Indie Night: February
Join us for an evening of readings and conversation, celebrating independent publishers and books that defy the ordinary.
Known for taking creative risks and championing fresh perspectives, independent publishers bring vital, boundary-pushing books into the world – works that often wouldn’t find space in the mainstream. Indie Night is our brand-new quarterly series celebrating these presses and the brilliant authors they publish.
Each event showcases a handpicked, eclectic mix of four writers – fiction and nonfiction, established names and emerging voices – united by the same independent spirit as their publishers. One by one, the authors read from their work and sit down for a conversation with our hosts, Okechukwu Nzelu and Eliza Clark.
This month’s edition features readings and discussion from Deepa Anappara, Khairani Barokka, Vigdis Hjorth and Tim MacGabhann, with an introduction to the event from Max Porter.
Deepa Anappara’s debut novel, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Chatto & Windus, 2020), was named as one of the best books of the year by the New York Times, Washington Post, Time and NPR. Anappara is the co-editor of Letters to a Writer of Colour (Vintage, 2023), a collection of personal essays on fiction, race and culture. The Last of Earth (Oneworld, 2026) is her second novel.
Khairani Barokka is a writer and artist from Jakarta, based in London, whose work examines disability justice as anticolonial praxis. She teaches, mentors and consults for arts organisations, and has a PhD by Practice in Visual Cultures. Her books include 2021’s Ultimatum Orangutan (Nine Arches, 2021), shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize, and amuk(Nine Arches, 2024). Annah, Infinite (Tilted Axis, 2025) is her prose debut.
Vigdis Hjorth is a bestselling author. Will and Testament (Verso, 2019) received several awards, including the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature and the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize. Long Live the Post Horn! (Verso, 2020) won the Believer Book Award for fiction in 2020, and Is Mother Dead (Verso, 2022) was listed for the International Booker Prize in 2023. Her new novel, Repetition (Verso), is released this March. With support from NORLA.
Tim MacGabhann is the author of the novels Call Him Mine (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019) and How to Be Nowhere (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2020), the memoir The Black Pool (Sceptre, 2025), the poetry collection Found in a Context of Destruction (Banshee Press, 2026) and, most recently, the short story collection Saints (Scratch Books, 2025).
Need to know
Oneworld Publications, Scratch Books, Verso Books and Tilted Axis Press are selling books from their catalogue in the foyer after the event.
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For your visit
This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre
The Purcell Room is located in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, which is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.
Plan your visit
The Purcell Room is an auditorium located within our Queen Elizabeth Hall.
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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.
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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.
Food & drink
From coffee to cocktails, filling favourites to fine dining, plus some of London’s best street food – it’s all here at the Southbank Centre.