The Southbank Centre will be livestreaming a series of literary events from around the world for the first time via TicketCo TV, a pay-per-view live streaming service and virtual ticketing platform.

The venue will be presenting Inside Out, an Autumn season of over 40 events that aims to bring music, literature, and comedy back to the Royal Festival Hall.

The Southbank Centre have partnered with TicketCo to livestream a series of author events that will be streamed from various locations around the world. It is designed to stand in place of the Southbank Centre’s annual flagship London Literature Festival that was cancelled this year due to the pandemic.

It will launch with a UK exclusive with writer and activist Angela Davis direct from Santa Cruz on September 16.  In a collaboration with the Stuart Hall Foundation, the streamed event will be chaired by Gary Younge.

Award winning poet and author Claudia Rankine will discuss her new book Just Us with Anthony Anaxagorou from New York on 9 October, followed by Kae Tempest discussing their first book of nonfiction On Connection from the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall stage on 13 October and internationally acclaimed author and activist Arundhati Roy speaking about her new book of essays, Azadi, and reflecting on the meaning of freedom in a world after the pandemic from her home in India on 22 October.

The co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza will be live from the Royal Festival Hall on 28 October whilst actors and writers Dawn French and John Cleese will launch their respective new books, Because of You and On Creativity from the Royal Festival Hall on 19 October and 2 November.

Head of literature and spoken word at the Southbank Centre, Ted Hodkingson, said: “After five months of closure I’m delighted to announce an online series of talks that offer a timely response to our tumultuous present and celebrate our capacity for creativity and connection.

“We have living legends including Angela Davis alongside leading voices in the fight for racial and social justice such as Alicia Garza, with boundary-pushing authors, thinkers and poets of global renown including Arundhati Roy, Claudia Rankine and Kae Tempest, as well as beloved comedians including Dawn French and John Cleese. We look forward to bringing the London Literature Festival back bigger and better than ever in 2021, but for now, we’re thrilled to be able to bring authors and audiences together from all around the world as part of Inside Out.”

Joe Edwards, TicketCo senior account manager, said: “The Southbank Centre’s Inside Out Autumn season of Covid-19 safe events is an exciting prospect for music, literature, and comedy, especially amid such a difficult time.

“We are proud to have partnered with the Southbank Centre, one of the UK’s most respected venues, to provide pay-per-view live streaming for its exclusive series of literary events from around the world. We share the same passion for innovation and live entertainment and we’re looking forward to helping connect more people to literature and building the Southbank Centre’s global audience via online broadcasting.”

Tickets for the events are on sale from 7 September.