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Abstract digital art featuring overlapping, semi-transparent rectangles in red, green, blue, and orange on a purple background.

Poetry International Festival

Fri 10 – Sun 12 Jul 2026

A poetry takeover with a stellar line-up of celebrated poets, artists and performers

The world’s most celebrated poets perform their work live on stage and bring you into their enchanting creative worlds. 

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Friday 10 July

Benjamin Zephaniah: A Celebration
A man with long dreadlocks and a gap-toothed smile wearing a purple suit and making peace signs with both hands.

Benjamin Zephaniah: A Celebration

Literature & poetry
British Sign Language interpreted (BSL) - The performance includes a live interpreter who translates the show into British Sign Language. Speech-to-Text transcribed - A transcribed performance shows live text of the dialogue and sound on screens.
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy

Saturday 11 July

Masterclass: Raymond Antrobus
A man with tattooed arms in a brown linen shirt leans against a large tree trunk in a sunlit outdoor setting.

Masterclass: Raymond Antrobus

Literature & poetry
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
Sold out
After Catastrophe: Futures Beyond Crisis
Blue banner with collages images on the right

After Catastrophe: Futures Beyond Crisis

Literature & poetry
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
Masterclass: Ilya Kaminsky
Close-up of a smiling man with glasses and messy dark hair, posing against a light-brown wooden paneled wall.

Masterclass: Ilya Kaminsky

Literature & poetry
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
Sold out
Peter Gizzi & Denise Riley
Side-by-side portraits: a man with a gray beard looking forward, and a woman with white hair resting her head on her hand.

Peter Gizzi & Denise Riley

Literature & poetry
Purcell Room
Multi-buy
Raymond Antrobus & Ilya Kaminsky
Split image: A tan man looking away in a garden, and a black-and-white close-up of a man laughing with eyes closed.

Raymond Antrobus & Ilya Kaminsky

Literature & poetry
British Sign Language interpreted (BSL) - The performance includes a live interpreter who translates the show into British Sign Language. Speech-to-Text transcribed - A transcribed performance shows live text of the dialogue and sound on screens.
Purcell Room
Multi-buy

Sunday 12 July

Masterclass: Peter Gizzi
Peter Gizzi standing at a lectern reading from his poetry collection.

Masterclass: Peter Gizzi

Literature & poetry
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
Sold out
Masterclass: Denise Riley
A woman with short white hair rests her head on her hand in front of a framed landscape painting on a white wall.

Masterclass: Denise Riley

Literature & poetry
Royal Festival Hall
Multi-buy
Sold out
Kim Hyesoon & Paul Muldoon
Side-by-side portraits: a woman in white with a magnifying glass and a black-and-white photo of a man in glasses.

Kim Hyesoon & Paul Muldoon

Literature & poetry
Purcell Room
Multi-buy
Allen Ginsberg at 100
Black and white portrait of a bearded man with glasses and a hat, adjusting his patterned tie while looking at the camera.

Allen Ginsberg at 100

Literature & poetry
Speech-to-Text transcribed - A transcribed performance shows live text of the dialogue and sound on screens.
Queen Elizabeth Hall
Multi-buy

While you're with us

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms
People enjoying the Jeppe Hein Fountain at the Southbank Centre

Jeppe Hein: Appearing Rooms

A summer favourite returns to our site with water fountains to splash around and cool down in

Shopping
Wooden displays in the Southbank centre shop, featuring books, plushies, and colourful merchandise

Shopping

A vibrant range of inspiring books, homeware, prints, accessories and more.

Klaus Weber: Thinking Fountains
Two statues; a green human body with water spouting from its neck and another of human legs with water pouring down from above displayed outdoors

Thinking
Fountains

Water cascades and spouts over Klaus Weber’s bronze figures.

Modified Social Benches
Two children eating ice cream on a red cirrcular bench

Modified Social Benches

Benches that challenge the space and distance we place between one another.

William Pye's Zemran
A photograph showing Riverside Terrace at Southbank Centre, with the metal sculpture Zemran in the foreground, next to Queen Elizabeth Hall

William Pye's Zemran

Pye’s beautiful stainless steel sculpture sits overlooking the Thames.

Natura Nostra Forest
Bright sunlight bursts through green leaves with a lens flare, set against a blue sky and a textured concrete building.

Natura Nostra Forest

Our growing pocket forest creating a natural oasis.