Live Poetry

Be part of a performance of live poetry at the Southbank Centre inspired by the work of Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland.

Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland were engaged in a lifelong poetic dialogue that encompassed their radical politics, and experiences of love and war.

Claire Harman, award-winning biographer of Warner, has edited a new enlarged edition of Warner's poems and Frances Bingham, herself a poet, has produced the first selection of Ackland's poems from a full range of sources, including those previously unpublished. To mark the publication of these books, the editors read and discuss the work of these two exceptional women.

The performance will be taking place in the Poetry Library on Wednesday May 7th from 8pm. Please note there is a limited capacity for this event.

Find out more about free events at the Southbank Centre.

How to get there

Rail - Waterloo, Waterloo East or walk over the Hungerford Bridge from Charing Cross.

Underground - The closest tube stations are Waterloo (on the Northern, Bakerloo & Jubilee lines), Southwark (on the Jubilee line) or walk over the Hungerford Bridge from Embankment (on the Northern, Bakerloo, District and Circle lines).

Buses - All the following buses stop on Waterloo Bridge and you can take the steps down to Southbank on either side of the bridge or use the pavements that slope down away from the river and then double back to take you to Upper Ground, which runs behind the Southbank Centre: 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 76, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 243, 341, 521, X68, Riverside Bus (RV1 - which also stops on Upper Ground which runs by the back of the Southbank Centre). 77 (Upper Ground near the Festival Hall), 211 & 507 (Waterloo Road near the main station), 381 (Stamford Street). 45, 63 & 100 all stop at the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge, and there is a 10 minute walk along the riverside to the Southbank Centre.