Dua Lipa Brings Patti Smith and Mustafa to London Literature Festival

Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival programme brought music and books together at the Southbank Centre over the weekend, with conversations featuring Patti Smith, Mustafa and Zadie Smith. The Royal Festival Hall events took place on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, as the singer’s collaboration with her Service95 Book Club moved from reading recommendations to a live London audience.

Patti Smith’s Sunday evening appearance centred on her memoir Bread of Angels, following Saturday’s discussions of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and Mustafa’s poetry publication Nour. The festival continues until Sunday 1 November, with further events developed alongside Service95.

Dua Lipa London Literature Festival pairs music and memoir

The Southbank Centre’s listing for the Patti Smith conversation describes a journey through the musician’s childhood, artistic development and family life. Her book moves from post-war Philadelphia and teenage years in New Jersey towards the creative life that produced Horses, bringing an artist’s beginnings into the same frame as the work for which she became known.

The memoir also covers the life Smith built with Fred “Sonic” Smith in Michigan, away from public attention, and the place writing retained through bereavement. Those strands give the conversation a subject beyond musical milestones: how an artist continues to make work while the circumstances of their life change.

Broadcaster, writer and DJ Zakia Sewell was listed to moderate audience questions after the talk. The venue also states that the conversation is recorded for the Service95 Book Club podcast, providing a route for the discussion to reach listeners beyond those attending the Royal Festival Hall. A release date for that recording is not given on the event page.

Mustafa’s poetry takes the stage

Saturday evening’s event paired Lipa with her friend Mustafa, the Sudanese Canadian poet, singer, songwriter and film-maker. Rather than a concert, the official programme for their conversation focused on poetry and the writing that has influenced them.

Nour, meaning light in Arabic, was made available free in 2025. The venue describes a publication concerned with religious devotion, love, grief and everyday rituals. Poets Victoria Chang and Safia Elhillo were named as special guests for readings, extending the evening beyond an interview between its two headline participants.

The format gives listeners familiar with Mustafa through songs another way into his writing. It also reflects a recurring thread across Lipa’s weekend: treating an artist’s words as something to discuss in detail, whether those words first reach an audience through a novel, poetry or music.

For readers discovering the publication through the event, the Southbank Centre page also links to a downloadable PDF of Nour. The text can therefore be explored directly alongside the programme, allowing the writing itself to remain accessible after the live conversation has finished.

A live extension of Service95

Zadie Smith joined Lipa earlier on Saturday for a discussion of White Teeth, her 2000 debut. Vogue’s report on the weekend confirmed both Saturday appearances, placing the literary conversations at the centre of Lipa’s latest public outings.

The three events sit within a wider curatorial partnership. In the Southbank Centre’s programme announcement, Lipa set out an interest in bringing established writers and emerging voices into the same programme. The opening weekend put that approach into practice through guests working across several forms of writing.

Service95’s involvement continues this week, including a Translated Fiction Showcase on Wednesday 28 October, Fierce Sounds, featuring Kae Tempest, on Friday 30 October, and Rewriting Male Tenderness on Saturday 31 October. These are part of the wider festival rather than additional appearances by Lipa.

The festival overview lists both ticketed and free programming, with prices varying between events. For readers who missed the headline weekend, the remaining programme offers further chances to explore the connection between writing, performance and the stories artists choose to tell.