The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email [email protected].
If you haven't seen the blog, or spotted them in the Guardian, Post Secret's conceit is simple - send a postcard airing a single piece of your dirty laundry. Now there's a book and an accompanying exhibition at Foyles till December the 10th.
The new Smoke - a London Peculiar is out too. Here's an extract:
I’ve planned it all out. I will say “hi” and he will ask me what I do and where I live. Then I will say “nowhere and nothing” and he will give me a house. A big beautiful house in the country, but not too big and it will be brick and slightly fallen down. Sometimes I will see him and one day he will put a ring on the third finger of my left hand and will say to me “never lose it”. I will take in its beauty, just for a moment, the emeralds and that, and then I will toss it into the sea, like in that film. He will be distraught and ask “why?” And I will reply: “Now I can never lose it and I will always know where it is.”
Tonight
We kick off this week's list with True or False? which holds a spotlight up to the "reality literature" genre - an increasingly big part of the literary scene. Alexander Masters (who won the 2005 Guardian First Book Award for his real-life depiction of a young homeless man) and Jon Ronson, who writes about real eccentrics, discuss the tensions and joys of writing about living people. £7, Guardian Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3GA.
Wednesday
Don't forget the Rough Guide series at Foyles - tonight it's the Rough Guide to Shakespeare with Andrew Dickson. 6.30pm in the Gallery at Foyles (free).
Michael Frayn discusses his book The Human Touch mixing the popular with the profound, exploring the mysteries of the universe. Read a review of the book - £8.50, Buy Tickets.
Thursday
It's a busy day for the lit crowd with no less than three events tonight:
Poetry and Identity - How does live poetry reflect personal, national and cultural identities? Billy Bragg, Helena Kennedy QC, Linton Kwesi Johnson and George Szirtes discuss. 7pm, £5/£3, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H OHE 020 7306 0055.
Has globalisation made sexual exploitation more prevalent? If prostitution is the "oldest profession", how can we address ongoing concerns about the "oldest oppression"? Broadcaster and writer Beatrix Campbell gives the annual lecture at the Women’s Library. 6.30pm, £7.50/£5
The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, E1 7NT, 020 7320 2222.
Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness - The bestselling author of Them discusses his new book on nutty and irrational behaviour. 7pm, £3, Waterstone’s, 68-69 Hampstead High Street, NW3. 020 7794 1098.
Sunday
The King of Lampedusa - an appreciation in words and film of the legendary Yiddish play which opened in 1943 and ran for an unprecedented 200 performances. £10/£8, 5:30 pm
Purcell Room, the Royal Festival Hall, Buy Tickets.
Monday
Monday sees a reading of Music for Cold Weather a word, sound and image performance at at La Langoustine, Masque Bar, upstairs, 1-5 Long Lane, EC1A 9HA, 7.30pm £5/£4.
