The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email [email protected].
Wednesday
Colm Tóibín's first collection of short stories, Mothers and Sons, is a meditation on the dramas surrounding that most elemental of relationships (read an interview with him). Each of the nine stories focuses on a moment in which an unspoken balance shifts; in which a mother or son does battle, or experiences a sudden crisis. If it's they are anything like our childhood, there will be a large portion of the book devoted to "who left the cup sitting on the coffee table without a coaster" and other battles.
7pm, London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL, 020 7269 9030.
Saturday & Sunday
The Arabian weekend promises souk, scripts and soundbites all day. "Experience the sights and sounds of an Arab marketplace: discover Arabian art and design and try your hand at Arabic writing. Listen to traditional storytelling and music, watch a Mansoojat costume presentation, or browse market stalls selling traditional and contemporary Arab art." The two day event is free, at the John Madejski Garden and throughout the V&A, V&A South Kensington, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL. 020 7942 2211.
