The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email [email protected].
The celebs of the London literary world seem to be keeping quiet this week in the lull before the Booker Prize is announced, leaving space for the little guys. And they are taking full advantage, it would seem, with three enticing readings this week. We are most curious about Decongested (see below), because of its expressed goal of promoting the short story, and also because it is taking place on the last Friday of every month. Is this a trend we are seeing? First Cherry Jam becomes wildly popular on the last Thursday, and now this. If this is what it takes to make readings hip, then we say full steam ahead...
Events Around London:
It has somehow already become the last Thursday of the month again — and every literatto knows that this means it's time for Bookslam at Cherry Jam. This month's version features Bernadine Evaristo as well as some other stuff that can only very loosely be defined as literary. £2 before 8pm, £5 after. 58 Porchester Road.
On Friday, check out Tales of the Decongested, another monthly event — this one celebrating the short story — that has popped up of late, and one that we are very pleased to have discovered. (FYI, all you writers out there can submit your own stories to be featured at the reading through the website.) Foyle's Bookshop, 113-119 Charing Cross Road. 7pm. £3/£2.50 concessions.
Also on Friday, the Plum folks gather at the Old Queen's Head pub for their quarterly reading of prose and poetry. We don't know much about the reading or the readers, but after perusing the website, we think this one might be well worth a visit. 44 Essex Road. 7pm. £3.
New Releases:
War Trash, by Hai Jin
Fresh Apples, by Rachel Trezise
Malambo, by Lucia Charun-Illescas
Other News:
Next week brings with it (finally) the announcement of the Booker Prize winner.
