Book, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Wednesday: Spark London tells stories about lifesavers at the Canal Cafe Theatre tonight (7.30pm, £8).
Poets Roger Robinson, Anthony Joseph, Anjan Saha and Dzifa Benson are performing at the Southbank Centre's Literature Lounge (8pm, free).
Costa-shortlisted Chris Cleave launches his novel Gold at Foyles (6.30pm, free).
Thursday: Mark Ford has assembled a history of London through poetry, and he's talking about it at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7).
The Post Apocalyptic Book Club invite you to spend an evening with authors Julianna Baggott, Martine McDonagh and David Wingrove at Waterstones Piccadilly (7pm, £3).
Ben Anderson is at Kensington Central Library, talking about time he spent with soldiers in Afghanistan (6.30pm, £5 / £3).
Charlie Dupre and James Brookes are the poets performing at Annexe's fundraiser at Charterhouse Bar (7.30pm, £5). Expect book swapping, cake, games and more.
Friday: Anne Le and Ami Acre present a night of football-themed poetry at Richmond's Tea Box (8pm, free).
John Hegley hosts an evening of fun poetry with Anna Freeman, El Crisis and Diego Brown and the Good Fairy at Keats House (7pm, £10).
Saturday: The very funny Liz Bentley hosts a night at the Holloway Arts Festival, with guests Rosie Wilby, Rob Auton and Senor Al and the JJs (8.30pm, £5 / £2.50).
Sunday: Award winning author AL Kennedy explains how she found her voice in a solo performance at the Holloway Arts Festival (6.30pm, £7 / £5).
Poejazzi are at C.A.M.P. with compelling performance poet Joshua Idehen, Alex Gwyther and The Insomniax, plus music from Adam Scrimshire, Shakka and Heidi Vogel (7pm, £8).
Inua Ellams, Sabrina Mahfouz, John Siddique and Bridget Minamore join Jumoke Fashola for Jazz Verse Jukebox at Ronnie Scott's (7.30pm, £8).
Monday: Clare Balding and athletes, including Tanni Grey Thompson, read poems about sport at Kings Place (7pm, £9.50).
Will Wiles, Chibundu Onuzo and Emily Perkins read from their novels at The Book Stops Here. Find it at the Alley Cat on Denmark Street (8pm, free).
Polari returns to the Southbank Centre with guests Alex Marwood, Neil Bartlett, Kristian Johns, David Waller, Colin Kelley and Alex Hopkins (7.45pm, £5).
Literary magazine Brittle Star launches issue 30 at the Barbican with Martin Choules, Claire Wilcox, Ruth Wiggins and Peter Phillips (6.30pm, free).
Historian Orlando Figes is chatting with Anne Applebaum about his latest work, about Soviet Russia, at Daunt Books Marylebone (7pm, £8).
Tuesday: AS Byatt and Oscar winning Icelandic author Sjon talk about myths at the London Review Bookshop (7pm, £7). Adam Thirlwell chairs.
Ali Smith and Danish author Pia Juul are chatting at the Tamesis Dock for Peirene Press (7pm, £5 / £7).
There's an evening with Martin Amis at Bloomsbury Theatre (7pm, £12.50 / £10).
Adam Phillips celebrates the unlived life at Lutyens and Rubinstein, in the company of former St Paul's canon Giles Fraser (7pm, £5).
Liz Berry, Kaddy Benyon and more are the poets at this month's Ambit event at the Betsey Trotwood (6.45pm, free).
Live Canon perform poetry about the Olympics at the Greenwich Theatre (7.30pm, £10 / £7).
If you can't get to Mark Ford at the London Review Bookshop on Thursday there's another chance to catch him at Foyles, alongside Maura Dooley, Christopher Reid and Ahren Warner (6.30pm, free).
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.
