Dua Lipa is curating this year's London Literature festival at the Southbank Centre, and will interview Zadie Smith, Patti Smith and other high-profile authors as part of the programme. The festival, now in its 19th year, runs from 21 October to 1 November and coincides with the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary, with organisers praising the pop star's "deep curiosity about the world" as a fitting quality for the milestone celebration.

Lipa will speak to Zadie Smith on 24 October about her 2000 debut novel White Teeth, and interview Patti Smith the following night about her memoir Bread of Angels. The wider line-up includes the poet and musician Mustafa, Nobel peace laureate Nadia Murad, and a conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Tareq Baconi, alongside a translated fiction showcase and a poetry and music night with Kae Tempest. The programme builds on Lipa's Service95 book club, launched in 2023, and follows last year's edition curated by Self Esteem; tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre members on 3 August, Service95 members on 4 August, and the public on 5 August.