Mwhahaha. The Book Grocer rubs her hands together greedily as she contemplates the week ahead. Festival season kicks off this week, and its offerings may be summarised with one word: excellent. Tuesday: VS Naipaul fans will want to head to Daunt Books tonight to hear Patrick French and AN Wilson discuss French’s recent biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author, The World Is What It Is, heralded as a “magnificent achievement” (7pm, £5). Also on:......

A conspiracy is afoot. Literary London is listless and lethargic these next few days – after back-to-back Burns Night and Australia Day outings this weekend, we can relate – yet there’s an explosion of midweek activity, leaving us paranoid that the powers-that-be are plotting to drive us crazy, leave us whimpering and indecisive, cursing our inability to be in two places at once. Yes, between this and the stock market madness, we’re a short......