Salman Rushdie: The Eleventh Hour
The Booker Prize-winning author returns to our stage to celebrate the publication of his dazzling short story collection, in conversation with Mishal Husain.
If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well into the eleventh hour.
Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight’s Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English university college, an undead academic asks a lonely student to avenge his former tormentor.
These five dazzling works of fiction move between the three countries that Salman Rushdie has called home – India, England and America – and explore what it means to approach the eleventh hour of life. They are the reckoning with mortality that we all must one day make, and speak deeply to what the author has come from and through.
Do we accommodate ourselves to death, or rail against it? How can we bid farewell to the places that we have made home? How do we achieve fulfilment with our lives if we don’t know the end of our own stories?
The Eleventh Hour ponders life and death, legacy and identity with the penetrating insight and boundless imagination that have made Salman Rushdie one of the most celebrated writers of our time.
Mishal Husain is the editor at large for Bloomberg Weekend and host of The Mishal Husain Show interview podcast. Previously, Husain presented Today on BBC Radio 4 for over a decade, anchored BBC World News, and has published an acclaimed family memoir, Broken Threads. In 2024 she was awarded the Charles Wheeler Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Journalism.
Need to know
The four top-priced tickets (price bands A – D) include a copy of The Eleventh Hour at the reduced price of £15 (RRP £18.99). The book must be collected on the night of the event, as we’re unable to distribute copies afterwards.
An exclusive box package is available, which includes:
- Hire of a private box (seats up to eight people).
- Use of the Royal Retiring Room, a private lounge with its own toilet facilities, for the duration of the event.
- One free drink per guest on arrival (prosecco, wine, beer or soft drink).
- Dedicated host to take drinks orders throughout the event.
Access
BSL interpretation is by Barry Davey and Benjamin Gorman (subject to change). To book tickets for BSL interpretation, email [email protected] or call us on 020 3879 9555.
You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
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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.
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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
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.