Free books, grumpy poets, arguments, mazes, and competing rappers: yes, the London Literature Festival begins this week. Focused on the Southbank Centre, the Festival runs from 29 June to 12 July, and although the festival concentrates on a couple of specific themes — the city of London itself, and issues surrounding freedom of speech and offence — the events themselves are far more wide-ranging, covering everything from cartoons to lectures on the future of civilisation.
(Picture by Mondoagogo.)
Highlights of the children’s events include a reading by Jacqueline Wilson on 8 July (£7 adults, £4.50 children) and, a bit unexpectedly, the Rise Slam Champions, “some of the most innovative rhyming and rapping young stars of London’s spoken-word scene”. We were a bit startled by the idea of competitive rap that’s suitable for children, but the London Literature Festival seems to have managed it somehow.
Elsewhere in the programme, the Metropolitan Lines events focus specifically on literature about London; poetry by Iain Sinclair, discussion of her new book by Kate Grenville. And as part of the events focusing on censorship and freedom of expression, Wole Soyinka will be lecturing on civilisation (tickets £7).
For our money, though, the most exciting events are the peculiar odds and ends that you wouldn’t quite expect to find at a literary festival. Operation Soapbox Maze sounds fantastic: a thousand soapboxes laid out in a maze, open twelve hours a day, with “storytellers and impromptu poets” lurking in the centre to reward anyone who finds their way in. You can even help to build the maze by adding a postcard to the walls. And on the 30th of June, who wouldn’t be pleased by the idea of a thousand free books, scattered around the Southbank Centre for anyone who cares to pick them up, all focusing on London or written by London writers like Zadie Smith, George Orwell and Samuel Pepys?
London Literature Festival: The Southbank Centre, 29 June to 12 July. Various times and prices.
