Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Thursday 14 November
Not your usual literary event: Viv Groskop, Jenny Colgan and Alex Marwood are doing a signing and Q&A at DFS – yes, the furniture shop – on Tottenham Court Road for Children in Need. Free / donation. 6.45pm
Dan Simpson and Adam Kammerling are the guest performers at Bang Said the Gun in SE1. £7 / £5, 8pm
Jasper Gibson reads from his debut novel, A Bright Moon for Fools, at Woolfson & Tay. £3, 7pm
There are rumours on Twitter that the Wapping Project is closing soon: go hear Sathnam Sanghera and have a meal while you still can. £6, 7pm
Mark Forsyth reveals The Elements of Eloquence at West End Lane Books. Free, prebook, 7.30pm
The UK SLAM! Championships take place at the RADA Foyer Bar, with guests Greta Bellamacina, AF Harrold, Richard Marsh and host John Paul O’Neill. £6 / £5, 7pm
Catch Russian Vera Pavlova talking about her work at Pushkin House. £7 / £5, 7.30pm
JJ Abrams is signing copies of his new book S at Waterstones Piccadilly from 6pm, but be prepared to queue earlier than that.
Hear about the life of Wilkie Collins from Andrew Lycett at Waterstones Hampstead. £6 / £4, 7pm
Friday 15 November
The Write Idea Festival starts at the Idea Store in Whitechapel – everything’s free. The festival starts with Deborah and Lottie Moggach, 7pm
Polish poet and novelist Jacek Dehnel is at the London Review Bookshop with his translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones. £10, 7pm
At Richmond Old Town Hall Viv Groskop explains why she played 100 comedy gigs in 100 days, £10, 8pm
Apples and Snakes and Walkers Books present the launch of Steve Tasane’s debut novel for young people, Blood Donors, at the Gallery Cafe in Bethnal Green. £4 / £3, 7.30pm
Harry Burke, Sophie Collins and Timothy Thornton read in advance of a new Test Centre anthology, at Stoke Newington Church Centre. Free, 7.30pm
Saturday 16 November
Lots of things happening at the free Write Idea Festival: try and catch Booker-shortlisted Alison Moore (5pm), Pete Brown talking about the George Inn (2pm), The Gentle Author on Spitalfields (5pm), spoken word from Red Army Fiction (6pm) and science with Robin Ince (7pm)
Kate Tempest starts a run of her play Wasted at the Roundhouse, part of The Last Word festival. Until 24 November, £15 / £12.50, 8pm
Thurston Moore, Iain Sinclair, Lee Harwood and Tom Raworth are in Stoke Newington to launch issue 4 of Test Centre magazine. £8 + bf, 7pm
Note William Blake’s birthday with a Largactyl Shuffle (Literary Walk to us) from CoolTan Arts. Start at Maudsley Hospital and explore south London’s literary heritage. Free / donation, 11.45am
Join Gareth E Rees, author of Marshland: Dreams and Nightmares on the Edge of London, for a walk round Hackney marshes. Meet at the Princess of Wales pub car park, contact Pages of Hackney for more info. Free, 12.45pm
Ralf Webb, Rebecca Swirsky and Megan Bradbury read at the Society Club to mark the new-look Ambit magazine. £5, 7pm
Take your age 4+ kids to the Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford to meet authors Claire Freedman and Sue Hendra and find out all about spider sandwiches. Free, 2.30pm
Sunday 17 November
The Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre throws open its doors. Go see what’s inside. Free, 11am-7pm
Help write an epic communal poem as Words Over Waltham Forest comes to a close. Free, 1.30pm-3.30pm
Lee Langley and guests are in Richmond talking about their desert island books. £15 / £14, 7pm
The final day of the free Write Idea Festival features Jay Rayner (2pm), poet Maitreyabandhu (2pm), Stella Duffy (5pm) and a performance about Samuel Pepys (3.30pm)
Katherine Gallagher and Jane McLaughlin read at Torriano Poets. £5 / £3, 7.30pm
Monday 18 November
Max Hastings talks about Catastrophe, his book about World War One, at the Brook Green Festival of Books. £10, 7.30pm
The London History Festival begins. Charles Moore discusses his biography of Margaret Thatcher at Waterstones Kensington. £5 / £3, 7pm
Wendy Shutler and Andre Cuthbert read poems at the Poetry Cafe, plus open mic. £5 / £4, 8pm
Tuesday 19 November
Rachel Cooke talks to Viv Groskop about 10 extraordinary women of the 1950s, at Foyles. Free, prebook, 6.30pm
Gillian Darley and David McKie talk with Owen Hatherley about the life and work of Ian Nairn, at the London Review Bookshop. £10, 7pm
Chuck Palahniuk and Andy Zaltzman are at Book Slam at the Clapham Grand, hosted by Ross Sutherland. That’s an embarrassment of riches right there. £8 / £10, 7.30pm
Peter Clark talks about what Kent meant to Dickens, at Belgravia Books. Free, 6.30pm
Zena Edwards, Sureshot and Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze mark 50 years since Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech with newly commissioned poetry, film and spoken word at the Free Word Centre. £5 / £3, 7.30pm
Michael Smith celebrates the flaneurs and drifters of Soho at the Richmond Literature Festival. £15 / £13.50, 7pm
If you missed Max Hastings in Brook Green on Monday he’s in Kensington Central Library talking WWI for the London History Festival. £5 / £3, 7pm
Niall O’Sullivan hosts Poetry Unplugged open mic night at the Poetry Cafe. £5 / £4, 7.30pm
Alison Weir talks about Elizabeth of York at Sutton Library. Free, 7pm
Wednesday 20 November
Michael Kossew hosts Natural Born Storytellers on the theme of ‘I Didn’t Do It’ at the Camden Head. Performers include Josh Howie, Matt Price, Juliet Myers, Damian Kingsley and others. Free, 8.15pm
Writers including Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Edna O’Brien, Christopher Reid and Tom Paulin take part in a tribute to Seamus Heaney at the Southbank Centre. £12 / £10, 7.30pm
Join Carl-Johan Vallgren and Marie Hermanson for an evening of Swedish literature at Daunt Books Chelsea. Free, prebook, 7pm
Barry Norman talks to Claire Armitstead about his memoir and wife Diana, at the London Jewish Cultural Centre. £10 / £12, 8pm
Joseph Boyden reads from and talks about his novel The Orenda at Woolfson & Tay. £3, 7pm
Lucinda Hawksley uncovers the mystery of Princess Louise at Waterstones Kensington. 7pm
Have a literary lunch with John O’Farrell in support of First Story, at the Polish Club in South Ken. £60, 12pm
Jacob Sam-La Rose is the Live Writer in residence at Deptford Lounge.
Crime writers Gordon Ferris, Elly Griffiths and Sharon Bolton discuss the genre at Twickenham Library. £7.50 / £6, 7.30pm
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.