Out-Spoken: March
This edition of our monthly poetry session features poets Nikki Giovanni, Mary Jean Chan and Hannah Lavery, with music from Kadie Aquarius.
Out-Spoken is the Southbank Centre’s resident poetry and live music night, bringing the hottest UK and international poets to perform alongside world-class musicians every month.
Each monthly gig is hosted by TS Eliot- and Polari Prize-winning poet Taylor, with Bromfield spinning the best in reggae, soul and R&B throughout the evening.
This month’s poets are Nikki Giovanni, Mary Jean Chan and Hannah Lavery with music from Kadie Aquarius.
Nikki Giovanni's poetry has dazzled and inspired readers for more than sixty years. When she first emerged from the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became one of the most celebrated and controversial poets of the era. Giovanni's poetry speaks from and to the Black experience, with Black love, Black struggle and Black joy at its centre.
Mary Jean Chan is the author of Flèche (2019), which won the Costa Book Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for multiple prizes, including the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Seamus Heaney Centre First Collection Poetry Prize. Bright Fear, Chan’s second book, is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the 2023 Forward Prize for Best Collection. Chan is currently the 2023 –2024 Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Hannah Lavery is a leading Scottish poet, playwright and performer. Appointed as Edinburgh Makar (city poet) in 2021, her pamphlet Blood Salt Spring was shortlisted for the 2022 Saltire prize. She is an associate artist with the National Theatre of Scotland and one of the winners of the Peggy Ramsay/Film4 Award 2022. She was a recipient of the Adopt a Playwright Award 2020 and the New Playwright’s Award from Playwriting Studio Scotland 2019.
Kadie Aquarius, pronounced ‘K-Dee Aquarius’, is an artist and female producer residing in London. Specialising in the innovative realm of new alt soul, she combines soundscape, synths and gritty basslines with live instrumentation to craft immersive sonic experiences.
With a wealth of writing expertise and a history of musical partnerships, her latest endeavour marks a compelling evolution in the landscape of soul music, offering a fresh perspective and invigorating energy to the genre.
Need to know
For ages 16+
This event is British Sign Language interpreted (BSL).
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.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
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This performance contains haze.
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entryFrom £12*
- Concessions25%**
* 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.
** Limited availability. Read about concessions.
Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents, and can't be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid.
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Venue
Purcell Room
Our number one priority is the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff.
Open 90 minutes before an event until the end of the event. Closed at all other times.
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.
Pre-booking online is recommended. Check our website on the day for returns. There’s no need to print your e-ticket – just show your phone to our Visitor Assistants on entry.
Some free events don't require a ticket. Found an event labelled FREE on our website with no way to book? Simply turn up on the day.
If you don't receive your e-ticket
Your e-ticket will be sent to you seven days before the event date from [email protected]. If you don't receive your e-ticket, and it's not in your junk or spam folder, please get in touch.
More information
Find out all you need to know about tickets, including concessions, group bookings, returns, credit vouchers and more, via the link below.
Get an overview of the seating layout of the Purcell Room by downloading our seating plan.
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. The phone outside the Changing Places toilet will connect you with a member of staff, who can provide you with the key. 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.