Podcast Corner: Dua Lipa turns cultural concierge with new book-club show

Irish Examiner

14 hours ago

Dua Lipa brought her Radical Optimism tour to a sold-out Aviva Stadium in late June, delivering a wall-to-wall set of pop bangers — but music isn't the only thing occupying her this summer. At the start of June she launched the Service95 Book Club podcast, which ties into her newsletter of the same name — a 'global style, arts and society venture – the ultimate cultural concierge – at the service of the reader' — that's been running since 2022.
It's not Dua's first appearance in Podcast Corner either. At Your Service ran for three seasons, concluding in 2023, with Dua cast as a genial host, talking to people as varied as Billie Eilish, Tim Cook, and Shuggie Bain author Douglas Stuart, an interview recorded at the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, one of the world's most prestigious literary events.
She explains: 'If you're anything like me, books aren't just something that you read and put down. They stay with you - they're passports, mirrors, escape routes, secret maps for finding yourself or getting completely lost in the best way. Wherever I go - tour buses, airports, studios - there's always a book in my bag or tucked into a jacket pocket.'
A monthly series, the opening episode features Jennifer Clement talking about her 2014 book Widow Basquiat about the relationship between artist and painter Jean-Michel Basquiat and his 'muse', Suzanne Malouk, in New York City in the 1980s.
'There was so much going on in all of his pieces,' says Dua, pointing to classical history, African culture, black athletes and more. Clement explains that graffiti artists at the time never considered themselves artists, they considered themselves writers. It was the art critics that changed them into artists. It's just one of a number of insights gleaned in the 40-minute interview.
The second episode - not counting the archive episodes with the likes of Ocean Vuong or Patrick Radden Keefe - is with Vincent Delecroix and his novel Small Boat, released in March 2025, inspired by the 2021 drowning of 27 asylum seekers in the English Channel in November 2021, and explains Dua, about haunting responsibility and the hard truths that we often ignore. 'I feel quite personally about this issue because my family comes from Kosovo, which was a warzone,' she says.
We often hear about Oprah's Book Club or more recently Reese Witherspoon's book club - which has indeed recently launched as a podcast, though hosted by Danielle Robay rather than the actress. The first couple episodes feature Emily Henry ( People We Meet on Vacation) and Yulin Kuang ( How to End a Love Story); and the Ripped Bodice bookstore owners Bea and Leah Koch. Alongside them, Dua Lipa might be selling out stadiums around the world - but she's helping fill out bookshelves too.