FEATURE:
Dua Lipa Curating the London Literature Festival
A Hugely Positive and Influential Way to Get More People Reading
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THIS news story…
PHOTO CREDIT: Dua Lipa
went out a while ago, though the festival itself is not until October. The incredible Dua Lipa has a busy year ahead of her. She will appear on A24’s new comedy film Peaked, as Deadline reveal. It sounds like an incredible project. Lipa has appeared in films but, like her Pop peer, Charli xcx, she has not quite been given the right project and vehicle. This new film sounds like one that will put Dua Lipa more in the spotlight and give her an opportunity to flex her acting muscles. What I mean is that, so far, she has not been given too many challenging or vastly interesting roles. I feel she is a wonderful natural actor, so I hope that Peaked is the start of a run of films that sees her seen as an accomplished and varied actor. You can see her tackling really gritty roles and also charming romantic-comedies and biopics. At the moment, she has a lot of other things on her plate. Her latest album, Radical Optimism, was released in 2024. She will be thinking about her next album. If some saw Radical Optimism as a less spectacular follow-up to 2020’s Future Nostalgia, I felt that it was equal to that 2020 album. I feel Dua Lipa will do something very different for her fourth studio album. I believe she is also engaged to be married, so that is going to be a big focus for her this year. We will see Dua Lipa grace the big screen and perhaps the small screen if the right scripts come her way. At the moment, I think her Radical Optimism Tour has wound down. It seems like a new chapter and time for her to launch new music. It is not unusual for artists to have offshoots and other things they do.
Usually, that means products and brand advertising. Nothing like a whole new discipline or something beyond that. Apart from acting, most artists are busy with music but do not get involved too much in other areas of the arts. Sure, Dua Lipa has been involved with advertising and she has been in some popcorn flicks or films that are a bit empty. That will change when she is seen more as a genuinely great and eclectic actor. One of her most fulfilling ventures is the Service95 Book Club. Service95 is a global style, arts and society venture – the ultimate cultural concierge – at the service of the reader. What is fantastic about Service95 is how engaging it is. Dua Lipa recommends a monthly read. There are articles and interviews. The Reading List is probably my favourite part. I am trying to think of other high-profile artists that are avid readers and extraordinary interviewers too. Dua Lipa is as good as any interviewer. I feel there should be a YouTube series where artists interview one another. A format where they talk about their career sand select tracks and there are these different segments, I would love to see Lipa talk with another big artist. Service95 is something Dua Lipa is passionate about. She also is encouraging so many people to pick up books. Her young fans, who might be distracted by the shallowness of social media, are encouraged to pick up books and engage more with literature. It seemed like a natural step that she was asked to curate this year’s London literature Festival. Art Plugged provide details of a festival that is going to be fascinating:
“The Southbank Centre has named Dua Lipa as curator of its 2026 London Literature Festival, placing one of pop’s most visible literary advocates at the helm of the capital’s longest-running festival of literature and spoken word. The Grammy and Brit Award-winning artist, who founded the Service95 Book Club, will shape a series of events for the opening weekend on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, alongside programming across the wider festival in collaboration with Service95 Book Club.
Running from Wednesday 21 October to Sunday 1 November, the 2026 edition arrives as part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary year and during the National Year of Reading. Now in its nineteenth year, the London Literature Festival has established itself as a fixture of the city’s cultural calendar, bringing major authors, public thinkers and new voices into conversation on one of London’s most prominent arts sites.
Dua’s curatorship reflects a reading life she has made increasingly public. In 2023, she launched the Service95 Book Club as part of Service95, her global culture platform. Each month, she selects a title and speaks with its author for the club’s podcast, building an audience around reading that extends well beyond traditional literary spaces. She has also used that platform to advocate for readers who face barriers to access, including those affected by book bans and incarceration
Commenting on her curatorship, Dua Lipa said: “Reading has anchored me through every chapter of my life – from being the new kid at school in a new country to finding quiet refuge on tour. Curating the Southbank Centre’s London Literature Festival is a dream come true. I’m thrilled to indulge one of my greatest obsessions: books and the brilliant minds behind them. I can’t wait to dive into the imaginations of some of my favourite authors in one of London’s most iconic cultural spaces.”
For the Southbank Centre, the appointment places literature within a broader anniversary programme that looks to the institution’s postwar origins while inviting contemporary artists to recast its public role. It also signals an effort to connect literary culture with audiences who may first know Dua through music, fashion or digital media, but who have followed her growing commitment to books, authors and reading communities.
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, said: “The Southbank Centre was borne out of the 1951 Festival of Britain – a moment that galvanised the nation using art, music, science and design to imagine a brighter future. 75 years later our anniversary programme is capturing that optimistic spirit of ‘51 by inviting global creative talent to help us celebrate the unifying power of arts and culture and to conjure up visions of the future.
“Dua Lipa is a global cultural force with millions of fans around the world, and her passion for the written and spoken word has inspired a new generation of readers. We’re absolutely thrilled that Dua will take the reins of our flagship London Literature Festival, applying her incredible creative talent, her advocacy and her reach to connect audiences to our finest writers.
The drop was especially pronounced among primary-aged children, with reading continuing to attract lower engagement among boys than girls. In that context, the London Literature Festival will include events designed to engage young people with books and storytelling, with creative collaborations from the world of gaming, special workshops and a programme of free events. This strand is supported by Bukhman Philanthropies”.
PHOTO CREDIT: YSL Beauty
I am going off on a slight tangent. Dua Lipa is also someone who I would genuinely call a businesswoman. An innovator and someone who I feel might become more involved in politics years from now. Last month, for ELLE Singapore chatted with Dua Lipa. She has been the face of YSL Beauty’s Libre since 2019. Lipa talked about the scent and her association with it and affinity for her. Talking about her scent and perfume regime, we see another side to her:
“Every girl wants to be Dua Lipa. Since signing her record deal with Warner Records Inc. in 2014 and releasing her debut track "New Love", the 30-year-old British singer has evolved into one of music’s bona fide stars. In true popstar fashion, she's scored a slew of UK top ten hits—including three off her third studio album Radical Optimism—and has won countless awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys for Future Nostalgia and seven Brit Awards throughout her career. She has also gone on to headline Glastonbury Festival in 2024, star in movies Barbie (for which she sang the hit "Dance The Night Away") and Argylle, complete three successful tours, and perform her greatest hits with the Heritage Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall for the television special, An Evening with Dua Lipa, all within the last decade.
Combined with her free-spirited nature, vivacious sensuality, and zest for life, the British songstress is every bit of an it girl; well-read, well-loved, and well-traveled as displayed through her acclaimed weekly lifestyle newsletter Service95 alongside its accompanying podcast Dua Lipa: At Your Service and sun-soaked snapshots with her equally stunning entourage and fiancé, actor Callum Turner, around the world on Instagram. It’s this exact effervescence that makes her the perfect choice as the face of YSL Beauty’s Libre since 2019. This oriental scent—along with its sister iterations—is inspired by the independent Libre girl embracing life fearlessly on her own terms. In short: it’s sexy, sophisticated, and unapologetically bold, much like Dua herself”.
That was a slightly distraction. However, it does show how Dua Lipa gets to balance brand association, film, music and her Service95 book club. Her helming the curation of this year’s London Literature Festival is going to be a major priority. I wonder how she will incorporate Service95 and whether there will be a tie-in. Already, she has so much influence on many young fans. Those who may not have picked up a book or been too interested in literature. Dua Lipa, as this engaging and very intelligent and skilled interview also has this great connection with authors and people she interviews. This month’s recommend read is quite momentous for Service95 Book Club:
“April 2026 marks a milestone for Lipa’s Service95 book club: its first play. In her intro, Lipa notes that she first read “Jerusalem” when she was 15 and the play’s main character “has stayed with [her] ever since.”
“From the very first page, Rooster is mixing himself a hangover smoothie of sour milk, eggs, vodka and… speed,” Lipa explains. “He’s a former daredevil now living in a caravan in the English countryside, spending his days dispensing booze, drugs and tall stories to local teenagers. He’s also been served an eviction notice for unauthorised encampment. It’s not his first warning, but it feels like it might be his last.”
She continues: “What I love most about “Jerusalem,” and why I’ve chosen it as our first play, is how alive it is on the page as well as the stage. One moment you’re deep in English folklore: giants, fairies, ancient drums. The next, someone is arguing about Girls Aloud (if you don’t know, get to know!). It is funny, it is tragic and it is the best possible reminder that reading plays is not only for school”.
The Service95 Book Club is this phenomenal thing that is definitely something Dua Lipa believes in and wants to see grow for years to come. Rather than it being a celebrity gimmick or something that an artist is doing to make themselves seem deeper, Dua Lipa has always been a committed reader and she believes in the power of the written word. Alongside Service95, her curating of the London Literature Festival will get more people reading. Though, how do you keep traction and interesting going so that people keep picking up books, rather than just the one book. Ikon London Magazine asked if Dua Lipa taking control of a huge literary festival will inspire more reading among her fans and far wider beyond:
“The festival, which runs from October 21 to November 1, lands in the middle of the UK’s National Year of Reading and marks the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary. Dua will shape the programme across the first weekend, from October 24–25, and contribute events throughout via her Service95 Book Club.
There is a clear reason organisers are trying something different. Reading, particularly among younger audiences, is slipping. Research by the National Literacy Trust found that just one in three children aged eight to 18 read for pleasure in 2025, the lowest level on record, with the steepest decline among primary school pupils and boys.
That context makes celebrity involvement look less like a gimmick and more like a calculated shift. If people are already following public figures into fitness regimes, skincare routines and viral challenges, it is not unreasonable to think they might follow them into reading. The difference is that books ask for something rarer: time and attention.
Dua Lipa has been building towards this for a while. She launched the Service95 Book Club in 2023 as part of her wider cultural platform, pairing monthly book picks with long-form interviews and recommendations shared to a global audience. On Instagram, those choices travel far beyond traditional literary circles, landing in the same space as tour footage and fashion campaigns.
“Reading has anchored me through every chapter of my life,” she said. “From being the new kid at school in a new country to finding quiet refuge on tour.”
There is precedent. Oprah Winfrey turned her book club into a publishing force, while Reese Witherspoon has built a media brand around monthly selections that regularly push titles onto bestseller lists. Emma Watson has also used reading initiatives to build engaged communities around books.
The Southbank Centre is now applying that logic at scale. This is not a one-off appearance but a curatorial role. Dua will shape conversations, invite writers and set the tone for a weekend likely to blur the line between a literary event and a broader cultural moment. Expect a mix of established names and emerging voices, alongside free events aimed at audiences who might not usually book a ticket for a traditional author talk.
Mark Ball, the centre’s artistic director, put it plainly:
“Dua Lipa is a global cultural force… her passion for the written and spoken word has inspired a new generation of readers.”
The festival itself is hardly niche. Now in its nineteenth year, it remains London’s longest-running literature and spoken word festival, with past headliners ranging from Ai Weiwei to Malala Yousafzai and Margaret Atwood. It spreads across the Southbank Centre’s full site, from the Royal Festival Hall to smaller performance spaces, mixing headline talks with workshops, spoken word and experimental formats.
Literary festivals themselves have been shifting in response to changing audiences. Star-led programming is becoming more common, often used to widen audiences rather than redefine the format entirely. In the UK, literary events have increasingly mixed writing with wider cultural personalities to broaden their appeal. Long‑established festivals such as the Cheltenham Literature Festival programme conversations that bring together novelists, actors, broadcasters and public figures, recognising that cultural conversation doesn’t stop at the boundaries of genre. The Hay Festival’s 2026 line‑up itself includes artists and thinkers known outside strictly literary circles, signalling a shift toward programmes that feel less like academic showcases and more like shared cultural moments.
What changes here is the framing. Books are being positioned less as a specialist interest and more as part of a broader cultural circuit, sitting alongside music, performance and digital storytelling. There are plans for collaborations that stretch beyond traditional readings, including projects that tap into gaming and other narrative forms.
Ted Hodgkinson, who leads literature and spoken word at the venue, describes reading as “a creative and collaborative act”, pointing to Dua’s interviews and selections as a way of opening that up to a wider audience.
The timing is deliberate. The literature festival sits within a wider anniversary programme that includes projects from figures like Danny Boyle and a major exhibition by Anish Kapoor. In that context, handing part of the programme to a pop star feels less like a novelty and more like a recalibration.
Whether it works is another question. Celebrity book clubs can drive attention, but attention does not always translate into habit. It is one thing to double-tap a recommendation. It is another to read the book”.
I do think that Dua Lipa will help make a push towards more of us reading and becoming more engaged with literature. Perhaps more aimed at a younger demographic that might not have otherwise stepped into that world. Whilst not influential or powerful enough to completely change habits or get millions reading, I do think that someone with her reputation will truly make a big difference. I feel other artists need to follow her lead. Go and follow Service95 Book Club on Instagram. It is so fulfilling, fascinating and revealing following. In terms of the authors featured and what is discussed and recommended. I wonder if Dua Lipa has a literary adaptation she would love to feature in or whether she herself would ever write a novel. This multi-talented artist, actor, businesswoman and modern icon will most assuredly get many more people reading and discussing literature and engaging with one another as we go through this year. And beyond. For that, she deserves…
A huge amount of respect.