Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Wednesday: Edna O’Brien talks about her life and new memoir at the Southbank Centre (7.45pm, £10).
Discover the curse of the Mummy at Treadwell’s with Roger Luckhurst (7.15pm £7).
Tom Basden hosts The Special Relationship with Stuart Evers and Jack Underwood at The Book Club (7.30pm, £5).
Iain M Banks chats about his new novel, The Hydrogen Sonata, at Waterstones Piccadilly (7pm, £5 / £3).
Thursday: It’s National Poetry Day! The theme is Stars and there are events all over the place (see official listings for details). Highlights are the Southbank Centre’s free poetry afternoon followed by John Cooper Clarke (7.30pm, £10-£19.50), the Poetry Olympics at the 100 Club (7.30pm, £7) and events with David Harsent and Gwyneth Lewis from Poet in the City.
Join Bernard Cornwell and historian Helen Castor to talk about England in the 14th century at Waterstones Piccadilly (7pm, £5 / £3).
James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello tell the story behind BP at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).
Lavie Tidhar talks about his alternate reality post-9/11 novel Osama at Foyles (6.30pm, free).
Will Self is at Bloomsbury Institute discussing Umbrella (6.30pm, £25, includes copy of the book).
An evening with AL Kennedy is always good fun, so head to Waterstones in Croydon to experience her dry wit for yourself (6pm, £3).
Ruby Kid and the Roundhouse Slam Champions are the guests at Bang Said the Gun (8pm, £5).
Jacob Sam-La Rose celebrates poetry from local young people at Deptford Lounge (7pm, free).
John Hegley, Rachel Rose Reid and A Kid Called Sorriow are raising money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer at the Hackney Attic (7.30pm, £5).
Yvette Edwards talks about her novel A Cupboard Full of Coats at Bethnal Green Library (6.30pm, free).
The Gruntlers are all about chilling poetry at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm).
Friday: Tom Chivers launches his project ADRIFT, mapping natural territories into London’s urban space, at Rich Mix (6.30pm, free).
Michael Symmons Roberts, Frances Leviston, Neil Astley and Liz Berry help launch Poetry London’s Autumn issue at Foyles (6.30pm, free).
Alex Wheatle celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence at Fore Street library (6pm, £1 deposit). Alternatively, go to the British Library for a celebration event with Mervyn Morris, Kwame Dawes and Janett Plummer (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5).
There’s a day of events around translation at Kings Place (9am start, £30 / £20).
Katie Bonna, Stephanie Dogfoot Chan, Jasmine Cooray, Rachel Pantechnicon and Donald Chegwin all perform at the Farrago Autumn SLAM (7.30pm, £6 / £5).
Saturday: Wimbledon Book Fest kicks off today, with children’s authors Tony Kane and David Wood, Gary Mulgrew and an evening with Picador authors including Stuart Evers, Will Eaves, Naomi Wood and Ed Docx.
The Crick Crack Club presents Chirine El Ansary telling stories of Bedouin heroes at Rich Mix (7.30pm, £9 / £7).
Take the kids to Tara Arts to get fired up by poets Joe Coelho and Steve Tasane at Apples and Snakes‘s Spin (10.30am, £10 / £9).
Young adult authors Sean Cummings, Kim Curran and Sarah Mussi talk about their books at Foyles (6pm, free).
Sunday: Back in Wimbledon, Margaret Drabble talks about growing up as a Quaker and her collected short stories (6pm, £15).
Daunt‘s walking book club on Hampstead Heath discusses Jane Gardam’s Old Filth (11.30am, free).
See Jazz Poet Amiri Baraka in conversation at the British Library (2.30pm, £7.50 / £5).
Monday: Four fantastic authors read their work for free at The Book Stops Here: Jake Arnott, Katherine Angel, Natasha Soobremanien and Niven Govinden (7.30pm).
Young adult and children’s author KM Peyton is at the Wimbledon Book Fest (4pm, £10 / £7.50); later, Patrick Bishop tells the history of the Royal Air Force (6pm, £7.50).
Tuesday: American literary giant Paul Auster is in conversation at the Shaw Theatre (7pm, £12 / £10+bf).
Liar’s League present spooky stories at The Phoenix (7.30pm, £5).
Catch a sense of Trinidad with spoken word and music from London Liming at Rich Mix (7.30pm, £7 / £5).
Ambit Magazine is back at the Betsey Trotwood with Martina Evans, Jaki McCarrick, Julian Stannard and Edward McKay (7pm, free).
Niall O’Sullivan hosts the Poetry Cafe‘s open mic night (7.30pm, £5 / £4).
At the Wimbledon Book Fest, there’s crime chat from Sophie Hannah, Elizabeth Haynes and Louise Millar (7.30pm, £7.50) and Salley Vickers talking about her new novel The Cleaner of Chartres (7.30pm, £10).
Book ahead: Some sixth sense tells us this might be popular: Jarvis Cocker talks about his lyric book, Mother, Brother, Lover with Jon McGregor at the London Review Bookshop on 22 October (7pm, £7).
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.