Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Thursday 19 September
Book Slam joins forces with the London African Music Festival at The Flyover in Westbourne Grove, with Noo Saro-Wiwa, Bumi Thomas, Roger Robinson, Belinda Zhawi and Inua Ellams (7.30pm, £12 / £15).
Giles Minton talks to Roland Chambers about British spies in Revolutionary Russia, at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).
Email info at welbooks.co.uk to reserve a place for Erin Kelly’s talk and reading from The Burning Air at West End Lane Books (7pm, free).
Arthur Smith, William Andrews, Nick Papadimitriou and others are at comedy venue Invisible Dot’s spoken word night Stories (7.45pm, £8).
Anjan Saha and Jason Barnett host the London Literature Lounge at the Poetry Cafe, open for readings of various genres (8pm, £5).
Friday 20 September
Catch two Ward Wood poets, James W Wood and Peter Phillips, at the Poetry Cafe (4.30pm, free).
Patric Cunnane, Eve Pearce, Isabel Bermudez and Zolan Quobble are at Dodo Modern Poets at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £7 / £6).
Tom Bamford, Ashleigh French, Paul Ingram, and Connie Scozzaro are the poets performing at Xing the Line in Clerkenwell (7.30pm).
Saturday 21 September
Archway With Words begins, with appearances from Charlie Higson, Joanna Briscoe, Michele Hanson, MH Baylis and Yasmin Whittaker-Khan, and plenty of free stuff for kids.
Like the sound of John Rogers’s This Other London? Hear him talk about it at Housmans (7pm, free).
John Paul O’Neill hosts the Farrago Story SLAM at the Poetry Cafe, with guest readers Gemma Goucher, Isabel del Rio and Errol McGlashan (8pm, £6 / £5).
Spurs legend Ledley King is signing copies of his autobiography at Wood Green’s Big Green Bookshop 12pm-1pm.
Sunday 22 September
Archway With Words continues, with Sue Hubbard, Sarah Hesketh, Mark Hudson, Tina Seskis and Bill Paterson among the events (tickets from £5).
Valerie Darville and Anthony Fisher are the guests at Torriano Poets (7.30pm, £5 / £3).
Monday 23 September
Candy Gourlay is at Archway Library with events for children 8-16 years old (from 4pm, free), then see Natural Born Storytellers at Archway Tavern (8pm, £5) with Archway With Words.
Tuesday 24 September
An excellent night at Archway With Words: Tracy Chevalier and Charlotte Mendelson talk about their work (7pm, £7) and see John Hegley at The Hideaway (8.30pm, £8).
Tony Leon discusses being an ‘accidental ambassador’ in South America at ORT House in Camden for Jewish Book Week (6.15pm, £10).
Niall O’Sullivan hosts the weekly open mic night at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £4).
Tracy Borman is at Sutton Library talking about witches (7pm, £3.50).
Wednesday 25 September
The Soho Literary Festival starts with a corker: David Hare and Rupert Everett discuss Oscar Wilde with the playwright’s grandson, Merlin Holland (7.30pm, £15).
The Homework regulars (including Joe Dunthorne, Ross Sutherland, Luke Wright and Tim Clare) have produced some monologues – some will be performed by actual actors at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club (8pm, £5).
Jenny Colgan, Cavan Scott and Mark Wright are celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who at Waterstones Gower Street (6.30pm, £5 / £3).
Lots of stuff happening at Archway With Words: for authors, see Michele Hanson, Wendy Wallace and Caitlin Davies discuss writing about the Heath (6.30pm, free) and Paul Morley and Colin Grant talking music (8.15pm, £7).
Roger Robinson headlines Jawdance at Rich Mix alongside Catherine Martindale and others (7.30pm, free).
If you judge a book by its cover, or just like book covers, head to Foyles where MacLehose Press presents the winner of a competition to redesign some of its bestselling titles (6.30pm, free but reserve in advance).
Book ahead
Martina Cole’s at the intimate Big Green Bookshop on 29 October – tickets just a fiver.
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.