Book, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Wednesday: Kat Francois hosts Jawdance at Rich Mix, with spoken word performances from Isabel White, Stephanie Chan, Archie MacJoyce and thePaperTiger (7.30pm, free).
Merle Hoffman talks about her life as a feminist and activist for abortion rights, at the Big Green Bookshop (7pm, free).
Mark Fisher is at Housmans asking if there's an alternative to capitalist realism (7pm, £3).
Katy Darby, of Liar's League, reads from and signs her new novel The Whore's Asylum at Clapham Books (7pm, free).
For Books' Sake launch their excellent pulp fiction anthology Short Stack aboard the Tamesis Dock from 7pm.
Utter! and Frog Morris present comedy poetry bingo at the Amersham Arms: your callers are Richard Tyrone-Jones, Ben Target, Mark Quinn and Charlotte Young (7.30pm, £5).
Thursday: Future Perfect’s Femme Fatales bring you dark tales of filth, violence, kittens and night buses: from Emma Fleming, Stephanie Gerra and Stephanie Goldberg at the Poetry Cafe (8pm, £6 / £4).
Stephanie Butland explains how she said Bah! to cancer, at the Big Green Bookshop (7pm, free).
Mahfuz Mir Ali, Rowyda Amin, Nick Makoha and Shazea Quraishi read their latest work at the Southbank Centre to celebrate the TEN anthology (7.45pm, £8). Bernadine Evaristo hosts.
Francesca Beard and Mark Gwynne Jones rev themselves up for some stand up poetry at Bang Said the Gun at The Roebuck (8pm, £5).
Chill Pill, hosted by Deanna Rodger and Raymond Antrobus, is at the Albany tonight. At the time of writing the Albany's website was playing up so we can't fish out more details – see if you have more luck.
English PEN are hosting a day of contemporary Chinese literature at the Free Word Centre (from 9.30am).
Friday: Jacqueline Rose gives the final London Review of Books Winter Lecture, talking about Marilyn Monroe, at the British Museum (6.30pm, £10 / £8).
Keith Lowe launches his new book about Europe in the aftermath of WW2 at the Big Green Bookshop (7pm, free).
Saturday: If you're finding it hard to get some space to write, try the Big Green Bookshop's all nighter (6.30pm, £4).
Get some avant-garde poetry with Maintenant Camarade at Rich Mix (7pm, free).
Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns host The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £5 / £3).
Sunday: Cityread London kicks off today – a month of events in all 33 boroughs to help you get better acquainted with Oliver Twist.
It's an April Fools edition of Storytellers' Club at the Pleasance, with comedy tales from Robin Ince, Alex Edelman, Ben Target, James Dowdeswell and your host Sarah Bennetto (8pm, £8).
The Poetry Society SLAMbassadors reaches its exciting final at the 100 Club (7pm).
Monday: Literary Death Match celebrate Picador's 40th birthday in style at Kings Place, with judges Jon Ronson and DJ Taylor casting a critical eye over Will le Fleming, Naomi Wood and two more tbc (7pm, £9.50).
Latin American poets Barbara L Lopez, Luz Mar, Sofia Buchuck, Calu Lemu, Giovanna Quintero, Jorge Elkin Gonzales and Martha Nubia Beltran perform for Exiled Writers Ink at the Poetry Cafe (7.30pm, £4 / £2).
Tuesday: Publishers-with-a-difference Unbound host a night of authors trying to convince you to pledge for their book. Last time out they had Kate Mosse and Tibor Fischer turning up (6.30pm, £20; ticket includes a £10 pledge for your author of choice).
Perform your own work at the Poetry Cafe's regular poetry night, hosted by Niall O'Sullivan (7.30pm, £5 / £4).
Peter Ebsworth, editor of South Bank Poetry Magazine, is joined by Hannah Lowe at the Gipsy Hill Tavern for Beyond Words (7.30pm, £4 / £3).
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events
