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View all events for category: Literature & poetry

Special Edition: Culture Matters

Dive into an event hosted by the working-class collective Culture Matters, featuring poetry readings from Amir Darwish, Fran Lock and Nick Moss.

More details for National Poetry Library, Level 5, Blue Side, Royal Festival Hall
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Poets respond to themes such as the rising cost of living; the growth of poverty and inequality; conflicts at home and wars abroad; climate breakdown; crumbling public services; politics and Palestine.

A central theme is the positive action working-class cultural workers can take in a fragmented world, including collective organisation, resistance, resilience and the role of imagination in envisaging a positive future.

Discover more about Culture Matters’ mission of cultural democracy and hear some of the most dynamic working-class poets at work today.

Need to know

Age guidance
For ages 16+

Image gallery

A woman holding a book
View larger image 1 of 3. A woman holding a book
A man with a bald head holds a book, Shooting to Kill, Poems by Nick Moss, partially covering his face. The book cover shows a police officer with a submachine gun.
View larger image 2 of 3. A man with a bald head holds a book, Shooting to Kill, Poems by Nick Moss, partially covering his face. The book cover shows a police officer with a submachine gun.
man in a blue striped shirt and neon green glasses reads a book with the title Dear Refugee visible on the cover.
View larger image 3 of 3. man in a blue striped shirt and neon green glasses reads a book with the title Dear Refugee visible on the cover.

For your visit

This event is held at the 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.

Saturday 2 May,  Saturday 9 May  – The Royal Festival Hall is closed for an event, but the library remains open  – access via the Royal Festival Hall Artists Entrance.
Sunday 3 May,  Sunday 10 May – The National Poetry Library is 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.