Pop singer Dua Lipa served as curator of the 2026 London Literature Festival, interviewing authors and musicians tied to her Service95 book club. Across two days of onstage conversations at the Royal Festival Hall, she dressed for each session in fashion-forward pieces rather than conventional scholarly attire.
Onstage conversations drawn from the book club
Lipa's programming drew on works featured in her Service95 book club. She spoke with songwriter Patti Smith about Smith's memoir Bread of Angels, and on Saturday she talked with novelist Zadie Smith about White Teeth, Zadie Smith's 2000 debut, which the festival's description says was a best-seller. Their discussion also touched on Britain's welfare system and economic inequality. Sudanese Canadian singer Mustafa joined her to discuss his 2025 poetry collection Nour.
Wardrobe choices across the festival
For the Patti Smith conversation, Lipa wore a sheer top from Schiaparelli's spring 2027 runway, decorated with under-the-sea appliqués, and finished the look with a belt featuring a golden octopus in place of a buckle. For the Zadie Smith interview she wore a fringed drop-waist piece from Chanel's fall 2026 collection, paired with lace-up Le Silla knee-high boots instead of the cream boots shown on the runway. A red Matthieu Blazy design accompanied the Saturday discussion. For the Mustafa session she wore a black Prada Re-Nylon tank top with exposed hot pink bra straps.
About the festival and its program
Founded in 2007, the London Literature Festival is described as the city's longest-running literature festival. This year's events run until November 1 and include a fiction showcase, poetry readings, and a conversation about censorship and threats to freedom of expression. Lipa's role as curator extends beyond interviewing headline guests to shaping the program itself, giving a pop figure an unusually central place in a long-established literary event.