Creative Encounters: Manifesto Library

Join artist Zoe Thompson for an evening of making inspired by Livraria Lello’s Manifesto Library: a permanent library of books challenging power and censorship. As part of Dua Lipa’s London Literature Festival, you’re invited to an evening of exploration and discovery as we create new book dust jackets that illuminate and celebrate the Manifesto Library’s collection. Working with London-based artist Zoe Thompson, craft new covers drawing on the tradition of radical DIY zine culture and Thompson’s distinctive collage practice, investigating what it means to make the suppressed and hidden visible. In June 2026, the Manifesto Library opened in Livraria Lello, an iconic bookshop in Porto, Portugal. This new, permanent library is a collaboration between Livraria Lello and Service95 Book Club (founded by Dua Lipa) and is dedicated to books that challenge power, censorship, exclusion and dominant narratives, creating a living cultural space for reading, debate and public reflection. The Manifesto Library is not an archive of censorship, but a contemporary statement about the role of books in society. Dua Lipa says, ‘here you will find 100 books that ask questions, or have been questioned. Some have been banned by school districts for themes of race or sexuality. Others, written for LGBTQIA+ readers, have been restricted from display. In some cases, the author has paid for their words with their life. This library is a shrine to books that have disappeared, to authors whose courage