Dua Lipa delivered a moving, intimate interview with international bestselling author Zadie Smith on Saturday 24 October 2026 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
The conversation between the Grammy and Brit award-winning global superstar and founder of the Service95 Book Club, marked a highlight in her curation of this year’s London Literature Festival with her Service95 Book Club. The festival is part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary year, and runs until Sunday 1 November.
In a sold-out Royal Festival Hall, the pair discussed Zadie’s groundbreaking debut novel, White Teeth, one of the most celebrated novels of the century celebrated for its visceral exploration of culture, class, and connections.
Published when Zadie was only 24 years of age, they discussed the impact of finding fame at such a young age – with Dua’s chart-topping ‘New Rules’ propelling her to stardom at just 21 – exploring questions of legacy and living in the spotlight.
In a rare conversation about the novel, which Zadie confessed she is yet to reread, the two artists delved into the beloved characters, unpacking their complex positions in both the late seventies setting of the novel and how they might translate into today’s charged political climate. They explored class sensibilities, how their dual heritage upbringings fostered a mutual fascination with juxtapositions, and the importance of listening when writing both lyrics and prose.
A highpoint was the conversation around creatives and their attitude towards reviews and criticisms of their work. While Dua Lipa said “learning to live with reviews” whether bad or good was “one of the hardest things for her to learn to deal with”, Zadie Smith took a more open approach describing criticism as “absolutely essential because it helps develop taste.”
She added further that criticism is important “even if its a bad review of me, if it’s well written, if its intelligent.”
The in conversation event was a highlight in a rich and interdisciplinary line-up of events curated by Dua Lipa and her Service95 Book Club, with a programme including a meditation on the power of rhythm, form, and sound in writing, Fierce Sounds with Kae Tempest (30 Oct); a life-affirming evening dedicated to Re-Writing Male Tenderness, exploring the power of prose to hold complex emotions, and asking how masculinity and vulnerability might coexist (31 Oct); an evening dedicated to today’s finest Translated Fiction Showcase (28 Oct); and a timely and urgent meditation from journalists, writers and activists on the rising threats to free expression in Censorship Live! with English PEN (31 Oct).