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The Royal Festival Hall is closed to the public on Tuesday 16 June. It will reopen for Harry Styles & Jules Buckley Orchestra ticket holders only at 5pm.

A row of colourful lockers in rainbow order

Projects & exhibitions

We do more than just house poetry at the National Poetry Library, we explore, celebrate and protect it, in all its forms.

Our projects

From platforming lesser-known poets to protecting poems in endangered languages.

A Poet in Every Port
A black van with red, blue, white and blue shapes with 'A Poet in Every Port' logo

A Poet in Every Port

The 70-Poet Challenge
Lemn Sissay smiling and wearing a blue jumper against a black background.

The 70-Poet Challenge

Endangered Poetry Project
Person holding an open book in their hands

Endangered Poetry Project

Special Edition 2025-26
A man speaks into a microphone at a podium labeled SOUTHBANK CENTRE during an event, standing in front of large orange library-style shelving units marked LOANS.

Special Edition 2025-26

Past exhibitions

The National Poetry Library regularly hosts exhibitions that explore poetry in all its forms.

From illustration to Instagram, languages to Larkin, revisit some of our previous poetry exhibitions.

Iris Colomb: Try! Try! Try! Again!
An upside down person with their hanging off their head reads off a small piece of white paper.

Iris Colomb: Try! Try! Try! Again!

 24 July 2025 – 4 January 2026

The Typographic Dante
Artwork in a black frame with the text, \'ABANDON EVERY HOPE ALL YOU WHO ENTER,\' where the words are arranged vertically in a grid and crossed with a red line.

The Typographic Dante

30 April – 30 June 2019

Constructing Spaces
Constructing Spaces, image of typewriter and lit candles on a desk

Constructing Spaces

19 October 2018 – 31 March 2019

Language Shift
Photograph of a wall within the exhibition showing a blue and white map of the world in the background and a list of countries and regions printed in lists over the top

Language Shift

26 July – 23 September 2018

Instagram Poetry
A glass piece with text held up against an out-of-focus sunset sky with soft and fluffy clouds.

Instagram Poetry

26 April – 1 July 2018

Darkness Visible
View of a white gallery space with black and white drawings on the floors and walls

Darkness Visible

17 November 2017 – 25 March 2018

Radical Alterations of the Sun
Hand holding an Earth Globe

Radical Alterations of the Sun

13 October – 1 November 2017

Larkinworld
Handwritten neon sign spelling out \'Like an enormous yes\'

Larkinworld

31 January – 16 April 2017

The Spring to Come
Old exercise books in a display case

The Spring to Come

5 October 2016 – 10 January 2017

Conceptual Poetics
The open box of Content is Never Less Than A Dissolution of Form, in the box can be seen a lemon

Conceptual Poetics

24 May – 3 July 2016

David Byrne’s Library
Black and white image of David Byrne sitting on a sofa at Southbank Centre with bookshelves behind him

David Byrne's Library

18 August – 13 September 2015

Audience in the National Poetry Library

Donate to the National Poetry Library

You can support our work and programme of free events for children and adults by making a donation. Every penny you give will go towards the National Poetry Library.

Make a donation

For your visit

National Poetry Library Southbank Centre

The National Poetry Library is open six days a week.

Tuesday, 12 noon – 6pm
Wednesday – Sunday, 12 noon – 8pm
Monday, closed.

A row of colourful lockers in rainbow order View larger image
NPL staff members sat behind the Welcome Desk in the library View larger image
Speaker stood at a yellow podium performing in the National Poetry Library to an audience in front of colourful lockers View larger image
A reading section with red and yellow cushions and chairs View larger image
A locker handle with 3 prongs View larger image
A tour leader speaking to a group of people in the National Poetry Library View larger image
The interior of a library with book shelves, desks and chairs View larger image

Getting here

The National Poetry Library is on Level 5 of our Royal Festival Hall.

Our address is Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX.

The nearest tube stations to us are Waterloo and Embankment; Waterloo is also the nearest train station. And more than 20 different London bus routes pass within 500 metres of our venues.  More information on getting here by rail, road or river is available on our Getting here page.

We’re cash-free

Please note that we’re unable to accept cash payments across our venues.

 

Access

We’re working hard to remove barriers, so that our facilities and events can be accessible to as many people as possible.

All help points, toilets, performance and exhibition spaces at the Southbank Centre are accessible to all, as are the cafes, bars and restaurants. We also have excellent public transport links with step-free access. 

All information about booking wheelchair spaces, step-free access, blue badge parking, access maps and guides and other help available whilst you’re here, including details about our Access Scheme, can be found on our Access page.

 

Study & library use

The library is London’s only space dedicated to poetry study. Visitors studying another subject or looking for a place to work are kindly asked to find an alternative space in the Royal Festival Hall.