Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Wednesday: Two-times World Slam Champion Buddy Wakefield wows the Gallery Cafe, with support from Deanna Rodger and Ronnie McGrath (7.30pm, £5 / £4).
Granta 120 (theme: medicine) launches at Foyles on Charing Cross Road with contributors Ike Anya, M.J. Hyland and Suzanne Rivecca (6.30pm, free).
Clive Bloom is at Housmans talking about protest and rebellion in London (7pm, £3).
Thursday: EL James is signing copies of Fifty Shades at Waterstones Piccadilly from 6.30pm.
BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz launches his new book about modern art, What Are You Looking At?, at Foyles Royal Festival Hall (4.30pm, free).
Kate Summerscale discusses Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace at the Bloomsbury Institute (6.30pm, £25 including book).
Emma Koenig celebrates her blog Fuck! I’m in my twenties becoming a book with a party at Drink, Shop & Dance in N1 (8.30pm, free).
Friday: Sam Riviere and Ned Beauman are on hand to launch issue #5 of The White Review at Foyles Charing Cross Road (6.30pm, free).
Birkbeck’s New Zealand Studies Network welcomes poets Fleur Adcock, Helen Rickerby and Anna Jackson (6pm, free).
Judy Kendall, Dana Littlepage-Smith and Loise Warren from Cinnamon Poets are at the Trinity United Reform Church in Camden (7pm, £5 / £4).
Saturday: Christopher Reid is the first poet performing during the Poetry Book Fair at the Candid Arts Trust near Angel (from 10am, free).
Following on from the Poetry Book Fair, publishers if p then q take over the Betsey Trotwood, with poets Tim Atkins, Michael Basinski, Lucy Harvest Clarke, Tom Jenks, Holly Pester and Philip Terry (7pm, free).
Michael Rosen explores poetry and protest, at the William Morris Gallery (3pm, £7 / £6).
Sunday: The Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival kicks off with author appearances from (among many) John Mullan, Alison Weir, John Nicholson, David Aaronovitch and Gavin Esler.
Tim Wells, Sid Griffin and Al Hutchins are the words side of Bands and Books at the Power Lunches Arts Cafe in aid of Amnesty (7pm, £3+bf).
Forest Poets perform their work on a tour round the William Morris Gallery‘s collection (2.30pm, free).
Courttia Newland, Sh’Maya and Usifu Jalloh perform spoken word for Jazz Verse Jukebox at Ronnie Scott’s (7.30pm, £8).
Cheryl Moskowitz and Jacqueline Saphra read their poetry at the Penny Fielding Gallery and Interiors, part of the E17 Art Trail (6pm, free).
Monday: Suzanne Joinson, Ned Beauman, Cathi Unsworth and Lauren Elkin read from their novels at party-slash-literary-night The Book Stops Here (7.30pm, free).
John Connolly, Laura Wilson and Martyn Waites discuss crime fiction at Foyles Charing Cross Road (6.30pm, free).
At the Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival, catch Lisa Jewell, Gillian Slovo, Alex Clark, Rachel Joyce, SJ Watson, John O’Farrell, Michael Palin and more.
At the Hackney Attic, Spark London storytellers are all about going back at school (7.30pm, £3).
Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi talk cooking and Jerusalem with Giles Fraser at Lutyens and Rubinstein (7pm, £8).
Tuesday: Palestinian writer and lawyer Raja Shehadeh talks about life in the West Bank at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).
Christopher Fowler and Deborah Harkness ponder London’s oddities at Foyles Charing Cross Road (6.30pm, free).
China Miéville, Lauren Beukes and Patrick Ness are at the Free Word Centre debating science fiction and social change (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5 +bf).
Hear new stories about food and drink performed by actors at Liar’s League (7.30pm, free).
The final day of the Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival sees Pam Ayres, Joseph Connolly, Kate Colquhoun, Michele Hanson, Simon Heffer, Rose Tremain, Howard Jacobson, Claire Armistead and others giving talks.
Ambit present Myra Schneider, Steve Cranfield, Holly Corfield-Carr and Ambit’s own Geoff Nicholson at the Betsey Trotwood (6.45pm, free).
Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged, the Poetry Cafe‘s open mic night (7.30pm, £5 / £4).
Anvil Press launches Petrol by Martina Evans and Angels and Harvesters by James Harpur at The Melton Mowbray in Holborn (6.30pm, free).
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.