Jessie Greengrass & Daisy Hildyard: Emergencies

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Sat 29 Oct 2022, 3.30pm
Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall
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Portrait of writer Daisy Hildyard looking at the camera, wearing a white t-shirt
Caleb Klaces

Jessie Greengrass and Daisy Hildyard show us the imminent emergencies of everyday life, with chair Jessica Gaitán Johannesson.

As part of London Literature Festival’s climate strand, join two writers whose work dissolves the boundaries between past and present, and between humans and ecosystems facing life, death and survival.

In both Greengrass’ The High House and Hildyard’s Emergency, a house on a hill provides not only a supposedly safe home but a vantage point from which to really see the surrounding world; what humans are doing to it and what nature is doing nevertheless.

Jessie Greengrass’ collection of short stories, An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It, won the Edge Hill Prize 2016 and a Somerset Maugham Award. Her critically acclaimed debut novel, Sight, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018. The High House was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel Award and the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award.

Daisy Hildyard’s first novel, Hunters in the Snow, received the Somerset Maugham Award and a ‘5 under 35’ honorarium at the USA National Book Awards. Her essay ‘The Second Body’ was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2017.

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson grew up between Sweden, Colombia and Ecuador. She’s a bookseller and an activist working for climate justice, and lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, How We Are Translated, was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. Her new essay collection, The Nerves and Their Endings: Essays on Crisis and Response, moves from the personal to the political and back again, exploring how we respond to crises.

Author Jessie Greengrass stands on a beach  in a blue jacket with her hair pulled back and glasses on.
Jessie Greengrass

Need to know

Age recommendation

For ages 16+

Dates & times

Sat 29 Oct 2022, 3.30pm
Approximate run time: 1 hour.
Run times may vary by up to 20 minutes as they can be affected by last-minute programme changes, intervals and encores.

Price

  • Standard entryFrom £10*
  • Concessions25%**


* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.

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** Limited availability. Read about concessions.

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Multi-buy discount

London Literature Festival 2022

As part of our London Literature Festival multi-buy offer, book for two or more London Literature Festival events in the same transaction to receive a 20% discount.

Discounts apply to selected events. Look out for the multi-buy label to see which events are included.

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Venue

Purcell Room

Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff. 

Check here for our current guidance

Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.

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Our address is: Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. The nearest tube and train stations within 5-7 minutes walk are Waterloo (Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines) and Embankment (District & Circle lines). There are also lots of bus routes with stops 2-5 minutes from our venues. For more information on getting here by road, rail or river.

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More information

Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.

Frequently asked questions

Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.

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Toilets

An accessible toilet is located in the foyer.

A Changing Places toilet is located on Level 1 Royal Festival Hall next to the JCB Glass Lift, for the exclusive use of disabled people who need personal assistance to use the toilet.

The facility includes a height-adjustable bench, tracking hoist system, a centrally-placed toilet, a height-adjustable basin and a shower. Please visit the Welcome Desk on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall, where a member of staff can provide you with the key. You can also use the phone next to the Changing Places toilet to speak to a member of staff. The facility is open daily 10am – 11pm.

Cloakroom

The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room cloakroom is closed. You won’t be able to bring any bags over 40 x 25 x 25cm into the venues, so please leave large bags at home.

We're cash-free

Please note that we're unable to accept cash payments across our site. 

Purcell Room is located in Queen Elizabeth Hall. For step-free access please use Royal Festival Hall JCB glass lift to Level 2 and enter via Riverside Terrace.

Talk to a member of staff at the auditorium entrance if you have a disability that means you can’t queue, or you need extra time to take your seat. They can arrange priority entry for you as soon as the doors open.

Please bear with us while we update our access map to reflect the refurbishment of the Royal Festival Hall’s Level 2 foyer spaces. The step-free routes remain the same.

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More about Access & facilities