London Literature Festival 2007

London Literature Festival 2007 – Poetry Events

All tickets can be booked online at the Southbank Centre website: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/literaturefestival or via the box office: 0871 663 2500.
Open 9am - 8pm daily


Friday 29 June
Roger McGough and Brian Patten: 40- love
7.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, £9
Southbank Centre hosts the premiere of 40-Love, marking the 40th anniversary republication of The Mersey Sound anthology. One million copies later, two of the UK's best-loved poets regroup to read their 20 most requested poems.


Saturday 30 June
John Hegley, John Agard, Liz Lochhead & Matt Harvey
8.15pm
Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall £8.50
The Mersey Sound turned poetry on its head, ushering in a new wave of poets who danced to a different tune. Tonight we celebrate this extraordinary legacy with rhythms, rhymes and music.


Sunday 1 July
Michael Rosen
2pm
Purcell Room, Adults £7, Children £4.50
The Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen performs his one-man show of poems, songs, jokes and stories. Author of such fantastic titles as Centrally Heated Knickers, A Spider Bought a Bicycle and Something's Drastic, Michael Rosen gives a performance that will have you falling off your seat with laughter.


Tuesday 3 July
W H Auden
7.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, £9
Marking the centenary of WH Auden' birth, tenor John Mark Ainsley, actor Kwame Kwei-Armah, pianist Roger Vignoles and poets Simon Armitage, James Fenton and Jo Shapcott celebrate his life and work in a special evening of oratorio, songs, poems, film and images.


Wednesday 4 July
Sean Borodale, Tobias Hill & Iain Sinclair
7pm
Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall £7


Celebrating the reopening of the Poetry Library, three poets pay tribute to London as muse. Sean Borodale's topographical poem 'Notes for an Atlas' 'rings with sadness, haphazardness and utterly modern beauty' (Robert MacFarlane). Tobias Hill's 'Nocturne in Chrome & Sunset Yellow' (Salt Publishing) is an acutely observed hymn to the city. Iain Sinclair, one of London's great writers, reads poems on the city from his recent collection 'The Firewall'. This event coincides with the Saison Poetry Library exhibition of books on the theme of London.



Thursday 5 July
London SLAM Champions
6.30pm
Front Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall Admission Free
In this showcase of the Rise Slam Champions, MC Joelle Taylor introduces you to some of the most innovative rhyming and rapping young stars of London's spoken-word scene.


Thursday 5 July
Linton Kwesi Johnson and Friends
7.30pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall, £9
For one night only renowned reggae poet Linton Kwesi Johnson has invited an all-star line-up of some of most musical and socially conscious poets from across the globe: Amina Baraka and Amiri Baraka (US), founders of the Black Arts Movement in Harlem; Jayne Cortez (US); Kendel Hippolyte (St Lucia) and Lesego Rampolokeng (South Africa).


Saturday 7 July
Plant a Poem with Malika Booker
11am
Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall
Suitable for children ages seven and over £4 Children, Accompanying adults free.
Plant a poem as part of the Sheds, Beds and Breads installation in Southbank Centre Square. Poet and performer Malika Booker reads her garden poems, and leads a poetry writing workshop before leading everyone out to plant flower seeds and mark them with their specially crafted poem.


Sunday 8 July
Nii Ayikwei Parkes
12.30pm
Level 5 Function Room, Royal Festival Hall £6 Adults, £4 Children
Part human, part spider, combining wisdom with cunning, Ananse the Spider Trickster is one of the most important figures in West African storytelling. These classic moral tales and proverbs are retold with flair and imagination by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.