Author appearances, poetry and spoken word events in London this week
Festivals
Fantastic stuff as The Last Word at the Roundhouse comes to a close on 1 December. Much is sold out but you can still see the Roundhouse Poetry Collective, Paul Cree, John Berkavitch, Katie Bonna, Molly Naylor, a new play by Inua Ellams, workshops with Laura Dockrill and Sean Mahoney, and get a custom poem from the Poetry Takeaway.
The Peckham Literary Festival closes with Bernadine Evaristo and stories from Liars' League.
The Richmond Literature Festival ends on 30 November, so still time to see Essie Fox, Lloyd Shepherd, Damian Dibben, Carole Seymour-Jones and Anne Sebba.
Artemis Cooper rounds off the London History Festival on 28 November in Kensington, talking about Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Simon Singh, Marcel Lucont and Johnny Vegas are among the authors appearing at the Chortle Comedy Book Festival in Ealing until 29 November.
Thursday 28 November
Simon Sebag Montefiore talks about his new historical novel with Vanora Bennett at Daunt Books Fulham Road. £5, 7pm
Dave Cohen launches How to be Averagely Successful at Comedy at the Big Green Bookshop, with your host Arthur Smith. Free, 8pm
Ken Worpole talks to Rachel Lichtenstein about the new English landscape. It's at the London Review Bookshop, who've just redesigned their website. Nice, isn't it? £10, 7pm
Jo Shapcott, Daljit Nagra and Mimi Khalvati are among the poets reading at the Free Word Centre with Arvon. Free, prebook, 7pm
Alex Dimitrov and Maureen Duffy read their poetry at Gay's the Word. £2, 7pm
Comedy and poetry go head to head in Stand Up and Slam at the Comedy Cafe in Shoreditch. Dan Simpson, Paul Sweeney and Simon Mole fight it out. £8, 8pm
Victoria Brittain talks to Haifa Zangana about the forgotten women of the war on terror at the Mosaic Rooms. Free, prebook, 7pm
Chris Arning hosts a night for new voices, with Anouche Sherman, Irina Jauhiainen, Romina Mirza, Tom Bland and more, at the Poetry Cafe. £4 / £3, 7.30pm
Charles Palliser is at Waterstones Islington reading from and talking about his new novel Rustication. £5 / £3, 6.30pm
Friday 29 November
Amy Tan, Malika Booker, How About Beth and Felicity Ward are all at Book Slam at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill. £8, doors 6.30pm
John Hegley, Francesca Beard and Lemn Sissay perform their poetry at Clissold Leisure Centre at the end of an unusual Apples and Snakes residency. £4.60, 7pm
Paul Chandler runs a free show with guests and open mike at the Poetry Cafe. 8pm
Bill Bryson's signing copies of One Summer: America 1927 at Waterstones London Wall from 1pm
Saturday 30 November
Bernadine Evaristo, Lloyd Bradley, Irenosen Okojie and Nadifa Mohamed take part in Black Book Swap at the Ritzy in Brixton. £7.50, from 12pm
Hear the poems of Chilean Pablo Neruda and Bengali Rabindranath Tagore with experimental Indian Classical music at the Southbank Centre. £15 / £12, 7.45pm
Eat, learn and be entertained as Book Slam and Cult Events team up to create School Dinners in Shoreditch. 'Teachers' include Joe Dunthorne, Hollie McNish and Chastity Butterworth. £50, 6.30pm
Roy McFarlane, Richard Tyrone Jones and Michael Brown join Amy Key, Jacqui Saphra and Gale Burns for The Shuffle at the Poetry Cafe. £5 / £3, 7.30pm
Sunday 1 December
Stephen Watts and Cristina Viti are introduced by Dan Kennedy at Torriano Poets. £5 / £3, 7.30pm
Monday 2 December
Mitch Benn, Viv Groskop and Andri Snær Magnason fight it out in Literary Death Match at Kings Place, under judges Mark Billingham, Stephanie Merritt and Mike Wozniak. £9.50 / £11.50, 7pm
Nina Stibbe talks to Nick Hornby about her book of letters Love, Nina at Lutyens & Rubinstein. £8, 7pm
Ivor Dembina presents Martin Millar, Dave McGowan, Tessa Ditner, Caspar Addyman and Miranda Miller at Brixton BookJam. Free, 7.30pm
Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie talk about the Pakistani novel today at Somerset House for the Royal Society of Literature. £8 / £5, 7pm
Erotic literary night Velvet Tongue has guests Ivor Dembina, Sunshine Faggio and Katie Sarra at Bar Kick in Shoreditch. £5 / £3, 7.30pm
Exiled Writers Ink presents new work by exiled writers translated into English and English work into other languages, at the Poetry Cafe. £4 / £2, 7.30pm
George Szirtes, Deryn Rees-Jones and the 2013 Troubadour International Poetry Prize winners read at Coffee House Poetry. £8 / £7, 8pm
Tuesday 3 December
Have a three course lunch with Fay Weldon at Kaspar’s Seafood Bar and Grill at the Savoy. Email [email protected] to book a table. £47 , 12pm
Simon Garfield (Just My Type, To the Letter) and Shaun Usher (Letters of Note) discuss letter writing at Keats House. Tickets from Daunt Books Hampstead £5, 7pm
Fay Robert, Rachel McCrum, Sophia Blackwell, Sophia Walker, Mel Jones, Julie Mullen and Cheryl Moskowitz perform poetry at The Tea Box in Richmond. £7, 8pm
Justine Picardie talks about Coco Chanel at West End Lane Books. Free, prebook, 7.30pm
Wednesday 4 December
Head to the Southbank Centre to see Daljit Nagra writing live, right in front of you. Free, 12-6pm
Patrick Coyle, Rebecca Lennon, Daniel Oliver and Candida Powell-Williams explore the crossover possibilities of performed words at the Southbank Centre. Free, prebook, 8pm
Phil Cohen discusses his involvement with radical movements of the 60s, at Housmans. £3, 7pm
Liz Bentley and Caroline Smith are Louche Women at the Poetry Cafe. 7.30pm
Dean Atta, Roger Robinson and Deanna Rodger perform alongside the voices of men in prison or from the local community at GROUNDation in Wandsworth. £7 / £5, 7pm
Join Vesna Goldsworthy for a look at London through travel writing at the Marlborough Arms. Free, 7pm
Follow @LondonistLit for our pick of that day’s literary events.
