Lemn Sissay: 70
This summer, we’re making poetry happen in a big way with a brand-new commission from poet Lemn Sissay, celebrating 70 years of the National Poetry Library.
Commissioned by the National Poetry Library and located on the wall of the Royal Festival Hall, this poem signposts the library as a free and open space for everyone living in Lambeth and beyond.
Sissay’s poem was written as part of his role as Ambassador for the National Poetry Library in its 70th year. This anniversary was marked by asking people to discover 70 new poets and to write 70-word poems of their own.
The line of Lemn Sissay’s 70 represented on the building was handwritten by the poet and then scaled-up to create this artwork version. This relates to the large number of visitors to the National Poetry Library who visit to write their own poems.
Sissay has been a writer by profession all his adult life and his books are published now by Canongate Books. His memoir, My Name Is Why, is a number one Sunday Times bestseller and won the Indie Book Awards nonfiction prize in 2021. Sissay was awarded The Pen Pinter Prize in 2019. He was writer in residence at the Southbank Centre from 2006 to 2012.
His Landmarks poem series can be seen in public spaces throughout Manchester and London, including one in the JCB Glass Lift in the Royal Festival Hall, on the way up to the National Poetry Library. His latest book is Let the Light Pour In.
70
To live a full life within seventy years
To recall in colour seventy dreams
To have known by name seventy people
To have cried in secret seventy times
To have uncovered seventy untruths
To know seventy poems off by heart
Is to live seventy times a life
For your visit
This event is held at the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre
The Royal Festival Hall is open six days a week.
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 11pm
Monday, closed.
Plan your visit
The Royal Festival Hall is home to our largest auditorium as well as The Clore Ballroom, National Poetry Library, Members’ Lounge, Festival Bar & Kitchen, Ballroom Cafe and Skylon restaurant.
Getting here
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.
Food & drink
On Level 2 of our Royal Festival Hall you can grab a slice of life by the Thames with drinks and freshly made pizza at our Festival Bar & Kitchen which opens out onto our Riverside Terrace. You can grab a coffee and a slice of freshly made cake from our Ballroom Cafe. Or alternatively enjoy destination dining in the restaurant at Skylon.
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.