Out-Spoken: November
Poets Valzhyna Mort, Michael Pedersen and Ishion Hutchinson join host Joelle Taylor for this evening’s show, with music from Jamie Duffy and Tawiah.
Valzhyna Mort is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Music for the Dead and Resurrected, named one of the best poetry books of 2020 by The New York Times, and winner of the International Griffin Poetry Prize and the UNT Rilke Prize. Born in Belarus, Mort writes in English and Belarusian.
Michael Pedersen is a Scottish poet and author, and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh. His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published by Faber & Faber in 2022 and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice. He has unfurled three collections of poetry, the most recent being The Cat Prince & Other Poems (Little Brown, 2023), the title poem of which is shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry. Pedersen has won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship and the John Mather’s Trust Rising Star of Literature Award.
Ishion Hutchinson is the award-winning author of the poetry collections School of Instructions, House of Lords and Commons and Far District, and a professor in the Graduate Writing Program at Cornell University. In 2021, Jamaican-born Hutchinson was awarded the Gold Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished contribution in the field of literature.
Jamie Duffy is a 22-year-old musician and songwriter from Ireland. Having grown up in the small border village of Glaslough in a very musical family, Duffy blends traditional, popular and classical influences into his music, to create sounds that are beautiful, evocative and unique. His debut single, a piano piece titled ‘Solas’ (which means ‘light’ in Irish), is the biggest streaming debut song from an Irish artist since Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’.
In 2022, Tawiah released and toured her concept album Ertha, created collaboratively with artist Al Moore, a follow-up to her 2019 debut, Starts Again. She held a residence in Mumbai to perform Ertha with India’s only queer choir. Previously, she released two EPs: In Jodi’s Bedroom and Recreate, which she toured with Moses Sumney. Tawiah has shared a stage with artists including Amy Winehouse, Damon Albarn, Dev Hynes, Kindness, Mark Ronson, The Cinematic Orchestra and Kano. She also composes for TV and film, most recently composing scores for ITV drama Without Sin and Black Ops for BBC One.
Need to know
For ages 18+
This event is Speech-to-Text transcribed (STT).
You can join our free Access Scheme through your online Southbank Centre account or via email.
Find out more about our Access Scheme
All our Access & facilities information
Dates & times
Price
- Standard entry£12*
- Concessions25%**
* Excludes £3.50 booking fee.
** 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.
Get presale tickets
Members get the first chance to book our entire programme of events, including go-down-in-history gigs, concerts with world-class orchestras, and talks from cultural icons and political giants.
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 key for this room is available from the Welcome Hub on Level 2, Royal Festival Hall. 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.