rst look at a new book in the company of a publisher. Bound proofs or electronic versions of a book are sent to ticket holders a month before the event and several months before it is published.

Our fi rst choice is Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn.

On a sultry afternoon in the summer of 1936, a woman accidentally interrupts an attempted murder in a London hotel room. Nina Land, a West End actress, faces a dilemma: she’s not supposed to be at the hotel in the fi rst place, and certainly not with society portraitist Stephen Wyley. But once it becomes apparent that she may have seen the face of the man the newspapers have dubbed ‘the Tie-Pin Killer’ she realises that a refusal to come forward may endanger another woman’s life.

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. He is the author of The Rescue Man, which won the 2009 Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, Half of the Human Race and The Streets, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Walter Scott Prize.

Tickets limited to 30 people.


7.30 pm

£10* (including book)

Thursday 9 October

Writing from PrisonAn evening showcasing award-winning writing by offenders, secure patients and detainees from the 2014 Koestler Awards.

Arts in criminal justice professionals, ex-offender writers, and artist Janetka Platun, who was commissioned to create the creative writing installation within this year’s Art by Offenders exhibition, talk about their experience of people in custody using writing to achieve freedom and participate in society.

This is a rare opportunity to hear top Koestler Award-winning writers give readings of their recent work.

Part of this year’s Catching Dreams: Art by Offenders, Secure Patients and Detainees exhibition at Southbank Centre, which was curated by graduates of the Koestler Trust’s mentoring programme for ex-offenders.

7.45pm


£8*


7.45pm


£8*

Tithonus – 46 minutes in the life of the Dawn

The world premiere of a new poem, specially commissioned by Southbank Centre, read by the

In Greek mythology, the Dawn fell in love with Tithonus and asked Zeus to make him immortal, but she forgot to ask that he should not grow old.

Unable to die, he grew older and older, until at last Dawn locked him in a room where, several thousand years later, he still sits

This is an account of his babbling, written in real time, through a series of dawns from spring to midsummer 2014. It is a poem about survival.


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Thursday 9 October

Sheila HancockMiss Carter’s War

The celebrated actress discusses her new novel with Jude Kelly, Artistic Director of Southbank Centre.

It is 1948 and Britain is struggling to recover from the Second World War. Half French, half English, Marguerite Carter has lost both her parents and survived a terrifying war, working for the SOE behind enemy lines. She has left behind her partisan lover Andre and returned to England to become one of the fi rst women to receive a degree from the University of Cambridge.

Now she pins back her unruly curls, draws a pencil seam up her legs, ties the laces on her sensible black shoes, belts her grey gabardine mac and sets out on her future as an English teacher in a South London girls’ grammar school. For Miss Carter has a mission to fi ght social injustice, to prevent war and to educate her girls.


8.15pm

£10*

Friday 10 – Sunday 12 October

Paines Plough in association with Southbank Centre present

Come To Where I’m FromA playwrights’ guide to Great Britain

A huge, interactive map of Great Britain. People walk around it and on it. Plotted on the map are more than 100 playwrights, their names written on the place they grew up in; they talk about the places that shaped them.

Find a playwright, or a place, pop on some headphones, grab a seat at the side of the map, and listen to a mini play written by that playwright about their home town, city or village.

Pull up a pew and listen to James Graham’s paean to the lost mining industry in his native Mansfi eld, sit on the edge of your seat for Richard Dormer’s heart-thumping scrapes in Troubles-torn Belfast, wander into Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s garrulous family home in Watford.

Or scan a QR code and download a play onto your smartphone. Let Tim Price conjure Cardiff while you’re wandering along the South Bank.

Throughout the weekend, guest playwrights read their plays live, stood on their home town on the map, surrounded by audiences.


Friday 10 October, 6pm – 10pm

Saturday 11 & Sunday 12 October, 10am – 8pm

FreeFree

Friday 10 October

Friday Tonic with MasterCardKate Tempest curates a special Friday Tonic for the London Literature Festival.

The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall

5.30pm

Free

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Friday 10 October

Hilary MantelThe Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

Hilary Mantel is one of Britain’s most accomplished, acclaimed and garlanded writers.

Uniquely, her last two novels won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

In this new collection of ten stories, all her gifts of characterisation, observation and intelligence are once again fully on display. With settings ranging from Saudi Arabia to Greece to London, they reveal a great writer at the peak of her powers.

Hilary reads from the collection and is in conversation with James Runcie, Southbank Centre’s Head of Literature and the Spoken Word.

Royal Festival Hall

7.30pm

£25*, £20*, £15*

Friday 10 October

Kate TempestHold Your Own

New poetry from a fi ercely talented Ted Hughes Award-winning poet.

Kate Tempest follows up her outstanding sell-out show Brand New Ancients with a new full-length collection of poetry – an ambitious, multi-voiced work based around the mythical fi gure of Tiresias.

This four-part work follows him through his transformations from child, man and woman to blind prophet; through this structure, Tempest holds up a mirror to contemporary life in a direct and provocative way rarely associated with poetry. Kate is one of the most outstanding voices of our times.


7.30pm

£15* and £12*

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Friday 10 October

Hayward Preview: MIRRORCITYArtists Tim Etchells and Lindsay Seers discuss Hayward Gallery’s new exhibition, MIRRORCITY.

On the eve of the exhibition, they discuss their work in relation to its main themes with writer Tom McCarthy.

MIRRORCITY brings together art informed by science fi ction, the emergence of new speculative philosophies and the effects of the internet on our lives.

Taking London as its point of departure, this panel also examines the way artists investigate the multifaceted realities of the here and now.

The panel is chaired by the exhibition’s curator, Stephanie Rosenthal.


7.45pm

£10*

Saturday 11 October

Do It Yourself Zine DayActivist and feminist groups are invited to create fanzines on The Clore Ballroom fl oor.

In celebration of International Day of the Girl and of politically minded young people everywhere, come and explore what matters to you, what you’d like to change and what inspires you. Then cut it all up and reassemble it in your very own fanzine.

12 noon – 4pm


Free

Saturday 11 October

How We Are: Vincent DearyA compelling literary debut about how we negotiate change in our daily lives.

Psychologist and writer Vincent Deary reveals how much of our lives are lived automatically, how resistant we are to deliberate change, but why change is empowering and necessary. Illuminated through personal stories and rich cultural references, How We Are is the fi rst volume in a sensational trilogy that will examine what makes us human: how we are, how we break, and how, eventually, we mend.

Vincent Deary specialises in helping people change their lives for the better.


2pm

£8*


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Saturday 11 October

Josh Cohen:The Private LifePsychoanalyst and cultural theorist Josh Cohen enquires into the nature of privacy today.

Privacy is under assault. A culture of intrusion governed by the unholy alliance of voyeurism and exhibitionism deems that we should know everything. But what do we actually mean by privacy? What goes on behind the net curtains of our minds, and what can we learn from poking around in our dreams, memories and fantasies?


4pm

£8*

Saturday 11 October

James Meek: Private IslandA conversation with James Meek about how Britain’s common wealth became private.

In a little over a generation, the bones and sinews of the British economy – rail, energy, water, postal services, municipal housing – have been sold to remote, unaccountable private owners.

James Meek discusses the impact this has had on us all.


6pm

£8*

Saturday 11 October

Writing as a Key to CreativityHow do visual artists use language to unlock ideas?

Join three artists from the forthcoming MIRRORCITY exhibition at Hayward Gallery as they discuss the important role of writing in their work and how different art forms can inspire each other.


6pm

£8*

Saturday 11 October

Richard Strange and Cabaret Futura in association with Southbank Centre present

Language Is A Virus From Outer SpaceWilliam S Burroughs Centenary Celebration

A gonzo gala cut-up evening of art, music, fi lm, song and testimony devoted to William S Burroughs, the celebrated American writer and author of The Naked Lunch, in his one hundredth anniversary year.

Once described as the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift, Burroughs believed ‘In the U.S. you have to be a deviant or die of boredom.’

Boring this won’t be. At the heart of the evening is the world premiere of a new cantata by Gavin Bryars and Richard Strange – Language is a Virus from Outer Space.

We also feature…..

A one-off reunion performance of the seminal proto-punk band the Doctors of Madness; Audrey Riley (Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Coldplay, Icebreaker): Sarah Jane Morris (The Communards, The Republic, The Happy End); Anni Hogan (Marc and the Mambas, Barry Adamson, Paul Weller); and Kate St. John (Philip Glass, Damon Albarn, Tom Waits, The Dream Academy, Van Morrison, Marianne Faithfull).


7.30pm

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Josh Cohen:The Private Life

Saturday 11 October

James Meek: Private Island


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Saturday 11 October

Jacqueline RoseWomen In Dark Times

From Rosa Luxemburg to Marilyn Monroe…

Leading feminist writer Jacqueline Rose is in conversation with Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, Jude Kelly.

Set off on a journey through the life, times and inner thoughts of some of the most creative women of the twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries.

Jacqueline Rose provides a new template for the struggles of women today.

Descending into some of the bleakest realities of our time, such as honour killings, she argues that the work of feminism is far from done. Women in Dark Times is both a tribute and a challenge.


7.45pm

£8*

Sunday 12 October

Danny DorlingInequality and the 1%

Danny Dorling talks about rising inequality in the UK.

More and more people are driven toward the poverty line while the 1% continues to get richer.

It is widely accepted that high rates of inequality are damaging to society, although some sceptics remain to be convinced.

What is the real cost of the super rich? What exactly is it about inequality that causes most harm?

Danny Dorling – leading authority on social issues, inequality and housing – explains why the growing wealth of the wealthy is making the UK a more dangerous place to live.


2pm

£8*

Sunday 12 October

Explore Everything: Bradley GarrettThe author of Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City talks to Anna Minton.

What does it feel like to fi nd the city’s edge, to explore its forgotten tunnels and scale unfi nished skyscrapers high above the metropolis?

Bradley L. Garrett discusses how ‘place-hacking’ reclaims closed, private and derelict spaces to make them realms of opportunity – and how this transgression almost cost him his freedom.


4pm

£8*

Explore Everything:

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*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles. For other bookings transaction fees apply: £1.75 online; £2.75 over the phone. 44 Book tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfestBook tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfestBook tickets: 0844 847 9910 southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest

Sunday 12 October

Penny ReadingsThe greatest poetry and prose travels from the page to your ear...

Based on the traditional Victorian penny readings popularised by Charles Dickens, the evening offers a collection of readings that celebrate the freedom and struggles of human life.

Some readers are members of the local community who read aloud together every week as part of The Reader Organisation’s work in South London, while others have faces which are little more recognisable...


5pm

Free, but bring a penny on the day

Sunday 12 October

Elif ShafakA preview of a sweeping and magical new novel from Elif Shafak.

The Architect’s Apprentice is set in a 16th-century Istanbul bursting with colour, romance and white elephants.

Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of The Bastard of Istanbul and The Forty Rules of Love and is the most widely read female novelist in Turkey.

Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.

She is a contributor to The Telegraph, The Guardian and The New York Times and her TED talk on the politics of fi ction has received 1,000,000 views since July 2010.


6pm

£8*

45

‘You don’t get such warmth in the audience, and from the stage, anywhere else – it’s the best night of the year.’ (Audience member on Penny Readings Liverpool 2013)

5pm

Free, but bring a penny on the day

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Sunday 12 October

Africa39 – Book LaunchThe most promising voices from Africa South of the Sahara

Clifton Gachagua (Kenya), Nadifa Mohamed (Somalia) and Stanley Kenani (Malawi) talk about their work with the Africa39 anthology editor Ellah Allfrey and discuss the creativity and amazing writing from their regions.

They are part of a selection of 39 promising writers under 40 from Africa south of the Sahara and diaspora. The Africa39 project was created by the Hay Festival and UNESCO Port Harcourt World Book Capital.

This event is also the book launch for the Africa39 anthology which is published by Bloomsbury: 20 countries, 39 African writers and a preface by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka.

The discussion is followed by drinks.

Weston Roof Pavilion at Royal Festival Hall

6pm

£8*

Sunday 12 October

Le Grand Meaulnes Translation DuelRival translators discuss Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes

John Fowles once referred to the bildungsroman as ‘the greatest novel of adolescence in European Literature’.

The author was killed in the fi rst few weeks of the First World War and the book has become an elegy for a lost generation. But how can we appreciate it in English?

Daniel Hahn mediates a discussion between rival translators Frank Wynne and Sarah Ardizzone.

Expect intriguing discrepancies and heated discussion in an event which sheds light both on the novel and on what literary translation is all about.

No knowledge of French is required.


8pm

£8*

Monday 13 October

2014 Man Booker Prize ReadingsA series of six readings and conversations about the books shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize. The prize is the world’s most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and publishers.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014 will be chaired by AC Grayling. The judges are: Jonathan Bate, Sarah Churchwell, Dr Alastair Niven, Dr Daniel Glaser and Erica Wagner.

The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 9 September 2014.

Royal Festival Hall

7.30 pm

£20*, £15*, £10*

A series of six readings and conversations about the books shortlisted

literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors

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Tom Phillips: Illuminated TweetsAn exhibition tracking Tom Phillips’ A Humument through its recent incarnations across digital platforms.

The Humument app invites readers to randomly seek advice from the pages of the book, and a USB card of Phillips reading the work brings to life the rich musical textures of his poetry.

Also on display are a number of Illuminated Tweets, which combine the author’s tweeted poetry with the distinctive signature of his visual work.

Tuesday 9 September – Sunday 26 October

11am – 8pm


Free

Tom Phillips: Illuminated Tweets

Throughout the festival

The Debating Chamber The Debating Chamber takes place throughout the festival on The Clore Ballroom fl oor. It provides a central focus for performance, debate, talks and ideas generation. This large-scale, interactive installation includes an exhibition offering a way to explore the many ways communication technologies, from the printing press to the computer, have enabled ideas to be disseminated throughout history. This element is curated by Southbank Centre and includes loans from collections such as that of the Centre for Computing History.

Created by Muf architecture/art.


10am – 11pm

Free

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Coming up later this yearLiterature events continue right up until Christmas. Here are the highlights of our late autumn season.

Friday 31 October

SLAMbassadors UKThe UK’s loudest and longest running solo youth slam is back, showcasing the best young talent in the country, plus a special guest appearance by 2014 judge Kate Tempest.

Brought to you by the Poetry Society, the SLAMbassadors UK national fi nal gives over the stage to the greatest young spoken-word artists in the nation, including sets from spoken-word sensations Joelle Taylor and Kate Tempest. Forget the autumn weather, this promises to be one of the hottest nights of the poetry year.

Prepare to stomp your feet and raise the roof: this is poetry at the heart of the revolution.


4pm – 7pm

Free

Sunday 2 November

Graham NortonGraham Norton has been entertaining audiences and having fun with some of the world’s biggest stars for nearly twenty years. He is loved across the nation for his ability to fi nd humour and a common ground in all that life brings.

Now is your chance to see Graham live in conversation as he talks about his brilliant new memoir The Life and Loves of a He Devil – a hilariously honest account of how the things we love make us who we are.

From his Irish childhood to the present day, Graham shares his most memorable experiences – the side-splittingly funny, the tear-jerkingly sad, and everything in between. With Graham’s blend of characteristic humour and outrageous candour, he regales us with tales of his loves and losses and how they’ve shaped his life.

Royal Festival Hall

7.30pm

£30* including signed copy

Sunday 9 November

Remembrance Sunday: Britten’s War RequiemMarin Alsop and the Royal Academy of Music

Join Marin Alsop and the young musicians of the Royal Academy of Music in a performance of Benjamin Britten’s towering War Requiem.

The Talks

The concert forms part of a day that marks the 100th anniversary of World War One. If you choose a £15 ticket, you can also attend a series of talks and workshops throughout the day. Starting in the morning from 10am, these talks provide an insight into the history and the culture of the times surrounding Britten’s War Requiem.

Margaret MacMillan uncovers the huge political and technological changes, national decisions and – just as importantly – the small moments of human muddle and weakness that led Europe from peace to disaster; Jerry White examines Londoners’ experiences of bombing raids by German airships; Allan Little looks at the long shadow over the twentieth century caused by events in Sarajevo (from 1914 to the Bosnian War); Andrew Motion reads Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum est and talks about the poetry of Edward Thomas while Karen Leeder introduces the work of his German equivalent: Ernst Stadler.

Further details of the timetable to be announced on the Southbank Centre website nearer the time.

Experience all the talks and concert for just £15*

Concert-only tickets are £10*

Royal Festival Hall

Sunday 9 November

No Man’s LandThe Great War gave birth to some of the twentieth century’s most celebrated writing; from Brooke to Sassoon, the poetry generated by the war is etched into collective memory. But it is in prose fi ction that we fi nd some of the most profound insights into the war’s individual and communal tragedies, the horror of life in the trenches and the grand farce of the fi rst industrial war.

The extraordinary new anthology No Man’s Land, featuring unheard and remarkable voices from twenty nations around the world, has now been edited, into a dramatic one-hour reading for four actors, created by novelist and director Neil Bartlett.


7.45pm

£12*

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the most profound insights into the war’s individual and communal tragedies, the horror of life in the trenches and the grand farce of the fi rst industrial war.

The extraordinary new No Man’s Land,

featuring unheard and remarkable voices from twenty nations around the world, has now been edited, into a dramatic one-hour reading for four actors, created by novelist and director Neil Bartlett.

Concert-only tickets are £10*

Royal Festival Hall

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Thursday 13 November

Marilynne RobinsonMarilynne Robinson is a writer unlike anyone else in contemporary literature and arguably one of the greatest novelists of our time. Lila is her new novel.

Homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, Lila steps inside a small-town Iowa church – the only available shelter from the rain – and so begins a new existence after years of suffering and hardship.

Revisiting the beloved characters and setting of Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead and Home, Lila is an unforgettable story about a girl who lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder.


7.45pm

£10*

Tuesdays 18 November – 16 December

The Mirror Image Five Tuesday-night sessions in Hayward Gallery with poet Tamar Yoseloff.

The celebrated poet runs a short course inspired by Hayward Gallery’s autumn exhibition, MIRRORCITY. Taking London as its point of departure, the exhibition focuses on art informed by science fi ction, the emergence of new speculative philosophies and the effects of the internet on our lives. Author of several collections of poetry, Tamar has an interest in the relationship between art and poetry.

Thursdays 18, 25 November, 2, 9 & 16 December

Hayward Gallery

6.30 – 8.15pm

£100* for all 5 sessions

Saturday 29 – Sunday 30 November

A Song of Good And Evil Premiere

October 1946, Nuremberg.

Human rights lawyer Philippe Sands narrates an original piece that offers new insights into the lives of three men at the heart of the trial, with the music that crossed the courtroom to connect prosecutor and defendant. A personal exploration of the origins of modern justice and the fate of individuals and groups, in images, words and music.

Featuring the music of Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Mizrahi, Aragon and Leonard Cohen, performed by acclaimed bass-baritone Laurent Naouri and renowned jazz pianist Guillaume de Chassy.

Directed by Nina Brazier.


7.45pm

£20* and £15*

Monday 1 December

Liberty and Southbank Centre are proud to present…

The 2014 Liberty Human Rights AwardsTo celebrate 80 years of holding the powerful to account in the name of freedom, fairness and justice, Liberty, the UK’s oldest human rights and civil liberties organisation, opens this event to the public for the very fi rst time.

The awards honour individuals and organisations dedicated to protecting and promoting our freedoms. They give voice to stories that may otherwise go unheard and celebrate the hard work, inspiration and dedication of those who champion the rights of ordinary people.

Join us for this amazing celebration of the great, good and the gutsy working on the frontline of human rights. The event is hosted by comedian, novelist, actor, broadcaster, show-off and international treasure Sandi Toksvig, with appearances from some very special guests and music from singer-songwriter and activist Billy Bragg.

Plus Director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti talks to screen legend and lifelong campaigner Vanessa Redgrave about acting, activism and the future of liberty.


7pm

£10*

Wednesday 3 December

Ali SmithLiving Translation

Without the oxygen of literary translation, contemporary fi ction and poetry will always run the risk of stagnation and a lingering decline. Ali Smith addresses how language and literature are naturally international and suggests that one of the world’s most dominant languages can’t ignore the proliferation of life and lives that make up the global library.

Ali Smith is one of the most exciting, daring and engaged writers working today. Join her in a conversation exploring what is at stake for readers and writers if our connection to outstanding books from other languages is threatened.

Chaired by writer and translator Daniel Hahn. Ali Smith is joined on stage by writer and fi lm maker Xiaolu Guo. Living Translation is part of a National Conversation led by the Writers’ Centre Norwich.

Find out more and join in the conversation at nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk.


7.45pm

£10*


7.45pm

£20* and £15*

Saturday 29 – Sunday

October 1946, Nuremberg.

Philippe Sands narrates an

new insights into the lives

of the trial, with the music that crossed the courtroom to connect prosecutor and

exploration of the origins of modern justice and the fate of individuals and groups, in

Wednesday 3 December

Without the oxygen of literary translation, contemporary fi ction and poetry will always run the risk of stagnation and a lingering decline. Ali Smith addresses how language and literature are naturally international and suggests that one of the world’s most

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Sunday 14 December

A Christmas Carolby Charles Dickens, adapted by Rosie Kellagher

The return of last year’s sold-out show; a star-studded 75-minute rehearsed reading of this classic Christmas story, narrated by Griff Rhys Jones, with music on the violin and some very special guests.


6pm (with carols and mulled wine in the foyer from 5pm)

£15* and £10*

Notes

*No transaction fees for in-person bookings or Southbank Centre Members and Supporters Circles.

How to bookOnline & phone:southbankcentre.co.uk/londonlitfest0844 847 9910 9am – 8pm daily Transaction fees apply (excluding free events).No transaction fees for Southbank Centre Membersand Supporters Circles.

In person:Royal Festival Hall Ticket Offi ce10am – 8pm daily

JOIN THE CONVERSATION /southbankliterature

@litsouthbank #londonlitfest

/southbankcentre

GETTING HERESouthbank CentreBelvedere RoadLondonSE1 8XXSouthbank Centre has excellent public transport connections.

Underground: Waterloo and Embankment

Buses: Waterloo Bridge, York Road, Belvedere Road and Stamford Street

Mainline rail stations: Waterloo, Waterloo East and Charing Cross

TELL US WHAT YOU THINKWe’d love to hear your feedback via [email protected]

Documents

London Literature Festival 2014