After a momentary pause, literary London returns to form this week, with a couple of ace festivals headed our way.
Wednesday: There are no fewer than three events on our radar for this evening: Chapman brother Jake discusses his debut novel, The Marriage of Reason and Squalor, at Foyles (6.30pm, free) in a ‘wholly different kind of literary event’ – this plus knowledge of the Chapmans’ art are just enough to tantalise; the British Library, meanwhile, hosts an event to explore the historical importance of the Magna Carta as part of its Taking Liberties series (6pm, £6). Also on: poet Simon Armitage at the Southbank Centre, reading from his new collection, The Not Dead, and screening a film of the same name, depicting testimony from veterans of some of history’s most recent wars (7.45pm, £10).
Thursday: Poets, perhaps, have always been star-gazers, but in Poetry and Space, sponsored by Poet in the City in conjunction with Imperial College, Inua Ellams, Isobel Dixon, Diana Snyder, and Mario Petrucci will examine more closely the relationship between astronomy and verse (6.30pm, Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Imperial College, South Kensington Campus).
Friday: Pride yourself on your geek credentials? Time to show your cards. The V&A hosts a 1-day symposium in post-war comics and graphic novels, Archetypes v. Stereotypes (10am–6pm, £40, concessions available), as part of the Comica Festival. A fanboy’s (or girl’s) dream?
Sunday: More events from the Comica festival, these hosted at the ICA: David McKean’s Imaginings (2pm); Between the Panels 3 (4pm), at the end of which the Observer and Jonathan Cape will announce the winner of their co-sponsored Graphic Short Story competition; and the particularly intriguing Turning Classics into Comics (6pm), featuring artists who have “translated” the works of Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Charlotte Brontë, Dickens and Wilde into graphic novels. Tickets range from £4 to £6 per individual event, £9 to £15 for all three.
Monday: The Peckham Literary Festival starts today, and while it’s true that there is no lack of love around these parts for the Peckhamites among us, it’s through the totally impartial lenses of our Coke-bottle glasses that we look at the lineup for this second-year festival and declare: this just looks aces. David Boyle and Londonist regular and Mr One Eye Grey himself, Chris Roberts, kick things off with an evening of South East London folklore (7.30pm, free).
Know of an event that belongs in the Book Grocer listings? Please e-mail us at londonist-at-gmail-dot-com.
Image courtesy of aubergene under the Creative Commons Attribution license
