The Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival usually pulls in some big names and this year's no exception: Mark Haddon, John Pilger, Stella Duffy, Siri Hustvedt, Noo Saro-Wiwa, John Banville, Will Self and fantastic children's authors Michael Morpurgo and Andy Stanton are all part of the line-up. But there's also some very interesting smaller events and a very strong London theme.
We very much recommend catching Icelandic novelist, poet and Oscar winner Sjon, Nathan Penlington's Choose Your Own Documentary (we enjoyed his show Uri and Me), Charlie Dark hosting short story writers battling it out at StorySLAM, a production based on the copy of Shakespeare smuggled into Robben Island, an unpublished Don DeLillo work performed and a free event about the poetry of motorways. For more poetry, head to Saul Williams and Kate Tempest, Lemn Sissay (pictured) or Tony Harrison.
To make the point that this is the London Literature Festival, Londonist's current favourite author Craig Taylor talks about his book Londoners, Andrew Martin presents a passenger's history of the tube and there's a talk about the London riots.
The London Literature Festival runs 3-12 July at the Southbank Centre. Discounts are available for booking multiple events. For more information see the Festival website.
