Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Literary Festivals
FOYLES FLAGSHIP: The new Foyles flagship store on Charing Cross Road is now open. The Grand Reopening Festival begins on 11 June. See full programme for individual events. 11 June- 5 July
LITERARY KITCHEN: Aimed at writers, aspiring writers, and people passionate about books and the arts, the Literary Kitchen Festival takes place at The Peckham Pelican in Peckham. There are writer talks, reading groups, meet the agent panels and more, with many events free to attend. See website for pricing and booking details. 16-22 June
SHORT STORY FESTIVAL: The first ever London Short Story Festival takes place in June, with panel events, workshops and masterclasses, author Q&As, readings and inspiring writing activities. 20-22 June
ST JUDE'S: Proms at St Jude's has a LitFest taking place at The Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Speakers include Lynn Barber and Sue MacGregor. See full programme here. Tickets are £9 and should be prebooked. 21-22 June
Thursday 19 June
BAKING: Louise Johncox celebrates her cookbook at Waterstone's Richmond. She will demonstrate her cooking skills and talk about her family's history as bakers. 5pm
MARRIAGE HISTORY: Nigel Pickford is at Guildhall Library to discuss his book, Lady Bette and the Murder of Mr Thynn, which looks at the pressures of marrying well in 17th Century London. £5, prebook, 6pm
INAUGURAL NOVEL: First-time author Julie Chambers is at Waterstone's Chiswick to discuss her novel, My Renaissance. 6.30pm
PSYCHOLOGY EXPERTS: Waterstone's Hampstead hosts psychology writers Stephen Grosz and Andrew Solomon who discuss their new books about the psychology of difference, loss and change. £3/£5, prebook, 6.30pm
FAR EAST NOVELS: Isabel Wolff's most recent novel, Ghostwritten, is set in wartime Java and Dinah Jefferies' debut novel The Separation is set in Malaya in 1955. They are in conversation at Hatchard's Bookshop in Piccadilly to discuss novels set in the Far East. £5, prebook, 6.30pm
HOLOCAUST NOVEL: Patrick Hicks is at Waterstone's Piccadilly to discuss his latest novel, The Commandant of Lubizec. It is about a fictional death camp, written based on his extensive research into the stories of people at Nazi camps during WW2. £5/£3, prebook, 7pm
USSR: Author Sigrid Rausing is in conversation with historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore at Daunt Books in Marylebone. They will discuss Rausing's book Everything is Wonderful, about her experience of living on a farm controlled by the USSR. £8, prebook, 7pm
AGAINST AUSTERITY: Richard Seymour, author of Against Austerity, is at Pages of Hackney Bookshop on Lower Clapton Road to talk about the book with journalist Dawn Foster. In the book he suggests that austerity is part of a wider elite plan to radically re-engineer society and everyday life in the interests of profit, consumerism and speculative finance. £3, prebook, 7pm
BRITISH EMPIRE: MP and historian Tristram Hunt is at Bishopsgate Institute to talk about his book Ten Cities That Made an Empire, which looks at Britain's imperial past through the cities that epitomised it. £9/£7, prebook, 7.30pm
SUMMER PUDDING: Story Jam meets at Canvas & Cream in Forest Hill for the last event of the current season. The theme is Summer Pudding, with Stephe Harrop, Andrew Barnett-Jones, Alys Torrance, Alice Fernbank and Sarah Liisa Wilkinson trying to top each other's anecdotes. £7/£6, prebook, 7.45pm
Friday 20 June
THRILLER LAUNCH PARTY: Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green hosts the launch party of Phil Brett's new thriller, Comrades Come Rally. Free, just turn up, 6pm
MARY FEDDEN: Christopher Andreae celebrates the life of artist Mary Fedden at Hatchard's Bookshop on Piccadilly. Known for her still-life painting, she died in 2012. Andreae has previously written books about other female artists including Joan Eardley, Mary Newcomb and Winifred Nicholson. £8, prebook, 6.30pm
KATE ADIE: The war correspondent and journalist is at The British Library to talk about her book, Fighting On The Home Front. The book is about women taking on roles such as policing when men went to war, and the lasting impact these changes had after the war. £5-£8, prebook, 6.30pm
DODO MODERN POETS: The monthly meet-up takes place at The Poetry Cafe in Holborn, with performances from Lisa Kelly, Keith and Suzanne Drake, Anna Beecher and PR Murry. £7/£6, prebook, 8pm
Saturday 21 June
BOOK SALE: Amnesty International Blackheath and Greenwich has a book sale in Lewisham, with thousands of good quality fiction and non-fiction books available. 9am-5pm
ALL WEEKEND: ZSL London Zoo has a non-fiction masterclass all weekend, led by international award-winning author Jean McNeil and memoir writer Horatio Clare, and includes weekend access to the zoo and zoo library. £200, prebook, 10am-5pm, 21-22 June
WATER POETRY: The Water Museum installation at Somerset House has teamed up with The Poetry Society to give the public a chance to hear canal laureate Jo Bell read as part of a spoken word programme curated by Penned in the Margins. From 12pm
LITERARY LUNCH: Hardy's Brasserie in Marylebone hosts a literary lunch club with author Ivan Vladislavić, who will talk about his novels, The Restless Supermarket and Double Negative. £30, prebook, 12.30pm
Sunday 22 June
TORRIANO POETS: At this week’s Torriano Poets meeting, Paul McLaughlin and Beatrice Garland read their poetry. Poets from the floor are welcome. £5/£4, just turn up, 7.30pm
Monday 23 June
ABORIGINAL ART: The Rebecca Hossack Gallery in Conway Street hosts the launch of The Dealer Is The Devil - An Insiders History of the Aboriginal Art Trade. The book is written by Adrian Newstead, Director of Australia's oldest Indigenous art gallery, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery. He will give a talk and sign books. Free, just turn up, 6.30pm
CARTOGRAPHY: Hans Ulrich Obrist, curator, art critic and the originator of cartography project Mapping It Out is at London Review Bookshop in Holborn to discuss alternative mapping techniques with novelist Tom McCarthy. £10, prebook, 7pm
COFFEE HOUSE POETRY: The theme of tonight's Coffee House Poetry evening is What We Should Have Said. Expect spoken word performances from Huw Warren, Stuart Silver, Helen Mort, Philip Gross and Imtiaz Dharker. At The Troubadour on Old Crompton Road. £8/£7, prebook, 8pm
Tuesday 24 June
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: The latest in Dulwich Picture Library's Contextual Lecture Series examines the life of William Shakespeare, and the effect his work had on modern day English. £10/£9, prebook, 10.30am
LONDON ARCHITECTURE: As part of London Festival of Architecture, Bloomsbury Institute has a literary salon. Tom Wilkinson, author of Bricks and Mortals and Tom Campbell, author of The Planner, will be in conversation. £10, prebook, 6.30pm
SWISS ALPS: Diccon Bewes, author of A Slow Train to Switzerland, is at Hatchard's Bookshop in Piccadilly to talk about the book — it's about seven people, who, in 1863, left London on a train that took them on a thrilling adventure across the Alps. £5, prebook, 6.30pm
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO: Peter Finn and Petra Couvée, authors of The Zhivago Affair, are at Lutyens Rubinstein in Ladbroke Grove to talk about the thriller, which tells the story behind the publication of Doctor Zhivago in the Cold War. £8, prebook, 7pm
PUNK AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Punk musician Viv Albertine, best known for forming The Flowers of Romance with Sid Vicious, will be talking to Dorian Lynskey, music writer for the Guardian and Observer at Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green about her new book, Clothes….Music….Boys…. £18, prebook, 7pm
POETRY OPEN MIC: Poetry Unplugged is an open mic night hosted by Niall O’Sullivan. It takes place at Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden. £5/£4, just turn up, 7.30pm
Wednesday 25 June
GRAZIA SALON: At tonight's Grazia Salon at Momo near Regent Street, author Bryony Gordon discusses her novel The Wrong Knickers — A Decade Of Chaos, with fellow authors Elizabeth Day, Alexandra Heminsley and Helen Walsh. £5/£3, prebook, 6.30pm
CAMERA OBSCURA: Head to Diorama Arts Studio near Regent's Park for a discussion between author Ivan Vladislavić and Patrick Flanery, with participating chair Neel Mukherjee, in which they examine the illusion of reality through literature. £5, prebook, 7pm
PUBLICATION LAUNCH: STIR is a quarterly print magazine that features articles and interviews on the international co-operative movement. The Spring issue launch takes place at Housmans bookshop in Kings Cross. £3, just turn up, 7pm
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER: Harriet Lane followed up her pyschological thriller Alys Always with Her. She is at West End Lane Books in Hampstead tonight to discuss, and read from, Her. 7.30pm
BOOK LAUNCH: In collaboration with Liars' League, the launch of Above Sugar Hill by Linda Mannheim takes place at Tamesis Dock on Albert Embankment tonight. short stories set in New York will be read out by professional actors. Free, just turn up, 7.30pm
LITERARY MISCELLANY: Homework is a night of literary miscellany at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club with Tim Clare, Joe Dunthorne, Ross Sutherland and Luke Wright. Tonight's theme is music. £8, just turn up, 7.45pm
LGBT SALON: Polari LGBT literary salon at Southbank Centre hosts Rachel Holmes, talking about her new book on the life of Eleanor Marx, alongside Julie Bindel, Alexis Gregory, Barbara Marsh and Michele Macfarlane. £5, prebook, 7.45pm
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.
