Ghetts stands against a rocky background wearing a light blue jacket.

View all events for category: Literature & poetry

Ghetts Presents: An Evening of Poetry and Music

Sun 27 Oct 2024, 7.30pm

The British rap icon, this year’s London Literature Festival co-curator, brings together some of the most exciting names in the London poetry and music scenes.

Part of London Literature Festival

More details for Queen Elizabeth Hall

Tickets from £15.00 View more time and price information

Run time 1 hour and 30 minutes (approx)

Dates & tickets

Join us for performances from visionary writers including Yomi Ṣode and Belinda Zhawi, followed by conversations and meditations on the lyrics and links to be found in poetry and rap.

Our artists explore the relationship between their forms and the ways each inspires the other. The line-up has been curated by British rap icon and co-curator of this year’s festival, Ghetts.

Born Justin Clarke and raised in East London, Ghetts combines razor-sharp, crystal-clear rhymes with smart humour and creative, intelligent wordplay.

In 2005, he released his debut mixtape, 2000 & Life. Since then he’s gone on to release five further mixtapes and four studio albums. Ghetts’ 2021 album, Conflict of Interest, reached number two on the Official UK Albums Chart, and earned Brit Award, Mercury Music Prize and NME Award nominations; plus DJ Mag Best of British and MOBO Award wins.

His new album On Purpose, With Purpose finds Ghetts expanding his sonic palette and sounding sharper, more unflinchingly honest and boldly confident than ever before. Soon after the release of On Purpose, With Purpose, Ghetts was awarded the inaugural MOBO Pioneer Award.

Yomi Ṣode is an award winning Nigerian British writer. His debut collection Manorism, published by Penguin in October 2022 alongside a stage adaptation at the Southbank Centre, was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2023 and the TS Eliot Prize 2022. He was shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize 2021 and received the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in 2019. Ṣode’s acclaimed one-man show COAT toured nationally to sold-out audiences.

Belinda Zhawi is a Zimbabwean literary and sound artist based in south-east London. She is the author of the pamphlet Small Inheritances, and experiments with sound/text performance as MA.MOYO. Her work has been featured on various platforms, including The White Review, NTS, Boiler Room and BBC Radio. She’s held artist residencies with Triangle France, Cove Park, Serpentine Galleries and ICA London. Zhawi is the co-founder of literary arts platform, BORN::FREE.

Need to know

Age guidance

For ages 16+

Times & tickets

Dates, times and prices

Dates & times

27 Oct 2024, 7.30pm

Run time

1 hour and 30 minutes (approx)

All timings are approximate and subject to change

Standard entry

from £15.00*

* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.

Book as early as you can to ensure the best choice of tickets. Ticket prices may be adjusted without notice to reflect demand.

Concessions

25%

Limited availability

About concessions

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Access

Access events

The performance on Sunday 27 October at 7.30pm is Speech to text Book now

This event is Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT).

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For your visit

This event is held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall Southbank Centre

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is open from 90 minutes before events start until they finish. It’s closed at all other times.

Queen Elizabeth Hall building at Southbank Centre

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is home to both our second-largest auditorium and the Purcell Room.

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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.

Queen Elizabeth Hall is home to our glass-fronted Concrete Cafe, the ideal spot to recharge, or catch up with friends, whilst the bustle of Central London and the River Thames carries on around you.

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.

Other places to eat and drink whilst you’re here