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The news that Dua Lipa, global pop megastar and founder of the Service95 Book Club, would be guest curating the 19th edition of the London Literature Festival ruffled feathers in the book world. Why, some asked, was the capital’s longest-running literary festival inviting a singer to decide its programme?
The justification from Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature & Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, the organiser of the event, was that: “Books and reading belong to us all and Dua is the ultimate champion of the role they can play in our lives. From her thoughtful interviews with writers to her appetite for arresting new voices, Dua’s passion and insight have sparked a global conversation around books and shone a light on reading as a creative and collaborative act.” It was confirmation that even the most highbrow cultural institutions now recognise the value of initiatives like the Service95 Book Club for promoting reading.
All the more so if they manage to encourage debate about the themes tackled in literary works and engage younger and more diverse audiences than those of traditional book clubs.
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How the Service95 Book Club won over thousands of readers
Dua Lipa started the Service95 Book Club in June 2023 as part of Service95, the online magazine she founded in 2022. Every month, she personally picks a book and reviews it for members, as well as recording an exclusive interview with the author for the companion podcast (which you can find on YouTube and Spotify). Sister site Service95 also publishes more multimedia content about the title and its author, such as their favourite songs and books, opening more doors into his or her world.
Interviews are conducted remotely, often via video call, in an informal and intimate style that’s more like a chat between friends. Dua Lipa’s questions are smart and thoughtful, demonstrating a deep reading of the text and thorough research into the book and its author. The singer carefully picks apart the book’s narrative structure and the psychology of its characters, exploring often overlooked aspects of the work. She does this so well that authors often admit that nobody has ever approached the themes in their books from such angles.
Dua Lipa’s sharp interviewing skills have caught the eye of the traditional media: in an article for the Guardian in 2025, journalist Joel Snape wrote how Dua Lipa’s interviews stood our for the depth and originality of her questions. In the piece, Snape cites a video in which writer Blake Lefray compared the quality of literary interviewers from different media outlets. Despite his initial scepticism, Lefray concludes that the questions put to authors on the Service95 Book Club podcast were far more probing and interesting than those asked by heavy-weight TV presenters.
Another thing that sets Dua Lipa apart is the way she chooses titles: unlike other famous book influencers, who tend to focus on the hottest new releases, the singer goes for works by lesser-known writers, as well as classics and books that have been around a while. The aim is to showcase different voices and broaden the horizons of readers with novels, memoirs, plays and works of non-fiction offering view points that often lie outside mainstream Western culture.
Recurring themes include identity and marginalisation, as well as gender and racial discrimination, issues that Dua Lipa has been outspoken about. The singer even joined a reading group inside a women’s prison as part of Books Unlocked, a National Literacy Trust initiative that gives inmates free copies of titles shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
By mixing different digital platforms – Instagram and TikTok accounts, a website and podcast – and live events, the Service95 Book Club maximises exposure and transforms reading into something communal, entertaining and accessible for all. For example, every year the club runs a series of book tastings, evenings where attendees can “taste” different titles while sipping a glass of wine that has been specially selected to highlight the theme, tone or setting of the works showcased.
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A genuine passion for books
While there’s no denying the that the Service95 Book Club is good for her image and her bank account, Dua Lipa has repeatedly proven her genuine passion for the printed page. Long before she founded her book club, she would regularly share her favourite reads on socials. And the power of her posts in influencing fans was clear from early on: in 2020, after the star posted a photo of herself holding Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life on Instagram, sales of the book jumped by 400%.
Dua Lipa hosted Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life, on an episode of her podcast in March 2022. Copyright: @service95.All rights reserved.
Dua Lipa’s social posts haven’t gone unnoticed in the publishing world: struck by the quality of the books shared by the singer, Gaby Wood, Executive Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, decided to invite her to the 2022 Booker Prize ceremony. On stage, Dua Lipa explained how books helped her find moments of calm on frenetic world tours, and ended her speech with a tribute to the written word: “Good writing has the power to make people feel seen and heard, to tell stories that the world has ignored. We all just want to love and be loved and find our place in the world, and authors really help us to do that.”
In a recent interview, the artist also revealed how she first bonded with future husband Callum Turner over a book: at a dinner party, the pair discovered they were both reading the same novel, Trust by Hernán Díaz. This shared experience gave them plenty to talk about and helped them create a lasting connection. And when the couple tied the knot in Palermo earlier this year, the star donated stacks of books to the city’s public libraries by way of thanks and “cultural compensation” for the inconvenience caused to local residents by closed roads and security perimeters. Not only was this gesture a fitting flourish in a love story that began with a book, but it underscored Dua Lipa’s commitment to championing reading.
The social and cultural impact of the Service95 Book Club
The passion, talent and diligence that Dua Lipa has shown in her interviews with authors has allowed her to build a bridge between pop culture and serious literature, earning her the trust of thousands of young readers and boosting book sales in the process. Through the Service95 Book Club, she spreads her love of reading to her fans, engaging them in deeper discussions about books and giving them new perspectives on the themes within.
Dua Lipa shows pop culture can break down barriers to reading and bring books to people of different ages and backgrounds. Most encouraging of all, by talking to younger generations about literature in fresh and interesting ways, Dua Lipa is drawing them into the wonderful world of books.
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