What Heloise Wood dubs the “Dua Lipa effect” has once again become relevant since the popstar gave a speech at the International Booker Awards’ tenth anniversary on Saturday night. This makes it her second speech at a Booker event, since she first gave a keynote at the 2022 Booker Prize awards.

The ceremony was hosted at London’s Southbank Centre, home to various past Booker events, and was supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. Bukhman will also be funding the 2026 London Literature Festival between 21 October and 1 November, which will be curated by – you guessed it – Dua Lipa herself.

Dressed in Rotate Birger Christensen and, as a Bulgari ambassador, naturally adorned in the brand’s jewels, Dua Lipa gave a speech about reading, calling it “the antidote to othering”. While some users took to X praising the speech and admiring her dress, some were confused: what stake does an award-winning global superstar have in the book industry? And, some of us may have been thinking the same thing. Those who know about the performer’s Book Club, Podcast, and “cultural concierge”, Service95, however, will know that this makes the star a hot fit for something as illustrious as this anniversary.

There is indeed a deeper history to the nature of the celebrity’s relation to the prize. In their event description, Southbank describes Dua Lipa as “a voracious reader, a passionate supporter of translated fiction and a friend of the prize.” She recalled launching Service95 not at a “cosy cafe” but at HMP Downview in Surrey, working with Booker Chief Executive Gaby Wood as part of the National literacy Trust’s ‘Books Unlocked’ initiative. The initiative is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation, which provides free Booker-nominated titles to young offenders across prisons, “[working] closely with prison librarians to understand what books people want” (Rebecca Perry, Head of Criminal Justice, NLT).

A 2025 NLT study found “largely positive” results, The Bookseller says, with “many people expressing the desire to read and the view that reading is desirable.” Arguably, Dua Lipa is an example of that renewed love for reading amongst younger generations. While outlets and representatives drone on about the problem of reading rates – an essentially structural problem, an elitism that mainstream prizes themselves perpetuate – Dua Lipa has built a strong following of those her age and younger (Wood, 2025).

This still begs the question: why does the prize want this particular mogul to represent them? Perhaps because the prize’s first winner, Ismail Kadare, was, like Dua Lipa, Albanian. Or, perhaps her 2022 speech was just so good that they wanted another one. Perhaps we are witnessing an example of how literary award bodies recruit long-term recognisable faces through burgeoning partnerships, and amidst ongoing anti-immigrant rhetoric, an international book prize would understandably opt for a ‘diverse’ and trending candidate with professedly just politics.

With running collaborations between Dua Lipa and the Booker Prize, major traction around Service95, and a curatorial hand in an upcoming literary festival, this signals a consolidation of the star’s position in the mainstream book scene. From Service95, to prison libraries, to the stage at Southbank, the singer’s evolution within the book industry seems quite symbolic. Literary awards facilitate the marketisation of books, and I personally believe that Booker have found a whole new market through Dua Lipa and Service95.

Bibliography

The Booker Prizes – YouTube. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1MNQqBC1p8 (Accessed: 12 May 2026).

The Bookseller Prizes and Service95 – YouTube. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmFphhOPYI4 (Accessed: 12 May 2026).

Brown, L (2026). National Year of Reading dives deeper into habits with first UK ‘census’ [online] the Bookseller. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/national-year-of-reading-dives-deeper-into-habits-with-first-uk-census [Accessed 11 May 2026].

Bukhman Philanthropies. Bukhman Philanthropies l News – Bukhman Philanthropies to Fund 2026 London Literature Festival. [Online]. Available at: https://www.bukhmanphilanthropies.org/news/bukhman-philanthropies-to-fund-2026-london-literature-festival (Accessed: 12 May 2026).

National Literacy Trust. “Books Unlocked”. National Literacy Trust. https://literacytrust.org.uk/programmes/books-unlocked/.

Parker, L (2026). Dua Lipa at International Booker Prize May 8 2026 [online] Celebmafia. Available at: https://celebmafia.com/dua-lipa-at-international-booker-prize-may-8-2026-4679250 [Accessed 11 May 2026].

Southbank Centre. “The International Booker Prize Tenth Anniversary”. Southbank Centre, (2026), https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/the-international-booker-prize-tenth-anniversary.

Walters, M (2026). Dua Lipa’s Semi-Sheer Pleated Dress Embraces a Very Divisive Y2K Silhouette Trend [online] AOL. Available at: https://www.aol.com/articles/dua-lipas-semi-sheer-pleated-152919000.html [Accessed 11 May 2026].

Wood, H (2025). Booker Prize winner David Szalay on Dua Lipa effect: ‘Reading is now recognised by young people as something beautiful’ [online] the Bookseller. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/booker-prize-winner-david-szalay-on-dua-lipa-effect-reading-is-now-recognised-by-young-people-as-something-beautiful [Accessed 11 May 2026].

Images used

Cover Image: Photo by Iryna Marmeladse on Unsplash.