Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 25 April: John Berkavitch, Laurie Bulger and April resident poet Stephanie Dogfoot are the guests at Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £7 / £5).

Will Self, Patrick Ness and host Dominic Frisby are all at Book Slam at Clapham Grand (7.30pm, £8 / £10).

Alex Wheatle, Jake Arnott and Kate Fox join a night of stories, stand up and songs about the transformatory power of books in prisons, with English PEN, at Rich Mix (7pm, £7 / £5).

Iain Sinclair, Tom Chivers, Katy Darby and Clare Fisher give their takes on London at Toynbee Studios for Annexe’s Words on Cities (7.30pm, £7).

See John Hegley at the Keats Community Library in Hampstead (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Booker Prize 2012 longlisted author Sam Thompson talks about Communion Town at Waterstones Covent Garden (6pm, £4 / £3).

RSVP to editors@thewhitereview.org to get access to The White Review Short Story Prize party at Apartment 58 at Centre Point (7pm, free).

Louise Millar discusses Accidents Happen at West End Lane Books (7pm, free).

Go for the £50 supper ticket at Salena Godden’s Book Club Boutique and see Maggie Gee, Lemn Sissay, Irfan Masters and Roland Chambers, or the £10 party ticket (from 10pm) and see performances by Adam Kammlering and Robert Auton among others.

It’s a (possibly dysfunctional) family affair at the Poetry Cafe with Emma Fleming, Stephanie Gerra, Stephanie Goldberg, Irving Jones and Stephen Keyworth (8pm).

Friday 26 April: Paul Bailey, Kerry Hudson, Rebecca Chance and Fidelis Morgan are the guests at super-popular salon Polari at the Southbank Centre (7.45pm, £5).

Matthew Caley and John Harvey join Hylda Sims for Fourth Friday at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £5).

Saturday 27 April: New children’s imprint Flying Eye Books is hosting two workshops at Foyles aimed at young graphic artists: Welcome to your Awesome Robot with Viviane Schwarz (10.30am, £8) and Wild Animals and Curious Creatures with Emily Hughes (1.30pm, £15).

The Word Factory invites you to an evening with Lionel Shriver at The Society Club (6pm, £10). There’s a writing masterclass earlier in the day, with Michèle Roberts, Adam Marek and agent Carrie Kania (£195).

Jack Underwood, Katherine Angel, Emily Berry, Caleb Klaces and Jonny Reid, er, read at the launch of Clinic III at the Son Gallery in Peckham (7pm,free).

Utter! returns for Richard Tyrone Jones’s 33 and 1/3 birthday with too many guests to mention, at the Star of Kings (3pm going on all night, £3.33).

Sarah Parker, Cherry Potts, Amma Poku and Hazel Talbot talk about London books and Cityread title A Week in December, at Ealing Library (2.30pm, £2).

Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns host The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Sunday 28 April: David Ayres talks with Arnold Jansen op de Haar about his new novel A Painted Ocean, at The Mitre in W2 (5pm, £5).

Take the kids to the Albany for a production of children’s classic Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (1pm / 3pm, £7).

Sarah Doyle introduces Highgate Poets Miriam Halahmy, Anne Ballard, Anna Meryt and Paul Stephenson at Torriano Poetry (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Monday 29 April: Sheila Heti, Howard Marks and Cleo Rocos are the guests of the Vintage podcast recording at The Queen’s Head (7pm, £6).

Peter Brook talks to Mark Lawson about his new collection of essays on Shakespeare, at the National Theatre (6pm, £4 / £3).

Charlie Dark presents new work from young poets for Cape Farewell’s SWITCH showcase at Rich Mix (6pm, free).

Spring is coming: celebrate with poems by Wendy Shutler and songs by Ivor Game with Ben Richardson at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5 / £4).

Tuesday 30 April: Terry Pratchett and Rob Wilkins headline a night of spoken word for Dignity in Dying at the Union Chapel, also featuring Joe Dunthorne, Luke Wright, Deborah Moggach, Janet Suzman, John Osborne and Susan Hampshire (7pm, £23).

Kate Mosse talks to Eve Pollard about her life and work over lunch at Fortnum and Mason from 12pm. Tickets are £75 and the event is in aid of charity Wellbeing of Women.

AC Grayling discusses humanism at the Bloomsbury Institute (6pm, £30, includes copy of book).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

William Sutcliffe and John McCarthy talk about Israel and Palestine at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £8).

Sabrina Mahfouz, Anthony Anaxagorou, Deanna Rodger, Dean Atta, Chimene Suleyman, Bridget Minamor and Zia Ahmed perform poetry at the Bush Theatre (7pm, free but book ahead).

Modern poets, including John Clegg, Emma Hammond, Kate Wise and Rachel Piercey, perform their responses to Viking poetry at the Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green (7.30pm, free).

Wednesday 1 May: Lloyd Shepherd, Amanda Craig, Suzi Feay, Emran Mian and Meike Ziervogel are reading about Monsters at the Working Men’s College Library in Camden (7pm, free).

Crime writers Arne Dahl, Antti Tuomainen, Stuart Neville are in conversation at Waterstones Piccadilly (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Catch award winning poet and novelist Ron Rash at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £5).

Liverpool-based Catherine Butterworth, Eleanor Rees and Rebecca Sharp perform at the Poetry Library (8pm, free).

Cinnamon Press’s Daphne Gloag and Edward Ragg launch collections at the Poetry Cafe (7pm).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 2 May: The Post-Apocalyptic Book Club heads back to Waterstones Piccadilly with panelists Tom Hunter, Robert Grant, Anne C Perry, Adam Roberts, Frances Hardinge and Jeff Norton (7pm, £5 / £3).

Have a Literary Dinner with Sheila Heti at the Rag Factory, complete with appropriate menu (6.30pm, £30).

Comic artist Gary Northfield celebrates the launch of Teenytinysaurs at Bookseller Crow on the Hill in Crystal Palace (6pm, free).

Hollie McNish and Byron Vincent join Bang Said the Gun regulars Dan Cockrill, Martin Galton, Rob Auton and Peter Hayhoe at The Roebuck (8pm, £7 / £5).

Leo Hollis explains why cities are good for you at Waterstones Hampstead (7pm, £6 / £4).

British Museum director Neil MacGregor talks about objects connected to Shakespeare, at the National Theatre (5.45pm, £4 / £3).

Dan Simpson hosts a night of slam poetry and spoken word at the Genesis Cinema (7pm, free).

Christina James discusses her new crime novel and getting published, at Waterstones Gower Street (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Read four minutes of your poetry at open mic session Poetry @ 3 at the Poetry Cafe (3pm, free).

SLAMbassadors run a workshop at the Poetry Cafe (5pm) followed by a gig hosted by Joelle Taylor (7.30pm, £3).

David Harsent and Fiona Sampson read from their latest poetry collections at The Print Room in Notting Hill (7.30pm, £8).

Friday 3 May: Mark “Mr T” Thompson and Sarah Thompson host a new monthly night at the Poetry Cafe, Lipped Ink (7.30pm, £5).

Saturday 4 May: Bobbie Darbyshire is signing copies of her novels at Waterstones Walthamstow from 11am.

Tuesday 7 May: Michael Palin chats about his novel The Truth, as well as his life and travels, in the opening event for the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £15 / £12).

Chloe Aridjis talks about her new novel Asunder with Tom McCarthy at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Matt Haig celebrates the launch of his new novel The Humans with Booktrust at the Free Word Centre (6.30pm, free).

Seren poets Carol Rumens, Katha Pollitt and Kathryn Maris perform their work at Waterstones Piccadilly (8pm, free).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts regular Poetry Cafe open mic night Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 8 May: Maggie Gee, Tessa Hadley, Fay Weldon CBE and David Harsent ask whether creativity can be taught, at Foyles (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Tracey Thorn and Damian Barr talk with Susannah Clapp about their memoirs, at the Royal Society of Literature (7pm, £8 / £5).

Nadeem Aslam is in conversation with Homa Khaleeli about his book The Blind Man’s Garden and other works, at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Hear John Keats’s Ode poems (Nightingale, Grecian Urn, you know the ones) performed at the Barbican Library (6.30pm, free).

See Maureen Duffy at Woolfson & Tay‘s new location on Bankside, reading from her latest collection (7pm, free).

Holly Hopkins, Hannah Lowe, Helen Mort and Katrina Naomi read their poetry at the Bush Theatre Library (7.30pm, £12).

Mark Ford, Oli Hazzard, Dante Michaux, Harriet Moore and Declan Ryan provide a bit of free poetry at lunchtime as part of UCL’s Festival of the Arts (1pm, free).

Agnes Meadow hosts Loose Muse at the Poetry Cafe, a night for women writers of all genres (8pm, £5 / £3).

Pelmeni presents a roster of international poets: Katha Pollitt, Anne-Marie Fyfe, Rosie Shepperd, Liane Strauss, Natan Barreto, Astrid Alben, Julia Bell, Rosie Shepperd, Roisin Tierney and Tim Cumming (7pm).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 9 May: Bright Club takes to the Bloomsbury Theatre for a night of comedians and academics talking about reading (7.30pm, £8 + bf).

Psychoanalyst Darian Leader is at the London Review Bookshop discussing bipolar disorder (7pm, £7).

Thom Byles, Jess Green, Roundhouse Poets and Yasmine Latkowski offer up an evening of Music and Words at the Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green (7.30pm, £5).

William Sieghart, Jacob Sam-La Rose and Rhian Edwards perform poetry in the library at the Bush Theatre (7.30pm, £12).

Comedian Ben Moor reads from his new stage show at Bookseller Crow on the Hill (7.30pm, £3).

Ronnie McGrath and Kerry Young perform at the Caribbean Literary Salon, Free Word Centre (7.15pm, £8 / £5).

Colin Pyle talks about his 18,000km motorcycle trip round China at the Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Mark Grist and Gwyneth Herbert join the regulars for Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £7 / £5).

It’s free party night again with The Book Stops Here: readers are Nell Leyshon, Joanna Rossiter and Mave Fellows (8pm).

Emma Conway, Ian Davidson and Juha Virtanen provide the spoken word at POLYply 25 (7pm, free).

Head to Waterstones London Wall to hear Patrick Flanery talk about his latest novel, Fallen Land (5.30pm, £5 / £3).

Friday 10 May: Bobbie Friction, Siddhartha Bose, Ravinder Bhogal and DJ Nihal asks if British Asians will ever be seen as cool, at the Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

iF Poetry presents Sinead Cusack and guests at Poetry in the Library at the Bush Theatre (7.30pm, £12).

Sally Pollard hosts Poetry Jam at The Tea Box in Richmond (7pm, free).

Steve Keyworth and Stephanie Gerra introduce Jukebox Story at the Poetry Cafe, an evening of stories inspired by songs that are about or feel like the future (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Danny Wallace is signing copies of his novel Charlotte Street at Waterstones Leadenhall Market from 12.30pm.

Saturday 11 May: There’s events for kids at the Festival of Asian Literature from 11am, then a workshop on how to get published in Asia and the UK (2pm, £10 / £8).

More for kids at Dulwich Books, where Gareth Edwards reads from his book The Disgusting Sandwich (11am, free).

The London Radical Book Fair takes place at Conway Hall 10am-5pm. Speakers include Danny Dorling, Eveline Lubbers, Wendy Cooling and Ken Livingstone.

Sophie Willan shares an autobiographical tale that is heart-warming, heart-breaking, ridiculous… and sort of true at the Albany (8pm, £5).

Tom Bland, Errol McGlashan and Benedict Newbery host Platform 1 at the Poetry Cafe, where up and coming poets perform alongside more established acts (8pm, £5 / £4).

Sunday 12 May: Wander Hampstead Heath while debating Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April with the Daunt Books Walking Book Club (11.30am, free).

Jehane Markham and Martina Evans are the guest readers at Torriano Poets (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Musa Okwonga, Giles Hayter, Keith Jarrett, Jasmine Cooray and Jason Maverick join Jumoke Fashola for Jazz Verse Jukebox, plus music from David McAlmont and Guy Davies (7.30pm, £8).

Monday 13 May: Lionel Shriver launches her 11th novel, Big Brother, at Kings Place (7pm, £9.50).

The Independent’s Steve Richards goes behind the scenes of British politics with Jenni Russell, Rafael Behr and Jesse Norman at Kings Place (7pm, £9.50).

Novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar is in conversation with Sarfraz Manoor at Bush Theatre (7.30pm, £6).

Exiled Writers Ink at the Poetry Cafe is all about Colombia: Ruth Padel, Lemn Sissay, Raficq Abdulla and Barbara Lopez will appear (7.30pm, £4 / £2).

Get some new views on WG Sebald at UCL’s Festival of the Arts (6.30pm, free).

James Astill and Ed Hawkins discuss cricket and the Indian middle class at the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Tuesday 14 May: Liars League stories are all about Kings and Queens at the Phoenix (7.30pm, £5).

Jan Blake tells the story of The Old Woman, The Buffalo and the Lion of Manding, at Soho Theatre (8pm, £9 / £7).

Rachel Caine and Sarah Rees Brennan talk teen horror at Foyles (6.30pm, £3).

Get the experts’ take on China from Jonathan Fenby, Gerard Lemos and Yuwen Wu at the Festival of Asian Literature (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Join Andrew Taylor for a literary dinner and chinwag about his new novel The Scent of Death at Hardy’s Brasserie (7pm, £40).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 15 May: European Literature Night happens simultaneously in capitals across the continent. Our contribution is at the British Library with Norbert Gstrein (Austria), Miha Mazzini (Slovenia), Erwin Mortier (Belgium/Flanders), Ece Temelkuran (Turkey), Jordi Punti (Spain/Catalonia), Jáchym Topol (Czech Republic), Birgit Vanderbeke (Germany) and Frank Westerman (Netherlands): 6.30pm, £7.50 / £5).

Four authors shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award (Kerry Hudson, Lloyd Shepherd, Ros Barber and Patrick Flanery if you want specifics) are reading and chatting at Foyles (6.30pm, free).

China Miéville talks about his work with The White Review’s Ben Eastham at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Jo Shapcott and Matthew Hollis are the poets in the library at the Bush Theatre (7.30pm, £12).

John Mullan hosts a Jane Austen quiz night at UCL: test your knowledge of Darcy et al (6.30pm, free).

The Festival of Asian Literature hosts a literary salon with Krys Lee, Prajwal Parajuly and Selma Dabbagh (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Michael Kossew hosts Natural Born Storytellers telling tales of shame at the Camden Head (8.15pm, free).

Dr Joseph Hanlon reveals the stories of ordinary Zimbabweans, at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free, book in advance).

The Southbank Centre‘s head of literature and spoken word, novelist James Runcie, offers a preview of what’s coming up in the London Literature Festival (7pm, free).

John Mackay, Abegail Morley, Jeremy Worman and Tamar Yoseloff help celebrate The Frogmore Papers’ 30th birthday at the Poetry Cafe (7pm, free).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Luke Wright / photo by Steve Ullathorne

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 16 May: Michael Moorcock, Peter Milligan, Mike Carey, Roger Langridge and Christopher Fowler help launch TRIPWIRE 21 and an exhibition at Foyles (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

There’s a night of high energy topical comic poetry at the Canal Cafe Theatre with Elvis McGonagall and Vanessa Kisuule (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Herne Hill Books hosts local authors Gabriel Gbadamosi and Colin Grant (6pm, free).

Storyteller / comedian Rosie Wilby looks at womanhood and feminism in the 90s, at The Exhibit (7.30pm, £3).

Barry Forshaw chairs a panel at Waterstones Piccadilly of Erin Kelly, Sabine Durrant and Alex Marwood looking at psychological crime writing (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Antonia Fraser explains to AN Wilson how we got to the Great Reform Act of 1832, at Waterstones Hampstead (7pm, £6 / £4).

Marcel Theroux launches his new novel Strange Bodies at the Idler Academy (6.30pm, free).

Jem Rolls and Elvis McGonagall again, apparently, are the guests at Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £7 / £5).

Aaron Daniel, Phil Lawder and Abe Gibson share their love of writing and music at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5).

Charlie Higson talks about his books for teens at Waterstones Islington (4pm, free).

Friday 17 May: Steve Tasane, Alison Winch, Suzanne and Keith Drake and Patric Cunnane are the Dodo Modern Poets at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £5).

Saturday 18 May: It’s Manga day at the Festival of Asian Literature: take the kids to a free manga workshop from 12pm, and there’s a series of talks and workshops for adults in the afternoon.

Bookstock hits The Green Man on Euston Road again, with Matt Haig, Lane Ashfeldt, William Ryan, Liz Harris and Seki Lynch (7pm, £6 / £7).

SJ Fowler, Ross Sutherland, Hannah Silva, Honor Gavin and Outfit are at Rich Mix for a night of Electronic Voice Phenomena, cutting edge poetry, music and performance. If you asked us, we’d simply tell you to see Ross Sutherland wherever you can (and the rest are damn fine, too). 8pm, £10 / £8.

Helen East leads a walk around Islington telling tales of dreamers, drovers and leaders. Meet at Archway Library (11.30am, free).

Sunday 19 May: Poejazzi, Not So Popular and MAP Poetry join forces to bring you poetry for a pound at The Book Club (7.30pm, £1 obvs).

Swap books and eat cake at Feed and Read, popping up in Deptford’s Bearspace Gallery (12-4pm).

Helen East is back in Islington for a storytelling walk of ghostly traces and lost places, starting at Angel tube (2pm, free).

Age Exchange in Blackheath is having a book sale 10am-2pm to raise funds for their charity work.

Monday 20 May: The London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre kicks off with readings by some of the nominees for the Man Booker International Prize 2013: UR Ananthamurthy (India), Lydia Davis (USA), Intizar Husain (Pakistan), Yan Lianke (China), Marie NDiaye (France), Josip Novakovich (Canada) and Peter Stamm (Switzerland) (7.30pm, £12 / £10).

Another chance to see Antonia Fraser on the Great Reform Act of 1832, at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

There’s more Islington storytelling from Helen East, this time in a seated position at the Charles Lamb pub (6.30pm, free).

The Festival of Asian Literature offers some Burmese poetry and a discussion on the country’s future (6.30pm, £10 / £8).

Poet in the City presents an evening of Rimbaud and Verlaine at Kings Place, with David Harsent, Deryn Rees- Jones, Tim Matthews, Jack Johns, Sam Swainsbury and Lucy Tregear (7pm, £9.50).

Also at Kings Place, Charles Cumming, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones and Peter Guttridge discuss the myths and realities behind the secret services (7pm, £9.50).

Coffee House Poetry hosts US and UK poets Margot Farrington, Claire Dyer, Joshua Weiner, Kim Moore, Kathryn Maris, Janet Rogerson, Linda Gregerson, Sarah Jackson and Henry Fajemirokun (8pm, £8 / £7).

Tall Lighthouse press hosts an open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, free).

Tuesday 21 May: Chris Wellbelove from Greene & Heaton literary agency is the speaker at London Writers’ Club Live (7pm, £15 / £20).

Chinese writers Ma Jian and Yan Lianke are at the Festival of Asian Literature with Boyd Tonkin and Flora Drew (6.45pm, £10 / £8).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night, Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Poets Ken Edwards and Philip Terry read at The Blue Bus (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Ruth O’Callaghan presents Anne Stevenson and Richard Berengarten at Lumen Poetry Series (6.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 22 May: Luke Wright (pictured) is starting a run of his Your New Favourite Poet show at Leicester Square Theatre (7pm, £10 / £8).

Melvyn Bragg launches his new novel Grace and Mary (7.30pm, £12 / £10) and take your five minute stories to Story:SLAM live (7.45pm, £8) at the London Literature Festival.

Mark Blyth argues that austerity is a dangerous idea at Daunt Books Cheapside (6.30pm, £5).

The Festival of Asian Literature closes with Tan Twan Eng in conversation with Maya Jaggi (6.45pm, £12 / £10).

Jawdance is a regular Apples and Snakes night of poetry, spoken word and film shorts at Rich Mix. No mention of who’s on, but it’s free and always good fun (7.30pm).

Toby Litt, James Miller and Gregory Normington read stories about climate change at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free, book ahead).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 23 May: If you enjoyed Luke Wright’s interview with us, catch the show until Saturday, then Wednesday again at Leicester Square Theatre (7pm, £10 / £8).

Poet / owner of best cameo appearance ever for I Give It A Year / comedian Tim Key, John Osborne, Nick Hart and Tom McCarthy are at Invisible Dot telling Stories (7.45pm, £8).

Ben Fountain talks about his new novel Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk at the Big Green Bookshop with Sam Jordison (7pm, £3).

Children’s author Jon Klassen reads and draws at Foyles Westfield Stratford (3.15pm, free).

Anne Stevenson, Simon Armitage, Professor Stephen Regan and Fiona Sampson debate the state of contemporary British poetry at the British Academy (6pm, free, registration required).

Conn Iggulden is signing the latest in his Emperor series at Waterstones Leadenhall Market from 12.30pm, but we reckon you should be there earlier to stand any chance of getting pen to book.

Chill Pill celebrates the Albany‘s 30th birthday with a big line-up including Kat Francois, Benin City, Chris Redmond, Simon Mole, Deanna Rodger, Dean Atta, Mr Gee, Raymond Antrobus and Anthony Anaxagorou (7.15pm, £9 / £6).

Damian Barr is at Gay’s the Word chatting about Maggie and Me (7pm, £2).

Not quite sure who to be more excited about, Colum McCann or Jon McGregor at Waterstones Gower Street (7pm, £5 / £3).

Kemi Taiwo is the guest stand up poet at Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £7 / £5).

Suzanne Rindell launches her debut novel The Other Typist at Waterstones Covent Garden (6pm, free).

Storyteller Helen East presents folktales, fibs and facts about Islington at The Acoustic Cafe (6.30pm, free).

American poet Matthew Dickman is joined by award winning Ann Gray at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Second chance of the night to see Luke Wright at Bookslam at The Flyover, along with Jon Ronson, Dominic Frisby and De’Borah (8pm, £10 / £12).

Friday 24 May: The Keats Festival kicks off at Keats House. Discover Alexander Pope (2.30pm, free), Cobbett and cottage gardens (4pm, £7) and a continuation of the Southbank Centre’s global Poetry Parnassus project (6.30pm, £5).

Saturday is Towel Day, so get in the mood with Vogon Poetry Night at Hackney Picturehouse (7.30pm, £5 / £4 in costume).

LA Times Book Prize for Fiction winner Ben Fountain is at Bookseller Crow on the Hill in Crystal Palace (7.30pm, £3).

Hylda Sims hosts Fourth Friday at the Poetry Cafe with Mark Gwynne Jones and Joolz Sparkes (8pm, £6 / £5).

Brother Niyi, Katie Bonna, AF Harrold, Greta Bellamacina, Bridget Minamore and Lucy Gellman are guest performers at the Farrago Poetry Exam Blues SLAM, with John Paul O’Neill MCing (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Saturday 25 May: The London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre continues: highlights include more Poetry Parnassus (7.45pm, £8), Rupert Everett (7.45pm, £12 / £10), James Salter on his probable final novel (4.30pm, £10), SPIN for kids with John Hegley, Sally Pomme Clayton and BREIS (11am, free) and Rachel Rose Reid‘s tour of the Southbank Centre (1pm, £5).

Helen Simpson, Ben Fountain, Roshi Fernando and Anna Stothard read short stories at The Word Factory salon in Soho (6pm, £10).

More Keats: Arachne Press presents stories from the Garden of Eden (3pm, £5), Susan Brandt’s docu-play goes behind the affair of Byron and Claire Clairmont (6.30pm, £5), plus more workshops and talks.

Helen East leads another storytelling walk around Islington, this time meeting at Farringdon tube and directing us at the water beneath our feet (11am / 2pm, free).

Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns host The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Sunday 26 May: Back at the Southbank Centre for the London Literature Festival, the big draw is undoubtedly the full reading of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel by a ton of famous women poets and actors (7.30pm, £10-£25). We also like the look of Cornelia Parker (4.30pm, £10) and Adam Thirlwell, Sarah Hall and Adam Foulds, three of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists (4pm, £8).

Back at Keats House, Spread the Word and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama students present poetry set to music (2pm, free), Foyle Young Poets Flora de Falbe, David Carey, Sarah Fletcher and Alex Hartley (4.30pm, free) and winners of the flamingofeather poetry competition plus judges Mimi Khalvati and Peter Daniels (5.30pm, free).

Monday 27 May: Helen East is back in Farringdon for another Islington storytelling walk (7pm, free).

Another walk, earlier in the day, goes round Keats’s Hampstead (11am, £8 / £6).

Today’s picks of the London Literature Festival are Audrey Niffenegger (7pm, £10), AC Grayling (7.45pm, £12 / £10) and Sarah Dunant and Lisa Jardine (2pm, £10).

Suzannah Evans, Kathleen Jones, Agnes Lehoczky, Agnes Marton and Tiffany Anne Tondut combine art and poetry at the Poetry Cafe (7pm, free).

Tuesday 28 May: Horror and supernatural writer extraordinaire Joe Hill launches NOS4R2 at Foyles (6.30pm, £10).

Lucinda Hawksley talks about suffragettes and suffragists at Wanstead Library (7pm, £5).

Rob Auton performs his Edinburgh show about Yellow at the Gallery Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Some excellent choices at the London Literature Festival: Claire Tomalin lectures on Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice (6.30pm, £10), Lionel Shriver discusses her new novel Big Brother (8pm, £10) and Christopher Fowler, VG Lee, Sophia Blackwell, Anny Knight and Greg Mitchell are guests at Polari (7.45pm, £5).

Patricia McCarthy, Jane Draycott and Pascale Petit, top winners in this year’s anonymous National Poetry Competition, are at Keats House (6.30pm, £5).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts open mic night Poetry Unplugged at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 29 May: Phill Jupitus (presumably under his Porky the Poet guise), Ross Sutherland, Richard Marsh and Katie Bonna are the guests of Tongue Fu at the Udderbelly (9.15pm, £12.50).

Join Matt Haig and Andrew J Lambie in the Great Northern Tavern for the Big Green Bookshop Bookswap (7.30pm, free).

Christopher Kul-Want gives an introduction to Slavoj Žižek at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Grab a ticket to the Saboteur Awards 2013 at The Book Club: nominees include Luke Kennard, Dan Cockrill, Vanessa Kisuule, Penned in the Margins, Bang Said the Gun and Come Rhyme with Me (7pm, £7 / £5).

Lyndall Gordon talks about Emily Dickinson as part of the Keats Festival (6.30pm, £5).

At the London Literature Festival, acclaimed short story writer George Saunders talks with Jon McGregor (6.30pm, £8) and Claire Tomalin turns to Thomas Hardy for her next lecture (6.30pm, £10).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 30 May: Jenni Fagan, Ros Barber and Gavin Extence, shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2013, read and chat at Foyles (6.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Patrick McGrath talks about his novel Constance at the Bloomsbury Institute (6pm, £20 with book / £10 without).

Luke Wright’s Your New Favourite Poet show continues at the Leicester Square Theatre (7pm, £10 / £8).

The London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre continues: there are still some tickets left for Claire Tomalin’s lecture on Pepys (6.30pm, £10).

Anjan Saha introduces poets from St. Kitts, Bermuda, Grenada, India and the UK for Poetry Parnassus at the Keats Festival (6.30pm, £5).

Leo Hollis says Cities are Good For You at West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free, book in advance).

Martin Figura and Catherine Brogan are the guests at Bang Said the Gun‘s poetry club night (8pm, £7 / £5).

Taiye Selasi talks about Ghana Must Go at Waterstones Covent Garden (6pm, £4 / £3).

Emma Fleming, Stephanie Gerra, Stephanie Goldberg, Irving Jones and Stephen Keyworth tell stories of family as Future Perfect at The Harrison in Kings Cross (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Jon and Luisa Edwards discuss The Boy Who Was Born a Girl at Gay’s the Word (7pm, £4).

There’s a mixture of Mexican and British poetry at Rich Mix with Tom Raworth, Carol Watts, Tom Chivers, David Berridge, Tim Atkins, Jeff Hilson, SJ Fowler, Holly Pester and Rocio Ceron (7pm, free).

Matt Haig reads from and talks about The Humans at Bookseller Crow on the Hill, which also celebrates its 16th birthday (7.30pm, £3).

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenburg tells all about walking from Frankfurt to Finchley at the Wiener Library (6.30pm, free but book ahead).

For poetry about zombies from Sebastian Handley, Anna Kahn, Irina Jauhiainen, Tom Bland and Roy Canty, head to the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Friday 31 May: The London Literature Festival starts its London weekend: today’s highlights include Craig Taylor’s One Million Tiny Plays About London (7pm  / 8.45pm, £10), Inua Ellams’s Midnight Run (8.30pm, £5), the start of summer-long project London Lines (10am, free): non London events include William Dalrymple (7.30pm, £10).

Ruth Padel, David Wheatley, Kathryn Maris and Richard O’Brien launch the latest issue of Poetry London at Foyles (6.30pm, £4 / £3).

At Kirkdale Bookshop, Sam Mills (The Quiddity of Will Self) and Kate Williams (The Pleasures of Men) read from and talk about their books (7.30pm).

Muswell Press poets Leo Aylen and Alan Franks read at the Keats Festival (6.30pm, £5).

Saturday 1 June: More London stuff at the London Literature Festival: the start of summer-long project London Lines (2pm, free), Point Blank Poets (8pm, £8), Charlie Dark and Run Dem Crew take the kids on a superhero run round the Southbank Centre (10.45am, free but book ahead) while there’s a more adult adventure with Tom Chivers’s River Neckinger pilgrimage (12pm and 1pm tomorrow, £5).

Cath Drake hosts poets Kayo Chingonyi, Jocelyn Page, Saradha Soobrayen and Jacqueline Saphra at the Keats Festival (6.30pm, £5).

Nihat Tsolak hosts poetry of spring at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5).

Sunday 2 June: The final day of the Keats Festival has an open mic plus performances from Anthony Anaxagorou, Raymond Antrobus, Simon Mole, Deanna Rodger, Dean Atta and others (1.30pm, free), poetry in translation with Chris Beckett, Frances Leviston and Fiona Sze-Lorrain (3pm, free) and John Hegley helps launch the 2012 Keats Anthology (5pm, free).

Tracey Thorn (7.45pm, £10) is the big draw of today’s London Literature Festival; Claire Tomalin draws parallels between Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria (6.30pm, £10), China Miéville in conversation (8pm, £10), Simon Garfield presents a London special On The Map (6pm, £8), Rachel Lichtenstein reveals Hatton Garden (12pm, £8) and Leo Hollis talks cities (2pm, £8).

Maureen Duffy and Cicely Herbert are the readers at Torriano Poetry (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Monday 3 June: At the London Literature Festival take a whistle stop tour of six centuries of poetry about London (6.30pm, free), Kate Mosse chairs a Women’s Prize and Grazia evening on getting published (8pm, £10) and Claire Tomalin finishes her lecture series with Mary Wollstonecraft (6.30pm, £10).

Simon Armitage, Frieda Hughes, Paul Stephenson, Huw Warren and Stuart Silver are among the guests at Coffee House Poetry (8pm, £8 / £7).

Rebecca Solnit is at Kings Place discussing The Faraway Nearby (7pm, £9.50).

Season Butler, Shaun Levin, Amy Neilson Smith and Michael Darling are at erotic literary soiree Velvet Tongue (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Paul Davey presents a slideshow of This is What Democracy Looks Like at Exiled Writers Ink at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £4 / £2), along with Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Adnan Al-Seyegh, Chinwe Azubuike and Taku Mukiwa.

Tuesday 4 June: Rachel Lichtenstein, Cathi Unsworth and Lisa Gee talk about the London Fictions collection at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Brendan Simms gives us an overview of Europe’s struggle for supremacy since 1453, at Daunt Books Cheapside (6.30pm, £5).

Over at the Southbank Centre for the London Literature Festival: teachers at the School of the Spoken Word, Dean Atta, Raymond Antrobus and others (6pm, £8), Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo on her novel We Need New Names (6.30pm, £8), and Jo Shapcott introduces Poetry Parnassus focusing on Armenian, Gun, Spanish and English (6.30pm, £8).

Julie Myerson’s supernatural novella The Quickening is the subject of her visit to West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free, book ahead).

Lucy Lethbridge, Anna Whitelock and Kate Worsley discuss the relationships between servants and their masters and mistresses, at the Bloomsbury Institute (6.30pm, £10 / £6).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 5 June: Richard Holmes charts the pioneering balloon aeronauts in Falling Upwards. Hear about their exploits at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

Holly Hopkins, Malika Booker, Chris McCabe, Karen McCarthy Woolf and Kirsten Irving read at the launch of Rain of Poems at the Southbank Centre (6.30pm, £8).

Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s Ark, is in conversation with Susannah Herbert at the 20th Century Theatre in aid of First Story (7.15pm, £20).

The Dash Cafe, English PEN and the British Ukrainian Society present Oksana Zabuzhko at Rich Mix (7.30pm, free).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 6 June: Thomas Keneally talks about his new novel Daughters of Mars at Foyles (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Grab the few remaining tickets for speakers like Alan Bennett, Simon Armitage, John Lanchester, Edna O’Brien and Sam Riviere at Independents Day at the ICA (various prices, up to £10).

The final few performances of Luke Wright’s Your New Favourite Poet take place at Leicester Square Theatre (7pm, £10 / £8).

Brian Aldiss is signing copies of Finches of Mars at Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue from 6pm.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s only UK event is at Lutyens & Rubinstein, where she’s discussing Sisterland with Viv Groksop (7pm, £8).

Northern exiles should head to the London Review Bookshop to hear Paul Morley talk about it (7pm, £7).

Attila the Stockbroker and Jess Green are the guests at Bang Said the Gun stand up poetry night (7pm, £7 / £5).

Ben Pedroche and Mark Mason are signing their books about London’s power stations and the Underground at Waterstones Leadenhall Market (12.30pm).

Wendy Moore is at the National Portrait Gallery to explain how 18th century Thomas Day created his perfect wife (1.15pm, free).

Pele Cox, Kerry Hudson, Courttia Newland, Saira Shah and Meike Ziervogel read tales of family at the Holloway Arts Festival (7pm, free but reserve a place).

Clare Murphy, Debs Newbold, Maya Levy and the Kitchen Quartet are telling stories at Story Jam in Forest Hill (£5).

There’s an afternoon open mic at the Poetry Cafe hosted by Paul McGrane (3pm, free).

Glyn Maxwell and Robin Robertson read from their new poetry collections at The Print Room in Notting Hill (7.30pm, £8).

Friday 7 June: The Stoke Newington Literary Festival has been on for a bit, but today marks the first events there are still tickets for! How about seeing Elif Shafak, Reads Like a Seven (writing about video games) or Viv Groksop? Various prices or £50 weekend ticket.

Michael Rosen wants to tell your family all about Centrally Heated Knickers at the Pleasance, today and tomorrow (10.30am / 1.30pm, £10).

There’s more storytelling for adults at the Tea Box in Richmond (8pm, £6).

Mark “Mr T” Thompson and Sarah Thompson host Lipped Ink at the Poetry Cafe, with guest Errol McGlashan (7.30pm, £5).

The Camden Poetry Series launches its anthology, hosted by Ruth O’Callaghan (7pm, £5 / £4).

Saturday 8 June: There’s so much going on in Stoke Newington we only have space to pick a few highlights: Alex Clark plus Evie Wyld, Lottie Moggach, Stuart Evers and Gabriel Roth (2pm, free), Leviathan author Philip Hoare (3pm, £5), Spitalfields Life’s The Gentle Author (12.30pm, £5), Booker shortlisted Alison Moore (4pm, £5), London Noir with Cathi Unsworth and Mark Billingham (7pm, £6), Robin Ince and John Hegley (8pm, £10) and Literary Death Match (9pm, £5).

John Hegley takes Elevenses at the Poetry Cafe with guests (11am, £6 / £5).

Jeremy Sallon, Tom Bland, Errol McGlashan and Benedict Newbery are at the Poetry Cafe for Platform 1, plus open mic (8pm, £5 / £4).

Sunday 9 June: Stoke Newington Literary Festival comes to an all-too-soon end. We recommend London by Bridge, Tube and Pub (1pm, £5), London Fictions (2pm, £4), Georgian London with Ian Kelly and Lucy Inglis (3pm, £4), Ben Aaronovitch and George Mann (3pm, £5) and Polari (8pm, £4).

John Cooper Clarke is doing a huge gig at the London Palladium, plus guests Luke Wright, Salena Godden, Mark Thomas and more (7pm, £39.75).

Kat Francois hosts a free evening of spoken word SLAM poetry at Theatre Royal Stratford East (7pm).

Sophie Aldred – yep, Ace from Doctor Who – is one of the readers at Weird Lies in Ladywell (6pm, free).

Indigo Williams, Hollie McNish, Lanre, Agnes Meadows and Sabrina Mahfouz join Jumoke Fashola for Jazz Verse Jukebox (7.30pm, £8).

Monday 10 June: The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour at the British Library is all about the work of Sylvia Plath, introduced by Frieda Hughes and readers include Emilia Fox and Joanna David (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5).

Helen Simpson is at Stoke Newington Bookshop talking about her new story collection Bunch of Fives (8pm, £2.50).

William Dalrymple discusses the 1839 British invasion of Afghanistan at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

Tall Lighthouse press run an open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, free).

Tuesday 11 June: Felix Martin and Ha-Joon Chang are talking money and capitalism at Daunt Books Cheapside (6.30pm, £5).

Jane Gardam’s Last Friends completes her trilogy, and she’s talking about it at Keats House with Daunt Books (7pm, £5).

Marcel Theroux discusses his SF novel Strange Bodies with his father Paul at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

An event that isn’t happening at Daunt is Liars’ League, this month all tales themed for Kings and Queens, at the Phoenix (7.30pm, £5).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 12 June: Jen Campbell reveals more weird things customers say in bookshops, at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free but book ahead).

Sri Lankan born Australian author Michelle de Kretser is in conversation with AS Byatt at Foyles (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Hear bits of Mr Darwin’s Gardener by Kristina Carlson and find about the process of translation, at Belgravia Books (7pm, free but book ahead).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 13 June: We loved both Jonathan Lee’s Who Is Mr Satoshi? and Joy, so celebrate the paperback release of the latter with the author at Review Bookshop in Peckham (7pm, free).

Jacob Sam-La Rose and the Burn After Reading Collective join the regulars at Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £7 / £5).

Hadley Freeman, Matt Haig and Melissa Harrison read at free lit party night The Book Stops Here (8pm, free; doors open 7.45pm and it’ll be busy).

Matt Rudd, Talia Randall, Jenny Fawcett, Dominic Frisby and the one and only Cerys Matthews are at Book Slam in Clapham (£6).

Leo Hollis explains why cities are good for you at the Bloomsbury Institute, with PD Smith (6pm, £10 / £6).

Soweto Kinch, Patience Agbabi and Mark Gwynne-Jones perform at London Liming, Rich Mix (7.30pm, £10 / £8).

Guardian film critic and novelist Peter Bradshaw is at West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Nick Taussig talks about his novel The Distinguished Assassin, set in 1950s Russia, at Belgravia Books (6.30pm, free).

Friday 14 June: Japanese author Masashi Matsuie is in conversation with Michael Emmerlich at the London Review Bookshop ahead of their World Literature Event later this month, focusing on Japan (7pm, £10).

Children’s author Janet Hoggarth is reading from and signing copies of Gaby’s Angel at Peckham’s Review Bookshop (5pm, free).

Sally Pollard hosts Poetry Jam at the Richmond Tea Box (7pm, free).

Lizzie Shirley, PR Murry, Penny Faulkner and Patric Cunnane are the Dodo Modern Poets at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £5).

Indie poetry publisher The Emma Press will have a stall every Friday at Lower Marsh Market, starting today.

Winners of this year’s Eric Gregory Award read at The Bell on Middlesex Street, plus Roddy Lumsden and Emily Hasler (7.45pm, £5).

Deborah Frances-White’s comedy/storytelling show Half a Can of Worms is at the Etcetera Theatre (7.30pm, £10 / £8).

Saturday 15 June: Hannah Pool, Yvette Edwards, Dean Atta, Ellen Banda-Aaku and Marilyn Heward Mills are the guests at Black Book Swap #3 in Brixton (11.30am-5pm, £7 / £10).

Jake Arnott is the special guest of Jeremy Reed and the Ginger Light at the Horse Hospital (7.30pm, £5).

There’s another Amnesty Book Sale in Blackheath – no times given though.

Sunday 16 June: Cheryl Moskowitz and Racker Donnelly join hosts Sarah Doyle and Allen Ashley for a jazz-poetry event at The Dugdale Theatre in Enfield (7pm, £11).

Monday 17 June: Wembley Wordfest celebrates Brent’s newest library, and launches with Peter Conradi, author of The Kings Speech (7pm, free).

Coffee House Poetry goes Welsh with Phil Bowen, Marianne Burton, Rebecca Perry, Robert Seatter, Judy Brown, Graham Clifford, Rhian Edwards and Kathryn Simmonds (8pm, £8 / £7).

Inua Ellams and GREEdS perform some free spoken word at St Thomas’ Hospital with Apples and Snakes (1pm).

David Constantine and Tom Kuhn join Poet in the City at Kings Place for an evening of Bertolt Brecht (7pm, £9.50).

Lucy Mangan hosts an evening with Malorie Blackman and Melvin Burgess at Waterstones Piccadilly (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Tuesday 18 June: Meet Nick Coleman, author of music and hearing loss memoir The Train in the Night, at West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Dorothy Koomson is at Wembley Wordfest (7pm, free).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the weekly open mic night at the Poetry Cafe, Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Laura Simms tells fantastic tales of South Africa, the Caucasus and New York City at the Soho Theatre (8pm, £9 / £7).

Cara Watson and Daphne Gloag read at Cinnamon Press‘s launch of Asylum Seekers, at Lumen (6.30pm, £5 / £4).

If you missed Deborah Frances-White in Camden, catch her at RADA Studios today and tomorrow (7.30pm, £10 / £8).

Wednesday 19 June: Discover utopian visions found in folk tales down the ages, at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Celebrate Victor Serge at the London Review Bookshop with Paul Gordon and Lorna Scott Fox (7pm, £7).

Kris Hollington and Nina Hollington take you on a tour of criminal London from the safety of Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free but book ahead).

It’s Brixton vs Clapham in the Stanza Bonanza clash at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, free).

Book ahead: Everything Hadley Freeman has done so far to promote Be Awesome has sold out. We’ll be honest with you: we’re writing this in advance, so the event at Foyles on 20 June may sell out as well by the time you read this. If so: sorry. We tried.

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 20 June: Actual Jesse Armstrong of actual Peep Show is the headliner at Invisible Dot’s Stories spoken word night, along with Tim Clare, Jessie Cave and Adrian Crowley (7.45pm, £8).

Grab the remaining tickets for this fundraiser for Josie Long’s Arts Emergency Service with comedians and writers like Joe Dunthorne, Kate Tempest and Tim Key, at Hackney Empire (8pm, £20 / £10).

Hadley Freeman’s talking about Be Awesome at Foyles (6.30pm, £5).

How can we resist an event whose blurb quotes us? Mark Mason and Andrew Martin talk about their tube-related books at Belgravia Books (6.30pm, free).

Luke Wright and GREEdS are the invited poets for Bang Said the Gun at The Roebuck (8pm, £7 / £5).

Litro brings Polish writers and musicians to The Betjemen Arms in St Pancras (6pm, free).

Readers from South Bank Poetry’s new London and Urban Ireland issue include Benedict Newbery, Richard Purnell, Jasmine Ann Cooray and Joe Duggan, at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5.50 / £4.50).

Crime writers Christina James, Laura Ellen Joyce and Matthew Pritchard read from and talk about their books at Waterstones Gower Street (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Friday 21 June: Brent’s poet laureate Simon Mole and guests Inua Ellams, John Agard and Warsan Shire perform at Brent Civic Centre for Wembley Wordfest (7pm, free but book ahead).

Jeffrey Deaver is signing copies of his latest Lincoln Rhyme thriller at Waterstones Leadenhall Market from 12.30pm, and later talking about the book at Waterstones Piccadilly (7pm, £5 / £3).

Farrago‘s summer solstice SLAM features Anna Chen, Greta Bellamacina, Anna Kahn, Sean Wai Keung, Dudley Sutton, Oli Forsyth and Matthew Cuban, at the RADA Foyer Bar (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Saturday 22 June: There’s an embarrassment of literary riches down Charing Cross Road for its eponymous festival, all for free: try Laura Dockrill at 11.30am, Horrible Histories author Terry Deary at 2pm, Jazzman John Clarke at 4pm; or if you want just one recommendation you absolutely have to see Evie Wyld and Liars’ League at Foyles (4.30pm).

Proms at St Jude’s festival’s literary programme today features Tim Smit (11am), Susan Greenfield and Alok Jha (2pm), Kate Atkinson and Erica Wagner (4pm) and Michael Holroyd and Sue MacGregor (5.30pm). All tickets £8.50.

Sunday 23 June: Back in Charing Cross Road, hear Jane Peyton on Brilliant Britain (2pm) and a feminism debate at Blackwell’s (1pm).

In Hampstead Garden Suburb for Proms at St Jude’s, Antonio Carluccio talks to Giles Coren (12.30pm), Sandra Howard to Penny Smith (2pm), Simon Garfield on maps or fonts or both (3.30pm) and Edward Stourton rounds things up with Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner (5pm). Tickets £8.50.

Learn not to judge a book by its cover at Feed & Read at Bearspace Gallery, while stuffing yourself with cake (12-4pm, free).

Monday 24 June: Robert Twigger is your source (BOOM!) for all things Nile at Daunt Books in Marylebone (7pm, £8).

Daunt Books has also sorted out this event with Gillian Tindall unpicking the lives of three houses, including a London Jacobean one, at St Peter’s Church in Belsize Square (7pm, £5).

Help Foyles plan their new Charing Cross Road store (6.30pm, free but book ahead).

Acclaimed Persian poets Azita Ghahreman (translated by Maura Dooley), Reza Mohammadi (translated by Nick Laird) and Shakila Azizzada (translated by Mimi Khalvati, who can’t be at the event but Sarah Maguire will ably take her place) will read alongside their UK poet-translators at Foyles (7pm, free but book ahead).

Wendy Shutler has songs for the summer solstice at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5 / £4).

Tuesday 25 June: Katerina Cosgrove launches her novel Bone Ash Sky at Belgravia Books (6.30pm, free).

Glen Peters launches Lucknow Ransom at Asia House; there’ll be curry involved (6.30pm, free).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the weekly open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 26 June: Sarah Pinborough and Alison Littlewood are guests at the Big Green Bookshop‘s Bookswap at the Great Northern Railway Tavern (7.30pm, £5).

William Dalrymple talks about Return of a King, his account of the First Afghan War, at the Bloomsbury Institute (6pm, £30 with book, £10 ticket only). *PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS NOW BEEN CANCELLED* 

GREEdS hosts Jawdance at Rich Mix, plus Dominique Chestand, Paloma Heindorff, and Scratchcard & Readymeal (7.30pm, free).

Book ahead: Superb Scandicrime novelist Henning Mankell talks to Mark Lawson about his work at the London Review Bookshop on 28 June (7pm, £7).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 27 June: Dominic Kelly, Jo Blake Cave, Ben Haggarty, Emily Parrish, Mikael Öberg, Laura Burns and Cat Gerrard tell epic stories at Rich Mix for the Crick Crack Club (7.30pm, £6 / £8).

Inua Ellams and Emma Jones are Bang Said the Gun‘s poetic guests at The Roebuck (8pm, £7 / £5).

Stories inspired by pop songs will be performed by Stephanie Gerra and Steve Keyworth for Jukebox Story at The Harrison (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Gemma Seltzer is collecting stories in a new branch of her Speak to Strangers project, this time at Tate Modern.

Charles Shaar Murray chats about his novel The Hellhound Sample, his Hendrix biography and life as a rock critic at West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free).

Elizabeth Forbes launches Nearest Thing to Crazy at Belgravia Books (6.30pm, free).

Poets Katherine Gallagher, Dorothy Lehane, Tracey Martin and Paul McGrane perform at The Haberdashery in Crouch End (7.30pm, £5).

Friday 28 June: Henning Mankell talks to Mark Lawson about his new novel, A Treacherous Paradise, at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Meet Kate Mosse as she chats about The Citadel at Brent Civic Centre, part of Wembley Wordfest (7pm, free).

Bestselling crime novelist Jeffrey Deaver is signing copies of The Kill Room at West End Lane Books from 6.30pm.

Mohamed Mesrati and Malek Sghiri are at Rich Mix talking about Writing Revolution, a collection of new writing born out of the Arab Spring (7pm, free).

Fleur Adcock and Rod Edmond launch new books at Birkbeck’s New Zealand Studies Network (6pm, free).

Jon Sayers and Lisa Kelly bring the poetry to Fourth Friday at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £5).

Crime writers Ali Knight and Ruth Dudley Edwards talk about their books and writing at Chipping Barnet Library (6.30pm, free).

The Friday-only Emma Press pop up bookstore is still at Lower Marsh Market, but not for long – last appearance is 5 July.

Saturday 29 June: Kevin Barry, Mary Costello and Keith Ridgway read at The Word Factory #12 to mark the publication of Town and Country, New Irish Short Stories (6pm, £10).

Celebrate the centenary of Tagore’s Gitanjali at Rich Mix (8pm, £12 / £10).

Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns host The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Ruth Ozeki chats about her latest novel A Tale for the Time Being at Dulwich Books (7pm, £5).

Monday 1 July: Rabai al-Madhoun discusses his novel The Lady from Tel Aviv, shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010, at Foyles (6.30pm, free but reserve a place in advance).

Deborah Levy, Marcus du Sautoy, Claire Messud, Beau Lotto and Alan Johnson are the speakers at 5×15 at The Tabernacle (7pm, £20).

Matt Haig and Ruth Ozeki talk about their latest novels with Jamie Byng at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £8).

Caroline Bird and musician Sarah Gillespie spend an evening at Dulwich Books (7pm, £5).

Exiled Writers Ink has a night against the fatwa on Iranian poet Shahin Najafi, with Jane Duran, Linda Black, Anouche Sherman and Dr Jennifer Langer, at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £4 / £2).

Magma #56 launches at Coffee House Poetry, with David Morley and Jack Underwood (8pm, £8 / £7).

Tuesday 2 July: Claire Messud and Kate Figes talk about Messud’s book The Woman Upstairs and women writers, at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £8).

Simon Mayo will be signing copies of his books and working behind the till at Dulwich Books from 12.30pm.

Niall O’Sullivan hosts open mic night Poetry Unplugged at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Poetry from new chapbook The Dance Around the Fire and music from Pete M Wyer at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free).

Wednesday 3 July: Granta Young Novelist Evie Wyld will be signing her new novel, All the Birds, Singing, at Review Bookshop in Peckham – she also works there, so it’ll be a bit of a party (6pm, free).

Robert Edsel, author of The Monuments Men (now, as they say, a major motion picture with George Clooney and Matt Damon), is at Daunt in Marylebone talking about another wartime art hunt (7pm, £8).

Hamid Dabashi and Pankaj Mishra chat about their latest novels at Daunt in Fulham Road (7pm, £5).

Housmans hosts a theatrical performance remembering Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (7pm, £3).

Martin Bannister launches his new novel A Map of Nowhere at Dulwich Books (7pm, free).

Helen Ivory launches her collection Waiting for Bluebeard at the Poetry Cafe, with Nancy Mattson, Mike Bartholomew-Biggs and Peter Daniels (7.30pm, free).

Arc introduces three poets, Amarjit Chandan, Razmik Davoyan and Cliff Forshaw at a Poetry Library Special Edition (8pm, free).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 4 July

Fiction Uncovered FM broadcasts from Foyles today and Friday between 11am-4pm for Independent Booksellers Week, with guests including Damian Barr, Courttia Newland and some Fiction Uncovered writers.

Celebrate Spanish crime fiction at Belgravia Books (6.30pm, free).

There’s a bumper evening at Review Bookshop as they mark the release of five – five – books. Hear Quentin Crisp, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Nina Allan, PF Jeffery and writers from the Rustblind and Silverbright anthology (7pm, free).

David Mitchell-the-comedian-not-the-author talks about his memoir at the Apple store on Regent Street. It’s free and starts at 7pm, but you really should reserve your place in advance.

James Bowen and his ever popular cat Bob are at Waterstones Islington to talk about the next installment of their story (6pm, free).

Zena Edwards and Paul Lyalls take the guest spots at Bang Said the Gun stand up poetry night (8pm, £7 / £5).

Meet Lauren O’Farrell, aka Deadly Knitshade, and get your copy of Stitch New York signed at the Royal Festival Hall (6.30pm, free).

Paul McGrane hosts a free open mic session at the Poetry Cafe from 3pm.

The SLAMbassadors are on at the Poetry Cafe, hosted by Joelle Taylor (7.30pm, £3).

Friday 5 July

The free Africa Writes Festival starts at the British Library, with events about the diaspora, translation and the future with guests including Warshan Shire, Doreen Baingana and Hannah Pool.

Luke Wright previews his next show, Essex Lion, at Leicester Square Theatre (8.30pm, £6 / £5).

Review Bookshop parties it up for Viviane Schwartz’s new graphic novel Sleepwalkers (5pm, free).

Jumoke Fashola’s Jazz Verse Jukebox has a guest turn at the Royal Albert Hall, and brings Inua Ellams, Anthony Anaxagoru, Hollie McNish and John Siddique (7.45pm, £13.50).

Zena Edwards headlines at Lipped Ink at the Poetry Cafe; Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson and Sarah Thompson host (7.30pm, £5).

Ruth O’Callaghan presents Hilary Davies and Mario Petrucci at the Trinity United Reform Church in Camden (7pm, £5 / £4).

Saturday 6 July

If you missed our preview of the Matchwomen’s Festival at the Bishopsgate Institute you’ll also have missed the author and poetry line-up, which includes Attila the Stockbroker, John Hegley, Owen Jones, Liz Payne, Michael Rosen, Kate Williams, Hollie McNish and Chris Searle (from 11am, free).

More free events with Africa Writes at the British Library, including Diriye Osman, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Andrew Eseimokumo Oki and Bernadine Evaristo (from 12pm).

Ngugi wa Thiong’o and his son Mukoma Wa Ngugi talk about their work in this paid-for event in Africa Writes at the British Library (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5).

The Enemies project at the Hardy Tree Gallery kicks off with appearances from Iain Sinclair, SJ Fowler, Ben Morris and Marcus Slease (7.30pm).

Sunday 7 July

Africa Writes at the British Library closes: catch events with Dorothea Smartt, Tendai Huchu, Billy Kahora and Elmi Ali (from 12pm, free).

Writers shortlisted for the Caine Prize read at the Southbank Centre. Hear Elnathan John, Tope Folarin, Pede Hollist, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Chinelo Okparanta (6.30pm, £8).

Art Homer and Joan Michelson are the guests at Torriano Poetry (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Monday 8 July

Brixton Book Jam has a packed line-up, including Irenosen Okojie, Helen Smith, Cherry Potts, Ben Johncock, Harys Francke and Tom Pollock (7.30pm, free).

Kid, I Wrote Back has a secret guest performer as well as open mic at Bar Kick (7pm).

Tall Lighthouse press hosts its open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, free).

Ben Morris, Dylan Nyoukis, Holly Pester, SJ Fowler and Emma Bennett perform at the Hardy Tree Gallery on Pancras Road (7.30pm).

C.D. Wright, Víctor Rodríguez Núñez and Forrest Gande read at the London Review Bookshop for the launch of The Wolf issue 28 (7pm, free).

The Footsy Index in Camberwell features Lucy Harvest Clarke, Amy De’Ath and Sarah Kelly (7.30pm).

Tuesday 9 July

New York Times bestselling author Kimberly Mccreight is at Waterstones Hampstead talking about her book Reconstructing Amelia (7pm, £6 / £4).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night, Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Ariadne’s Thread launches its seventh issue at The Old Ship in Richmond (7.30pm, free).

Wednesday 10 July

Ruth Cherrington looks at the role Working Men’s Clubs played in London, and beyond, at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Tongue Fu returns to Udderbelly with Ty, Dizraeli, Femi Martin and Luke Wright in tow (9.15pm, £12.50).

Performances from Jacob Sam-La Rose, six up and coming poets from London and another six from Teesside with Project Break-Out North/South at the Southbank Centre (7.30pm, free).

Head to Clapham Books to hear Tom Canty talk about his debut novel Clapham Lights. We can’t think why he’s been booked at this particular bookshop (7pm, free).

Antonia Fraser discusses the 1832 Reform Bill with Tom Hodgkinson at the Idler Academy (6.30pm, £20).

Faber and the Poetry Trust present Olivia McCannon, Julia Copus and Jo Shapcott reading at Bloomsbury House (6.30pm, £6).

Agnes Meadow hosts Loose Muse at the Poetry Cafe, a night for women writers (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Book ahead

Christopher Fowler, author of the fantastic Bryant & May novels, is talking to Joanne Harris about his latest, Plastic, at Foyles on 18 July (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 11 July

John-Paul Flintoff and Katy Guest are on the bill at the next Salon London, this time held at Foyles (6.30pm, £12).

Anne Harvey and Piers Plowright read from and talk about the work of Hampstead writer Eleanor Farjeon at Keats House, tickets from Daunt Books (7pm, £5).

Linda Kelly brings the world of 19th century politics and Holland House to life, at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £5).

Katie Bonna and Richard Tyrone Jones do guest spots at Bang Said the Gun‘s stand up poetry night in SE1 (8pm, £7 / £5).

Michael Wood and Martin McLaughlin go over the letters of Italo Calvino at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Matthew Francis, Lance Lee and Maurice Riordan perform poetry at Lauderdale House (8pm, £5 / £3).

Another chance to meet James Bowen and Street Cat Bob, this time at Waterstones Kensington (12.30pm, free).

Friday 12 July

Evie Wyld reads from and chats to Karen McLeod about her new novel All the Birds, Singing, at Bookseller Crow on the Hill (7.30pm, £3).

Marina Warner is in conversation with novelist and literary critic Abdelfattah Kilito about the art of storytelling at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £10).

Antonia Fraser talks about the Great Reform Bill of 1832 with John Miller at the V&A (6.30pm, £9 / £6).

John Paul O’Neill hosts a Farrago showcase of Spanish and English poetry at the Poetry Cafe, with Sofia Buchuck, Angel-Luis Hernandez-Frances, Susana Medina, Yamilka Noa, Isabel del Rio and Luz Welmans (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Saturday 13 July

There’s music, comedy and poetry from Josh Neico, Rob Barratt, Catherine Brogan and Pete the Temp at the Arthur Smith-hosted Balham Fringe (from 5pm, £3.99).

See Jeremy Sallon, Tom Bland, Errol McGlashan and Benedict Newbery plus open mic at Platform 1 at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5 / £4).

Readings from the new Bloodaxe anthology Dear World and Everyone In It at the Enemies Project at the Hardy Tree Gallery (7.30pm, free).

Sunday 14 July

If the weather’s this nice, get yourself to Hampstead Heath and discuss As I Walked Out One Midsummer’s Morning with Daunt’s walking book club (from 11.30am).

Mimi Khalvati, Anna Robinson and Ruth O’Callaghan read at Torriano Poets (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Monday 15 July

Charlaine Harris is signing copies of the last ever Sookie Stackhouse novel at Waterstones Gower Street from 6.30pm.

Coffee House Poetry celebrates its end of season with a red themed poetry party at the Troubadour (8pm, £8 / £7).

Surya Turner leads an Apples and Snakes storycraft session for families at Rich Mix (1.30pm, £3).

Tuesday 16 July

Philipp Meyer talks about his new novel The Son with Chris Cleave at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £8).

Terry Eagleton puts in a thorough examination of the USA at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s weekly open mic night (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Poltroon literary salon is at the Betsey Trotwood (7.30pm, £3 / £1).

Johan de Wit and Antony John are the poets at The Blue Bus (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Wednesday 17 July

Granta launch issue 124, all about travel, at Foyles with Robert McFarlane and Lina Wolff (6.30pm, free but reserve a place in advance).

Tired of London’s Tom Jones launches his new book, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, at Stanfords (7pm, free but reserve a place in advance).

Historian Geoff Marshall talks about London’s industrial heritage at Housmans (7pm, £3).

The fall of Constantinople is under discussion by Tom Holland and James Heneage at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

Poets from Harrow and Oxford go head to head at the Poetry Cafe for Stanza Bonanza (7.30pm, free).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 18 July

Christopher Fowler is at Foyles chatting about his new thriller Plastic with Chocolat author Joanne Harris (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Hear readings from Arachne books Stations, London Lies, Lovers’ Lies and new titles Weird Lies and Mosaic of Air at Clapham Books (7pm, free).

One of Granta’s Best Young British novelists, Naomi Alderman, and Viv Groksop join Scott Pack and Marie Phillips for the Firestation Book Swap (7.45pm, £5 or free with homemade cake).

Colin Babb reads from his book about West Indies Cricket at Herne Hill Books (7pm, free).

Woolfson & Tay has a day of writers in residence (from 2pm) plus an evening reading, with Femi Martin, Spread the Word and MAP Poetry (6.30pm, £5).

Anjan Saha and Jason Barnett host London Literature Lounge at the Poetry Cafe with guests Miriam Nash, Sundra Lawrence and Phil Lawder (8pm, £6 / £5).

Chris McCabe, Chrissy Williams and Pascal O’Loughlin read at the Enemies project at the Hardy Tree Gallery (7.30pm, free).

James Heneage talks about the last years of the Byzantine Empire at Waterstones Kings Road (7pm, £5 / £3).

Friday 19 July

John Hegley and Isy Suttie are among the guests at Invisible Dot’s spoken word night Stories (7.45pm, £8).

There’s performance poetry from Paul Chandler at the Poetry Cafe (8pm).

Saturday 20 July

Help create a poetic map of London in the Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre all weekend.

Nihat Tsolak hosts a night of Sufi poetry and music at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £10 / £8).

Waterstones Trafalgar Square has an all-day relaunch party with Pimms and cake (from 11am).

The Enemies project at the Hardy Tree Gallery closes with a night of performance, poetry and artworks from Tom Jenks, Claire Potter, Patrick Coyle, Tamarin Norwood and others (7.30pm, free).

Enjoy a night of jazz poetry with Tony Rhone, Carol Grimes, Dorian Ford, Tim Cumming and Colin Russell at the MAP Studio Cafe (8pm, £7).

David Charnick is reading from his self-published book of stories, Death and the City, at the Sun Inn, Bethnal Green Road (2.30pm).

Monday 22 July

Santa Montefiore launches her novel The Secrets of the Lighthouse at Waterstones Kensington (7pm).

Head to the Poetry Cafe for The Lanes Also Remember with Tris Cooke (7.30pm).

Tuesday 23 July

Witz author Joshua Cohen is talking about attention with Brian Dillion at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).

Hear Tom Vater reading from The Cambodian Book of the Dead at the Big Green Bookshop (6pm, free).

Judith Mackrell is talking about six ‘flapper’ women, including Zelda Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker, at Waterstones Kensington (7pm, £5).

Viv Groksop talks about doing 100 comedy gigs in 100 nights, at Stoke Newington Bookshop (6.30pm, £2.50).

Charlie Brotherstone of agents AM Heath is at London Writers’ Club Live (7pm, £15 / £20).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s open mic night Poetry Unplugged (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 24 July

If you missed her at Kensington, Judith Mackrell discusses flappers with Sarah Churchwell at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).

Joelle Taylor hosts get-up-and-do-it spoken word night Jawdance at Rich Mix, with Rik the Most, Hannah Chutzpah and Yvonne Eba (7.30pm, free).

Frog Morris, Paul Taylor, Sophia Buchuck, Yolanda Mercy, Mizz Lee and Mars Willis spend an evening of poetry, performance and book swapping at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, £3).

Poetry Review launches its new issue at Keats House with guest editor Patrick McGuinness, Gilles Ortlieb, David Wheatley, Kathryn Simmonds, Sam Willetts and Jimmy Symonds (7pm, free).

The Poetry Cafe hosts a mash-up of Hitchcock clips and poetry (6.30pm).

Book ahead

The one and only Margaret Atwood is coming to the Southbank Centre on 27 August and there are a few tickets left last time we checked (£12 / £10).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 25 July

Michael Frayn’s talking about his career as a novelist and playwright at the Bloomsbury Institute (6pm, £10).

Elizabeth Crawford discusses the fight for women’s suffrage, at the Big Green Bookshop (7pm, free).

Ben Aaronovitch is signing limited edition copies of his new Peter Grant novel at Waterstones Covent Garden (12.30pm). Then in the evening, Ben is at Waterstones Piccadilly chatting with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who reads the audiobook versions (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Chris McCabe and Colin Fenn are taking people on a free tour of the West Norwood poets in West Norwood Cemetery from 1pm.

Discover ancient poet Horace with Harry Eyres at the Idler Academy (7pm, £15).

Laura Martin Simpson, Sean Wai Keung, Roy Canty, Tom Bland and host Irina Jauhiainen perform some Poetry in the Basement of the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Friday 26 July

Come Rhyme With Me celebrates its third birthday with poetry and food at Cottons Restaurant in Islington (7pm, £7.50 / £12.50 inc dinner).

Hylda Sims hosts Fourth Friday’s summer party at the Poetry Cafe, with Racker Donnelly and music from Simon Prager and Alan Glen (8pm, £7 / £5).

Missed Ben Aaronovitch on Friday? Catch him signing copies of Broken Homes at Waterstones Leadenhall Market from 12.30pm.

Saturday 27 July

Owen Sheers, Sophie Hampton and Paul McVeigh are the guests at Word Factory #13, held at the Society Club (6pm, £10).

Heavily acclaimed Christopher Reid, perhaps best known for The Song of Lunch, is at Poetry East (7.30pm, £8).

Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns host The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe, with guests Lucy Hamilton, Roisin Tierney, Abigail Parry, Paul McGrane, Harry Mann and Norbert Hirschhorn (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Have tea and cakes and poetry with the editors of Long Poem magazine at the Poetry Cafe between 2pm-6pm (free).

Jacob Sam-La Rose comperes spoken word, poetry and music from Apples and Snakes, Spread the Word, Entelechy Arts and the Albany Uncover Young Music Company at the Southbank Centre‘s Deptford weekend (6.30pm, free).

Sunday 28 July

Feed & Read is running a book swap with courgette cupcakes for sustenance, at the Southbank Centre’s Deptford weekend (11am-5pm, all weekend, free).

Tuesday 30 July

Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Wednesday 31 July

The Homework team – including Joe Dunthorne, Ross Sutherland, Luke Wright, John Osborne and Tim Clare – reveal the lengths they’ve gone to research their work. Properly fun night at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (8pm, £5).

Hear poetry from Croydon’s Poets Anonymous at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 1 August

James Bowen and his cat Bob are signing copies of their follow-up memoir, The World According to Bob, at Waterstones Covent Garden from 12.30pm.

Paul McGrane hosts an open mic at the Poetry Cafe from 3pm, free.

Bring a short story to the Farrago Flash Fiction SLAM at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £5).

James Dawson launches his new Young Adult thriller Cruel Summer at Waterstones Clapham (7pm).

Friday 2 August

The Word’s a Stage features new work from Dean McCaffrey, Jason Pilley and Niall O’Sullivan, and best-ofs from Keith Jarrett and Esther Poyer, all at the Gallery Cafe (7.30pm, £4 / £3).

Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson and Sarah Thompson host Lipped Ink at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5).

Saturday 3 August

Hear hip-hop inspired poems at the Southbank Centre from Inua Ellams, Tim Clare, Patience Agbabi, Salena Godden, Sabrina Mahfouz, Dan Cockrill, Anthony Anaxagorou and more (8pm, £12.50).

There’s a launch of 100 best books from Africa and the Caribbean at Brixton Library from 8pm (free).

Rebecca Donovan is signing copies of her Breathing series at Waterstones Trafalgar Square, from 1pm.

If you’re passing the Southbank Centre over the weekend check out their temporary basketball court, which will feature poetry as well as sport (free).

Nihat Tsolak hosts a Sufi music and poetry night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £10 / £8).

Sunday 4 August

Daunt‘s Walking Book Club roams Hampstead Heath discussing Rumer Godden’s Breakfast with the Nikolides (11.30am).

Monday 5 August

Graham Buchan performs his poetry at the Camden Fringe, with music from violinist Angela Jung. Head to The Sheephaven Bay (9pm, £7 / £6).

Shirin Razavian, Khayke Beruriah Wiegand and members of the Freedom from Torture ‘Write to Life’ group read at Exiled Writers Ink at the Poetry Cafe, hosted by Hasani Hasani (7.30pm, £4 / £2).

Olympic gold medal winning rower Katherine Grainger is signing copies of her autobiography at Waterstones Leadenhall Market from 12.30pm.

Tuesday 6 August

Catherine O’Flynn, author of the brilliant What Was Lost a few years ago, is at Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace to talk about her new novel Mr Lynch’s Holiday (7.30pm, £3).

Robert Adam argues that globalisation is driving the character out of our cities. Agree? Disagree? Put your point at Foyles (6.30pm, free).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

LLL, Wayne Clements and Juliet Troy read at The Blue Bus, at The Lamb (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

James Davies, Ulli Freer, Chris Gutkind and Rhys Trimble read poetry at the Footsy Index in Camberwell (7.30pm).

Wednesday 7 August

Editors of if p then q, Penned in the Margins and Veer Books offer an alternative guide to poetry at the Southbank Centre (8pm, free).

Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler talks about Dark Lands, journeys in countries like Palestine, Zimbabwe and Abbottabad, at Stanfords (7.30pm, £5).

John Wischmeyer from the BFI/City Lit archives presents poetry and clips from Hitchcock films at the Poetry Cafe (7pm).

Patric Cunnane, Sue Johns, Liz Bentley and Project Adorno perform poetry of politics and passion at Colour House Theatre (8pm, £7 / £5).

Joe Gardner launches his debut novel The Life and Loves of Jet Tea at Ribeira Shoreditch (7pm, free).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Illustration by Oona Grimes of Iain Sinclair’s Hackney Harpoon poem. See more at the Southbank Centre.

Thursday 8 August

Poet Niall O’Sullivan looks at the 12 months that contained the Jubilympics, aftermath of the riots, the birth of his first child and the Essex lion, at Camden Fringe. Head for The Sheephaven Bay until Sunday (7.30pm, £7.50 / £5.50).

Benin City, led by Joshua Idehen, perform at Birthdays in Dalston for a night from Clash Magazine (7.30pm, £5 / £7).

Head to Waterstones Leadenhall Market for an informal Q&A with SF author Adrian Tchaikovsky (6.30pm, free).

Friday 9 August

Judith Cair, Mandy Pannet, Andie Lewenstein, Celia Dixie, Penny Hope and Margaret Wilmot perform at Green Room Poets at the Poetry Cafe (7pm, free).

Fran Isherwood hosts Poetry Jam at the Tea Box in Richmond. Expect mail stealing snails, insomnia and macabre part time jobs (7pm, free).

There’s a poetry double bill with Lynn Davidson and Briar Wood from Birkbeck’s New Zealand Studies Network (6pm, free).

Saturday 10 August

John Hegley and guests have Elevenses at the Poetry Cafe (11am, £6 / £5).

Jeremy Sallon, Tom Bland, Errol McGlashan and Benedict Newbery perform alongside open mic acts at Platform 1 at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5 / £4).

Sunday 11 August

Go see the exhibition about Iain Sinclair’s new poem Hackney Harpoon with illustrations from Oona Grimes (pictured), at the Southbank Centre (Tue-Sun until 15 September, 11am-8pm, free).

Monday 12 August

Tall Lighthouse presents an open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, free).

Tuesday 13 August

Sabrina Mahfouz hosts a night where talented young poets perform their new work, at Rich Mix (7pm, free).

Fresh from the Camden Fringe earlier in the week, Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged, the weekly open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler is at Waterstones Piccadilly talking about his book Darklands (6.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Wednesday 14 August

It’s heat one of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam. Judges John Berkavitch, Daniel Cockrill, Stephanie Dogfoot, Zena Edwards, Kat Francois and Polarbear assess some of the country’s best young performance poets (7.30pm, £4).

Salena Godden, Rachel Rose Reid, Robin Ince and Omar are Tongue Fu‘s guests at London Wonderground on the South Bank, introduced by Chris Redmond (9.15pm, £12.50).

Anne Stevenson and Ruth O’Callaghan launch new poetry collections at Bookmarks in Bloomsbury (6.30pm).

Agnes Meadow hosts Loose Muse, for women writers of all genres, at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £5 / £3).

Waterstones Piccadilly launches its first Russian Book of the Month, which is The Spectre of Alexander Wolf by Gaito Gazdanov. Hear a panel of experts including the novel’s translator, Bryan Karetnyk, talk about it (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Also at Waterstones Piccadilly, children’s authors RJ Palacio, Laura Jarrett and Sally Gardner discuss how they celebrate difference in their novels (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Eve Harris is at Waterstones Hampstead talking about her Booker longlisted novel The Marrying of Chani Kaufman (7pm, £5).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 15 August

Meg Wolitzer and Tessa Hadley discuss the novels The Interestings and Clever Girl at Lutyens & Rubinstein (7pm, £8).

Tao Lin and Ben Brooks are chatting about their new novels at Waterstones Piccadilly (7pm, £5 / £3).

Richard Watkins launches his new poetry collection, Things That Move, illustrated by Gretchen Jacobsen at the Kahaila Cafe on Brick Lane (7pm, free).

Friday 16 August

Mark the anniversary of Elvis’s death with poetry inspired by the King at Walthamstow Library, hosted by Forest Poets and Steve McLean (7pm, free).

Farrago’s Summer SLAM features Courttia Newland, Peter Hayhoe, Sofia Buchuck, Anna Kahn, Lauren Shapiro, Tanya Loretta Dee and MC John Paul O’Neill at the RADA Foyer Bar (7.30pm, £6 / £5).

Anouche Sherman and guests present a night of French poetry in translation, at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £4 / £3).

Saturday 17 August

Joelle Taylor hosts a SLAMbassadors live performance at Rich Mix (7pm, free).

Faezeh Robinson and Mansoor Pooyan read at a Persian Poetry Night at the Poetry Cafe (7pm, £10 / £5).

Keith and Suzanne Drake, Andy V Frost and Li Yan perform some poetry at Lily’s in Wimbledon (8pm, £4 / £3).

Hollow Pike author James Dawson is signing copies at Waterstones Croydon from 11am.

Sunday 18 August

Kat Francois hosts the Word4Word SLAM poetry competition at Theatre Royal Stratford East (7pm, free).

Monday 19 August

Croydon’s Poets Anonymous meet at Matthew’s Yard (7.30pm, £2).

Tuesday 20 August

Chris McCabe, Andrew Taylor and David Miller perform poetry at The Blue Bus at The Lamb on Lamb’s Conduit Street (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

David Harris-Gershon discusses his memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife? at Waterstones Hampstead (7pm, £6 / £4).

If you’ve been all about The Ashes recently, head to Waterstones Leadenhall Market by 12.30pm where David Lloyd is signing copies of The Ashes According to Bumble.

Wednesday 21 August

Rutu Modan is in conversation with fellow graphic novelist Hannah Berry at Foyles (6.30pm, £6).

Shirley Hughes and Clara Vulliamy introduce their new book, Dixie O’Day, at Waterstones Piccadilly. Clara will do live illustrations as Shirley reads (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Lloyd Bradley talks about a century of black music in London, at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Jonathan Harvey reads from and talks about The Confusion of Karen Carpenter at Waterstones Kensington (7pm, £5 / £3).

Catch heat two of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam competition, judged by John Berkavitch, Daniel Cockrill, Stephanie Dogfoot, Zena Edwards, Kat Francois and Polarbear (7.30pm, £4).

Dorothea Smartt and Thomas Glave read at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, free).

Storytelling and food combine at Storythyme on the Oval Space rooftop, with Laura Newman, Diana Man and others (6.30pm, £30).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 22 August

Lauren Elkin is in conversation with Katherine Angel at Foyles to mark the launch of issue 8 of The White Review (6.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Graham Buchan performs his poetry show Let’s Love, Let’s Kill, Let’s Wait and Wonder at The Sheephaven Bay tonight and Friday, part of the Camden Fringe (9pm, £7 / £6).

Friday 23 August

deep:black and Grand Union Youth Orchestra present a night of spoken word and world jazz at Rich Mix (6.30pm, free).

Saturday 24 August

There’s a summer picnic for children at Foyles in Westfield White City, with storytelling, crafts and nibbles (3pm, free).

Ladies Like Apple Pie is a community arts event at the Old Deptford Police Station: hear spoken word from Jess Mookherjee, EV Somerville and DaDari Julie Tron-Love between 12pm-2pm, stay for music and cakes (£2 suggested entry).

Monday 26 August

Joanna Rossiter discusses her debut novel The Sea Change with the Waterstones Covent Garden book group (6.30pm).

Wednesday 28 August

The Homework poets are back at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, with guests telling true stories alongside regulars Joe Dunthorne, Ross Sutherland, Luke Wright, Tim Clare and John Osborne (8pm, £5).

There’s free films, music and poetry from Jacob Sam-La Rose, the Last Poets, Charlie Dark, Hollie McNish and Salena Godden to mark 50 years since Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, at the Southbank Centre (from 2pm, free).

It’s the grand final of the Roundhouse Poetry Slam! Deciding the winner are John Berkavitch, Daniel Cockrill, Stephanie Dogfoot, Zena Edwards, Kat Francois and Polarbear (7.30pm, £4).

Literary Death Match at Concrete is still finalising the line-up of readers, but currently have John Niven and Sathnam Sanghera confirmed. Judges are Andy Riley, Louise Doughty and Sarah Morgan (8.15pm, £6 / £8).

Clive Bloom presents the assassins, anarchists, terrorists and revolutionaries of the Victorian Age at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Competition

Before we start: have you seen our competition to win a pair of tickets to a Thames Festival Cruise with Andrew Motion? Submit a few poetic lines about the Thames in the comments over here (not on this article!) by 5pm on Wednesday 4 September.

Thursday 29 August

DBC Pierre, Michael Smith, Salena Godden, Matt Okine and Thabo & The Real Deal are all at Book Slam in Clapham. Francesca Beard hosts (7.30pm, £6 / £8).

Gemma Seltzer has spent the summer Speaking to Strangers around Bankside. Pick up a free copy of the limited edition project from 1pm at Tate Modern.

Journalist and co-author of Undercover Rob Evans, and lawyer Harriet Wistrich, talk about undercover policing, at Southbank Centre (7pm, £8).

Keep an eye out around Soho (try the Dog and Duck, Soho Square, Bar Italia or the Star Cafe) for free CDs of Nuala Casey reading from her new novel Soho 4am.

Friday 30 August

Margaret Atwood is signing copies of MaddAddam at Waterstones Gower Street between 4.15-5pm. We recommend arriving early.

There are still a few slots free to meet Julia Donaldson at Dulwich Books. Book a space for 2.30-3pm or 3.30-4pm.

The CLR James Library in Dalston has free events all day. Sarah Hadland from Horrible Histories talks to authors who write about the past from 2.30pm, plus create your own pop-up book, illustration workshop and singalongs.

Saturday 31 August

Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin, authors of The Novel Cure, are offering free bibliotherapy sessions at Foyles Royal Festival Hall (1pm-5m).

The Poetry Takeaway will write poems to order at the Dalston Children’s Festival (12-6pm).

Sunday 1 September

Brian Docherty, Bruce Carson, Catharine Scholnick, Jenni Christian, Chris Burroughes and Jack Wilkes perform at Torriano Poets (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Go for a ramble on Hampstead Heath and discuss Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book with Daunt’s Walking Book Club (11.30am, free).

Monday 2 September

Mark Miodownik and Steven Connor are talking about “stuff” at Woolfson & Tay (7pm, £3).

Alex Hopkins and Annie Player are the writers at erotic literary soiree Velvet Tongue at Bar Kick (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Exiled Writers Ink brings Serbian poetry and prose in English to the Poetry Cafe; writers are Sonja Besford, Nikola Čobić and Vesna Goldsworthy (7.30pm, £4 / £2).

Tuesday 3 September

Ed Howker and Shiv Malik discuss The Jilted Generation and Britain’s shafted younger folk, at the Southbank Centre (6.30pm, £8).

Hannah Kent talks about her novel Burial Rites at Waterstones Covent Garden (6pm, £4 / £3).

Wednesday 4 September

Fabulous children’s authors and illustrators Sarah McIntyre and Philip Reeve launch Oliver and the Seawigs at Daunt Books Marylebone (6.30pm, free but reserve in advance).

Geraldine Monk introduces Tim Allen, David Annwn, Ian Davidson, Alan Halsey and Frances Presley reading poetry that’s inspired them, at the launch of CUSP: Recollections of Poetry in Transition. Head to the Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre (8pm, free).

Sir Andrew Motion, Jo Shapcott and Sam Guglani discuss poetry and medicine in Keats’s work, at Keats House (7pm, £5).

Comedian Matt Greene launches his debut novel Ostrich at West End Lane Books (7.30pm, free, RSVP via info@welbooks.co.uk and mark your email ‘Matt Greene’).

Patrick Ness is talking about and signing copies of More Than This at Waterstones Piccadilly (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Laura Wilson is chatting about her locally set crime novel The Riot, at Waterstones Notting Hill Gate (7pm, £5 / £3).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.

Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week

Thursday 5 September

The Poke’s Jasper Gibson is at Lutyens & Rubinstein with his debut novel A Bright Moon for Fools (7pm, free but book in advance).

Dan Simpson hosts a poetry SLAM at the Genesis Cinema on Mile End Road (7pm, free).

Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos and Deborah Levy talk about family and belonging, at Keats House with English PEN (7pm, £5).

Simon Sebag Montefiore is in conversation about his novel One Night in Winter, at Waterstones Kensington (7pm, £5 / £3).

Jessica Horn hosts an evening of African protest writing, with Najat El Hachmi and Jean-Luc Raharimanana at the Southbank Centre (7pm, £8).

Friday 6 September

Alan Moore is signing copies of Fashion Beast at Waterstones Piccadilly from 4.30pm.

Juan Pablo Villalobos and Stefan Tobler discuss translating fiction, at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £10).

Alternatively, you can see Juan Pablo Villalobos plus DBC Pierre, Shane Solanki and DJs Moshi Moshi Records at Rich Mix (8pm, £4).

Children’s fantasy author Sean Cummings launches his new book Student Bodies at the Big Green Bookshop (7pm, free).

Poets from the Bloodaxe anthology Dear World – Ágnes Lehóczky, Éireann Lorsung, Sandeep Parmar, Eileen Pun and Marcus Slease – are at the British Library, along with Nathan Hamilton and James Cihlar, for a reading and discussion about literary migration (6.30pm, £4 / £3).

Ruth O’Callaghan presents Maureen Duffy, Jane Duran and Sharon Morris at the Camden Poetry Series (7pm, £5 / £4).

Saturday 7 September

Our own M@ hosts a Thames Festival talk with Philip Hoare about the river, on the HMS President (3pm, £7 / £5 + bf).

There’s a free afternoon of arts and crafts with Penguin at Foyles Royal Festival Hall, inspired by Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal (2pm-5pm).

Lit Crawl brings its blend of pubs and writers to Soho; details still a bit sketchy, keep an eye on the Lit Crawl website for details.

Celebrate the launch of the Southbank Centre‘s first ever novel, written on Twitter! (6pm, free)

The Keats House Ambassadors perform poetry about and inspired by music. Free with a ticket to Keats House itself, which is £5 / £3 (3pm).

The Poetry Book Fair runs 10am-5pm at Conway Hall, free.

Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie are signing copies of the Young Avengers collection at GOSH! Comics between 2pm-3pm.

Leigh Russell is signing copies of her crime novel Cold Sacrifice at Waterstones Walthamstow from 11am.

We really enjoyed Nuala Casey’s Soho 4am – grab a copy at Waterstones Sutton from 11am and she’ll be there to sign it for you.

Sunday 8 September

Rachel Kolsky leads a walk of Hackney and Dalston, uncovering its connections to Jewish writers (11am, £12).

Paul Lyalls, Carol Grimes, The Ruby Kid, Sophia Thakur and Charlie Dupré join Jumoka Fashola for Jazz Verse Jukebox at Ronnie Scott’s (7.30pm, £8).

M Stasiak and Christopher Williams are at Torriano Poets, introduced by Lisa Kelly (7.30pm, £5 / £3).

Monday 9 September

Playwright Michael Frayn is in conversation at the National Theatre (6pm, £4 / £3).

Kid I Wrote Back has open mic poetry and spoken word, plus performances from Kit Caless, Chimène Suleyman and Dylan Sage at Bar Kick (7pm).

Geographers and travel writers Robert Twigger and Michael Jacobs talk about the two of the great rivers of Africa and the Americas at the Thames Festival in Westminster (7.30pm, £7 / £5 + bf).

Tall Lighthouse runs an open mic might at the Poetry Cafe, sign up between 6.30pm-7pm (7.30pm start).

Tuesday 10 September

Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries is longlisted for the Man Booker prize. She’s talking about it at the Southbank Centre (7pm, £8).

Toby Litt, SJ Fowler, Hannah Berry, Tom Humberstone and William Goldsmith are all creating a Special Relationship at The Book Club (7.30pm, £5 + bf).

Jonathan Coe is at Waterstones Piccadilly to talk about his new novel, Expo 58 (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

Mix business and pleasure at Liars’ League at the Phoenix, where actors read stories specially written for the event (7.30pm, £5).

Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s regular open mic night, Poetry Unplugged. Sign up between 6pm-7pm, starts at 7.30pm (£5 / £4).

Wednesday 11 September

Damian Barr hosts Polari at the Southbank Centre, with Lois Walden, Bernardine Evaristo, Susie Boyt and Nick Field (7.45pm, £5).

Michael Dobbs is in conversation with Literati at Grosvenor House (6.30pm, £20, includes a copy of his new book A Ghost at the Door).

Join Dr Nick Barrett at Chipping Barnet library to talk about London’s suburbs (7pm, free).

Dannie Abse discusses his latest poetry collection, Speak, Old Parrot, with Dan Eltringham at Dulwich Books (7pm, £10, includes a copy of the book).

Joelle Taylor, Bisha Ali, Aisling Fahey, Momina Mela and Sunshine in Mae perform at She Grrrowls at The Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green (7.30pm, £5).

Like crime fiction? Like scent? Combine the two with Odette Toilette at Foyles (6.30pm, £5 / £3).

JD Taylor and Mark Fisher discuss capitalism and cynicism, at Housmans (7pm, £3).

Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.