Dua Lipa Brings Service95 Book Club to London Literature Festival with Art by Rama Duwaji

The global pop star is taking her passion for books to one of London's biggest literary events, bringing together celebrated writers, poetry, memoir and creative storytelling through her Service95 Book Club.

Music and literature are coming together in London as Dua Lipa's Service95 Book Club takes centre stage at the London Literature Festival. The event opened this week with a striking animated film displayed on Piccadilly Lights, featuring words written by Lipa and illustrations by Rama Duwaji, a New York-based illustrator and the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The film, with sound design by Leila Wilkinson, sets the tone for a festival built around the power of reading and the exchange of ideas. It concludes with the message, Read The World Differently, reflecting the spirit of Service95 and its efforts to encourage readers to explore stories, perspectives and cultures beyond their own.

Lipa's involvement marks another step in her journey from international music star to an increasingly visible advocate for books and literary conversations.

A Literary Celebration at the Southbank Centre

Running from 20 October to 1 November 2026, the 19th edition of the London Literature Festival is being curated in collaboration with Service95 Book Club. The festival is part of the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary celebrations, bringing together established literary voices, musicians, poets and other creative talents.

This year's programme places books at the heart of a wider cultural conversation. By involving a globally recognised artist in its curation, the festival also creates an opportunity to introduce literature to audiences who may not traditionally engage with literary events.

Lipa will personally host conversations with three notable guests over the festival weekend. On Saturday, she will speak with acclaimed author Zadie Smith about her celebrated novel White Teeth. Poet and musician Mustafa is scheduled to appear later that evening, followed by a conversation with Patti Smith on Sunday about her memoir, Bread of Angels.

The programme brings together fiction, poetry, music and memoir, reflecting the range of creative expression that contemporary literary festivals increasingly embrace.

How Reading Became Personal for Dua Lipa

Lipa's connection with books is rooted in her own experiences of growing up between cultures. Born in London, she moved to Pristina with her family after Kosovo declared independence in 2008. She later returned to London alone at the age of 15 to pursue her ambitions.

The experience of adjusting to a new environment was not always easy. Lipa has spoken about how reading helped her navigate the challenges of being the new student at school and finding her place in an unfamiliar setting.

That personal relationship with literature has since developed into a platform that connects readers with authors and their ideas. Through Service95, Lipa has helped bring books into conversations that extend beyond traditional literary circles, encouraging her audience to discover writers and stories from different backgrounds.

Her work with the London Literature Festival builds on this approach, giving readers opportunities to engage directly with authors while introducing new audiences to the wider literary world.

Inside the Service95 Book Club

Launched in 2023, Service95 Book Club is a monthly literary initiative through which Lipa selects a book and interviews its author. The selections span different genres, cultures and perspectives, reflecting an interest in stories that offer fresh ways of understanding the world.

Previous choices have included Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun, David Szalay's Flesh, Mark Ronson's Night People and Kae Tempest's Having Spent Life Seeking.

The club has also expanded its reach through digital media. Since June 2025, its author interviews have been available as video content on Spotify, allowing readers to explore the ideas behind the selected books and hear directly from the people who wrote them.

Kae Tempest is also part of the London Literature Festival programme, appearing in an event titled Fierce Sounds. The inclusion highlights the connections between the book club's selections and the festival's broader celebration of literature, poetry and performance.

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Pop Culture and Literature Share the Spotlight

Dua Lipa is not the first major music figure to take on a curatorial role at the Southbank Centre. Harry Styles curated the venue's Meltdown festival earlier in 2026, while musician Self Esteem curated the previous year's London Literature Festival.

Other notable figures who have previously taken on curatorial roles at Southbank events include artist Ai Weiwei, climate activist Greta Thunberg, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, author Margaret Atwood, children's writer Philip Pullman and actor Tom Hanks.

The involvement of artists and public figures from different fields reflects the Southbank Centre's wider commitment to bringing together diverse voices and creative disciplines.

Lipa's contribution offers a particularly direct link between popular music and reading culture. Through her global platform, she can help bring attention to authors and books that audiences might not otherwise encounter, while the festival provides a setting for deeper conversations about the work itself.

A New Chapter for Reading Culture

The opening film on Piccadilly Lights provides a visual introduction to a festival that places storytelling at the centre of its programme. With Rama Duwaji's animation, Leila Wilkinson's sound design and Lipa's writing, the project brings together different creative disciplines to celebrate the written word.

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More broadly, Service95 Book Club demonstrates how a personal interest in reading can develop into a cultural platform with an international audience. By combining author interviews, monthly book selections and live literary events, Lipa is helping create new ways for readers to discover books and engage with the people behind them.

As the London Literature Festival continues through 1 November, its programme offers audiences an opportunity to explore fiction, poetry, memoir and ideas through conversations with some of the most distinctive voices in contemporary culture.

For Lipa, the festival is more than a curatorial assignment. It is an extension of a relationship with reading that began during a period of personal change and has grown into a platform encouraging others to see the world through different stories.