Allen Ginsberg at 100
A centenary celebration of Allen Ginsberg's life and work at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, combining readings, music, and visual responses to the Beat poet's writing.
Why we picked this
A centenary tribute that combines readings, music, and visual art to revisit a poet whose reach extended well beyond literature — Ginsberg shaped what American dissent sounded like, and an evening at the Queen Elizabeth Hall that takes that seriously should be worth attending.
Allen Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926, which makes 2026 his centenary year. The occasion is worth marking: Ginsberg was one of those rare writers whose influence extended so far beyond the page that it became difficult to separate his work from the cultural moment he helped create. His 1956 poem Howl, read aloud for the first time at the Six Gallery in San Francisco, is one of a handful of American literary events that can genuinely be said to have changed what was possible in public speech. The obscenity trial that followed its publication gave the poem a reach it might not otherwise have achieved — and made Ginsberg himself into something like a spokesman for a generation’s dissatisfaction.
The evening at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, closing out the Southbank Centre’s Poetry International Festival, brings together a mix of guests for a tribute that spans readings, music, and visual responses to his writing. The event takes a broad view of Ginsberg’s legacy — not just the Beat Generation mythology, but the later decades of political activism, the Buddhist practice, the long engagement with William Blake, and the documented relationships with nearly every significant countercultural figure of the twentieth century.
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is an appropriate venue: a large room built for music that has hosted poets, performers, and provocateurs since it opened in 1967 — the same year Ginsberg was at the centre of London’s own counterculture scene. The centenary gives the evening its occasion; what happens inside it will depend on who takes the stage.