10 Jan 2013–27 Jun 2013

Book Break

Looking for something to do at lunchtime? Southbank Centre, Coin Street and The Reader Organisation invite you to come along and take part in a re ...

20 May 2013

2013 Man Booker International Prize Readings

We launch the London Literature Festival with a glorious night of readings from ten of the greatest writers in the world

21 May 2013–14 Jul 2013

Florilegium

See two works by artist Amy Shelton at the Saison Poetry Library throughout the festival.

22 May 2013

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg launches his new novel Grace and Mary at the London Literature Festival.

22 May 2013

StorySLAM:Live

StorySLAM:Live is a literary X-Factor-style battle, in which writers come up with imaginative, five-minute short stories as they compete for this ...

23 May 2013

The Master and Margarita

Southbank Centre Book Club

Mikhail Bulgakov's fiercely satirical fantasy 'The Master and Margarita' is widely considered to be one of the best novels of the 20th century.

24 May 2013

Moss Project

What Do You See When You Close Your Eyes?

The Moss Project presents a selection of tracks from its album, with guest appearances by authors Lawrence Norfolk, Hanan Al-Shaykh, James Miller ...

24 May 2013

Gavin Turk and Jarvis Cocker

Art and Fame: What Celebrity Does to Identity

How do you keep hold of who you really are when you are famous and continue to make fresh and original music and art? Miranda Sawyer asks some har ...

25 May 2013

SPIN

Join Apples & Snakes' word-wizards as they cook up wonderful ways to play with words.

25 May 2013

Aleksandar Hemon

Bosnian-born writer Aleksandar Hemon tells the story of 'The Book of My Lives', is a love song to his birthplace, Sarajevo, and his adopted city, ...

25 May 2013

James Salter

At 87-years-old, James Salter has written what is likely to be his final novel, 'All That Is', a sweeping, seductive love story set in post-Second ...

25 May 2013

On Work

Roman Krznaric

Finding work that satisfies us is one of the major desires of our times.

25 May 2013–1 Jun 2013

Roof Garden Renga

Free Workshops with James Wilkes

Become part of a poetry-writing collective in this eight-day celebration of the art of Renga.

25 May 2013–26 May 2013

Southbank Centre's Fairy Tale Walk

With Rachel Rose Reid

Join Rachel Rose Reid on a magical mystery tour of Southbank Centre, allowing you to experience the building in a way you've never seen it before.

25 May 2013

On Money

Mark Boyle and Richard Glover

Mark Boyle has lived completely without money in England for over two and a half years.

25 May 2013–26 May 2013

Wordkeys: A Translation Game

Literary translator Rosalind Harvey presents an interactive journey in and around Southbank Centre for the curious and the adventurous.

25 May 2013

On Technology

Tom Chatfield

Over half the planet now spends more of their waking hours 'plugged in' than not.

25 May 2013–26 May 2013

Take Your Memory for a Walk

with Ed Cooke

Do you know your Hard Timesfrom your Great Expectations?

25 May 2013

Rupert Everett

Vanished Years

Rupert Everett, one of the leading actors of his generation, discusses his career and his best-selling memoirs.

25 May 2013

Tadeusz Różewicz

Mum, Dad, I'm a Poet

Tadeusz Rósewicz is the most celebrated living Polish author, the great 'anti-poet' who has succeeded in writing poetry after Auschwitz

25 May 2013

The Poetry Parnassus Postscript: It's Back! To the Future

After last year's phenomenal Poetry Parnassus festival at Southbank Centre - the biggest ever gathering of world poets - what is left for verse to ...

25 May 2013

Translation Duel: Alejandro Zambra

Expect heated discussion as two eminent translators, Edith Grossman and Margaret Jull Costa, go head-to-head with rival versions of the same text.

26 May 2013

Ask Me Anything

'Ask Me Anything' invites you to come face to face with people from all walks of life.

26 May 2013

Drawing the Story: Mary Talbot, Glyn Dillon and Stephen Collins

Three authors discuss the graphic form, which is enjoying a long-overdue renaissance.

26 May 2013

Cornelia Parker

Cornelia Parker, one of the most profound and poetic artists working in Britain today, talks to the psychoanalyst Darian Leader about her extraord ...

26 May 2013

On Silence

Tim Parks

In a world increasingly dominated by chaos and noise, Tim Parks' critically acclaimed <i>Teach Us To Sit Still</i> champions the trans ...

26 May 2013

On Optimism

Mark Stevenson

Mark Stevenson is a writer, deep-thinker and stand-up comedian.

26 May 2013

Translation for Beginners

Learn the basics of the art of translation in this free workshop.

26 May 2013

What Is There Left to Write About?

Granta Best of Young British Novelists: Adam Thirlwell, Sarah Hall and Adam Foulds

In a time when more stories are being published, broadcast and shared online than ever before, what is there left to write about?

26 May 2013

The Revenge of the Situationists

Forty-five years since the momentous events of May 1968 that brought Paris to a standstill, what happened to one of the movement's key players, th ...

26 May 2013

A Future Without Bees

Bees and other pollinators are responsible for the pollination of one third of our shopping basket.

26 May 2013

Sylvia Plath's Ariel

Sylvia Plath died 50 years ago leaving a black binder of poems that was to become her final, posthumously published collection, <i>Ariel< ...

27 May 2013

Sarah Dunant and Lisa Jardine

Blood, Beauty and the Borgias

Acclaimed novelist Sarah Dunant discusses blood, beauty, power, corruption, sex and poison with leading historian Lisa Jardine.

27 May 2013

Audrey Niffenegger

Audrey Niffenegger, bestselling author of 'The Time Traveller's Wife' and 'Her Fearful Symmetry', comes to Southbank Centre to discuss her life as ...

27 May 2013

Contemplating the Honey Bee:

A Workshop for Children

This workshop offers children the opportunity to learn about our huge dependence on pollinators and the major link between bees and human health.

27 May 2013–30 May 2013

Dogs Don't Do Ballet

Biff is not like ordinary dogs.

27 May 2013

Nature & Awe

Nature stirs powerful emotions, creating awe-inspiring moments that can change our perspective and make us feel more alive.

27 May 2013

Bees & Inspiration

A neuroscientist and a filmmaker describe the many ways that bees inspire them in their work and everyday lives.

27 May 2013

Urban Nature: Diary Entries

Esther Woolfson and Tom Chivers explore the myriad ways the union of nature and the cityscape can be reflected in literary form.

27 May 2013

Bees in the City

The phenomenon of urban beekeeping is hooking city dwellers from London to New York and Melbourne.

27 May 2013

Translation for Young Beginners

Budding translators of all ages are welcome to this fun, free workshop.

27 May 2013

Bee Myths: John Burnside and Sean Borodale

John Burnside reads from <i>Melissographia</i> - a sequence of poems scattered with embossed, hand-painted, pollen maps.

27 May 2013

On Solitude

Sylvain Tesson

Sylvain Tesson, France's 'most brilliant travel writer' (L'Express), put himself in isolation in a Siberian cabin for six months.

27 May 2013

The Last Taboo

Gabriel Weston and Kate Manning

How much have our attitudes to abortion moved on in the last century, and what is literature's role in the debate? We hear from two novelists who ...

27 May 2013

AC Grayling

The God Argument

One of Britain's leading intellectuals, AC Grayling makes his case against Religion and for Humanism.

28 May 2013

Claire Tomalin: Jane Austen and the Making of Pride and Prejudice

A Claire Tomalin Lecture

Celebrated biographer Claire Tomalin discusses 'Pride and Prejudice', which appeared anonymously 200 years ago, made everyone laugh and was though ...

28 May 2013

Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver, the Orange Prize-winning author of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', returns to Southbank Centre to discuss her new novel 'Big Brother'.

28 May 2013

Polari

Polari returns, showcasing a blend of established, new and upcoming literary talent.

28 May 2013

Ute Lemper Sings Pablo Neruda

A rare opportunity to see charismatic German chanteuse Ute Lemper.

28 May 2013

Heather Phillipson and Emily Berry

A Various Art

Eric Gregory Award-winning poets Heather Phillipson and Emily Berry read from their first book-length collections in an intimate evening at the Sa ...