Historian and filmmaker David Olusoga joins journalist Nesrine Malik in conversation to chart the story of Black British history, bringing to light overlooked narratives. From well-known figures to individual lives consigned to the margins of history, how do the lived experiences of Black British people through time influence questions of belonging and identity? This conversation was recorded live in our Royal Festival Hall on 11 July 2024 as part of You Belong Here, or summer series of events that draw on the themes of our Hayward Gallery exhibition, Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere. The talk sees Olusoga draw on his acclaimed documentaries including ‘Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners’ and his groundbreaking ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’.

Journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera traces the legacies of the British empire around the world, drawing on his book Empireland: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past, in conversation with Colin Grant. This conversation was recorded live in our Queen Elizabeth Hall on Sunday 14 July 2024, as part of You Belong Here, our summer programme of events inspired by the unsung stories and forgotten trailblazers celebrated in our Hayward Gallery exhibition Tavares Strachan: There Is Light Somewhere. Sathnam Sanghera is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Empireland: How Modern Britain is Shaped by its Imperial Past, memoir The Boy With The Topknot, and novel Marriage Material. Colin Grant’s books include Bageye at the Wheel, shortlisted for the Pen Ackerley Prize, and Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation, a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. His latest book is I’m Black So You Don’t Have to Be. Grant is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and director of WritersMosaic, an online magazine and division of the Royal Literary Fund.

On 15 September 2023, the Southbank Centre hosted a cross-cultural takeover by the fashion designer Nicholas Daley. Renowned for his intricate, colourful knitwork and interplay with music and culture, Daley has used fashion as a means to explore ideas around identity, heritage, and memory, intertwined with wider Black British and diasporic themes. Nicholas Daley Presents Woven Rhythms saw a number of events curated by Daley take place across the Southbank Centre, beginning with this panel discussion. Intersecting reggae, punk and alternative soundscapes, four trailblazing and rule-breaking musicians from two generations came together for a conversation about music, DIY culture, politics and identity. In conversation were Pauline Black, lead singer of iconic two-tone band The Selecter, DJ and dub master Dennis Bovell, South London musician and producer Wu Lu, and Delilah Holliday of alternative punk band Skinny Girl Diet. The conversation is introduced, and hosted, by BBC broadcaster and NTS Radio host, Zakia Sewell.

Out of the Kiln: From Technique to Concept presents Aaron Angell and Serena Korda - two artists who featured in the Hayward Gallery exhibition, Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art - in conversation with exhibition curator Cliff Lauson and Isabella Smith, Deputy Editor at Crafts. They discuss working with ceramics, and explore how their clays, glazes and firing techniques give form to their creative vision. Recorded on 26 November 2022, this talk was presented in partnership with Crafts magazine and was edited by Shivani Dave. Image Credit: Aaron Angell, Pie #1, 2020 © Aaron Angell. Courtesy of Rob Tufnell, London/Venice. Photo: Andy Keate.

In the Black Fantastic is a four-part podcast series inspired by the Hayward Gallery exhibition of the same name. This series brings together artists, musicians and writers in conversations that draw on the themes of the exhibition – curated by Ekow Eshun – including myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism. This fourth and final episode brings together sculptor and visual artist Hew Locke, and sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave, both of whom have work featured in the exhibition. Locke’s works in In the Black Fantastic include portraits from his series ‘How Do You Want Me?’ (2007) and a number of his sculptural statues, whilst the work of Cave on display includes a trio of his famous Soundsuits, and Chain Reaction (2022), a sculpture of interlocking hands. This podcast series is hosted and executive produced by Chrystal Genesis, produced by Jaja Muhammad, researched by Zara Martin, mixed by Carmela DiClemente, and was conceived by Glen Wilson. In the Black Fantastic, the exhibition, is at Hayward Gallery, London until 18 September 2022. Find out more about the exhibition at southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery

In the Black Fantastic is a four-part podcast series inspired by the Hayward Gallery exhibition of the same name. This series brings together artists, musicians and writers in conversations that draw on the themes of the exhibition – curated by Ekow Eshun – including myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism. This third episode brings together interdisciplinary filmmaker Cauleen Smith, whose works featured in In the Black Fantastic include the drawings BLK FMNNST Loaner Library 1989–2019 (2019) and the installation Epistrophy (2018), and composer and cellist Ayann Witter-Johnson. This podcast series is hosted and executive produced by Chrystal Genesis, produced by Jaja Muhammad, researched by Zara Martin, mixed by Carmela DiClemente, and was conceived by Glen Wilson. In the Black Fantastic, the exhibition, is at Hayward Gallery, London until 18 September 2022. Find out more about the exhibition at southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery

In the Black Fantastic is a four-part podcast series inspired by the Hayward Gallery exhibition of the same name. This series brings together artists, musicians and writers in conversations that draw on the themes of the exhibition – curated by Ekow Eshun – including myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism. This second episode brings together artist Lina Iris Viktor whose works featured in In the Black Fantastic include a number from her 2017-2018 portrait series ’A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred’, and poet and essayist Salena Godden. This podcast series is hosted and executive produced by Chrystal Genesis, produced by Jaja Muhammad, researched by Zara Martin, mixed by Carmela DiClemente, and was conceived by Glen Wilson. In the Black Fantastic, the exhibition, is at Hayward Gallery, London until 18 September 2022. Find out more about the exhibition at southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery

In the Black Fantastic is a four-part podcast series inspired by the Hayward Gallery exhibition of the same name. This series brings together artists, musicians and writers in conversations that draw on the themes of the exhibition – curated by Ekow Eshun – including myth, science fiction, spiritual traditions and the legacy of Afrofuturism. This first episode brings together artist Rashaad Newsome, whose works featured in In the Black Fantastic include Isolation (2020) and Ansista (2019), and producer, composer and DJ, The Twilite Tone. This podcast series is hosted and co-produced by Chrystal Genesis, produced by Jaja Muhammad, researched by Zara Martin, mixed by Carmela DiClemente, and was conceived by Glen Wilson. In the Black Fantastic, the exhibition, is at Hayward Gallery, London until 18 September 2022. Find out more about the exhibition at southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery

In 2019, Jean Paul Gaultier brought his Fashion Freak Show – called a 'fabulous fiesta of fabric and flesh' by The Guardian – to the Southbank Centre. But before his extravaganza exploded onto the stage at Royal Festival Hall, the designer himself appeared here in conversation with TV presenter Anita Rani, reflecting on his decades in fashion. Born in a Paris suburb in 1952, Gaultier started his career at Pierre Cardin at the age of just 18. He has gone on to rise to the top of the fashion world with his own label, ruffling industry feathers and dressing huge stars – including Madonna in the now-infamous bustier – along the way. Hear him discuss his childhood inspirations, his love of British eccentricity and his vision for the future of the fashion industry in our podcast.

Malala Yousafzai's activist work championing the educational rights of girls led to her being shot by a Taliban gunman in 2012, when she was just 15 – but she refused to be silenced. She came to the Southbank Centre to launch her memoir I Am Malala on Sunday 20 October 2013, appearing in conversation with former Southbank Centre Artistic Director Jude Kelly. The following year, Yousafzai became the youngest ever Nobel laureate. In our recording of that talk, hear Yousafzai speak about sibling rivalry, her love for the landscape of her home in Pakistan's Swat Valley, and, of course, her belief in the power of education. 'We need to change the ideology. We need to tell people what the real power is. You are not powerful if you have a gun, because through guns you can only kill. You are powerful when you have a book, when you have a pen, because through pens you can save lives. And that's the change that we want to bring in our society.'

Join poet Holly Corfield Carr, exploring human and non-human ways of looking at and listening to trees, in this podcast from Hayward Gallery's Among the Trees exhibition. Holly considers artworks by Giuseppe Penone, Robert Smithson, Roxy Paine and Mariele Neudecker, and interweaves her own words with poems by Vahni Capildeo, Emily Dickinson, Sasha Dugdale and Alice Oswald.

In this podcast, the painter George Shaw discusses some of the themes and influences behind his work with novelist Patrick Langley, in a conversation that ranges from post-war town planning, to punks, apocalyptic literature, woodlands and ‘the everydayness of the end of the world’.

In this episode of Think Aloud we turn our attention to poetry, and sit down with the London poet and founder of poetry collective Out-Spoken, Anthony Anaxagorou. With him we delve into how poetry can rewrite history, the ways in which he has developed and established his own voice, and how, when this is not a poem, he is not a poet. We also hear from South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon, for whom breaking established rules has been key to her poetry, on why the language of women comes from more than just the mouth. "I mean as a kid I absolutely despised poetry...it was as dry as trigonometry… it was like looking at a traffic cone” 
 ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU Out-Spoken’s year-long residency at Southbank Centre continues on 20 June with poetry from Ilya Kaminsky, Kei Miller and Sabrina Mahfouz and live music from Gabriella Vixen and Lloyd Llewellyn. Book tickets and find out more: http://bit.ly/2MgMvgH

German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen didn't just write new music, he created music that had never before been imagined, transformed sound, influenced musicians from classical to Kraftwerk to The Beatles, all while believing he was born on a distant planet. Electronic musician Actress and Southbank Centre's Director of Music, Gillian Moore spoke to Harriet Fitch Little about his legacy. "Stockhausen was the first person to open a sort of sonic box that said to me, anything is really possible with sound." ACTRESS Southbank Centre's exploration of Stockhausen is from 14th May to the 2nd June and you can find full details and book online at southbankcentre.co.uk/stockhausen

In this episode, Harriet Fitch Little asks is this a golden age for political humour? Why do we laugh at politics and do we need to? She speaks to joke writer for Private Eye magazine Tom Jamieson, and comedians Tiff Stevenson and Kieran Hodgson about the effect of current affairs have had on comedy. “Satire sits bleary eyed & unshaven in a cheap motel room surrounded by empty vodka bottles quietly sobbing as it watches the news.” TOM JAMIESON

Invented in China over 2,500 years ago, the abstract strategy game Go is thought to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day. In March 2016, the Go world champion Lee Sedol accepted a challenge to play against a computer program called AlphaGo. In the second game of a five game challenge series, the computer made a move no human in the game’s vast history would have considered. This move, Move 37, was not only unique and creative, it was beyond the minds of the world’s greatest Go players. In this latest episode of our Think Aloud podcast, presenter Harriet Fitch Little speaks with Southbank Centre's Performance and Dance Programmer, Rupert Thomson and actor and director Thomas Ryckewaert about their fascination with Move 37. They talk about what this moment meant for arts and society, and how ultimately it may shape our relationship with artificial intelligence. Also in this episode, we hear an interview with Patrick Tresset, an artist who has programmed robots to draw portraits for him. Working in Tresset’s own style of drawing, they act like an artist and has no idea how the drawings will turn out. Move 37 by Thomas Ryckewaert comes to Southbank Centre on 14 March, 2019. Buy tickets here: http://bit.ly/2GGlvD0

In this episode, Harriet Fitch Little is joined by paralympian, TV presenter and children’s author Ade Adepitan, and children’s book critic Imogen Russell Williams to talk about the lack of diversity in children’s literature. “I suddenly started to get a perception that certain people did certain things, that main protagonists, that strong characters, that hero characters were all white, middle class.” ADE ADEPITAN They discussed why children’s literature is so behind, why we can’t eliminate the past and who should be dealing with this - the authors, the publishers or the parents? Also, children's author and illustrator Nadine Kaadan answered the burning question: how do you create a character for children? To see all the events at Imagine Children's Festival and to buy tickets, go to https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/imagine-childrens-festival

How do you make something not funny, funny? How do you deal with nerves? Who is your dream comedy sidekick? Do people expect you to be funny all the time? Which of your jokes goes down the best? Harriet Fitch Little brings you a Christmas special that reveals the tricks of the trade of stand up comedy. Listen to the questions we put to our panel of comedians about the highs and lows of their career, their confessions and their secrets. And of course, they manage to make it funny... You can hear more podcasts at: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/podcasts

Inspired by the forthcoming Soundstate festival, Harriet Fitch Little is joined by Southbank Centre's Music Director, Gillian Moore; Susanna Eastburn, CEO of Sound & Music; and Dai Fujikura, composer of contemporary classical music. They discuss the trouble with genres, how writing music will never be the same and why they don't use the word 'classical'.