And the capital has a host of inspiring book festivals coming up to whet our reading appetite from West to East London.
The Book festival season kicks off in Queen’s Park at the end of August and continues through to November.Broadcaster and author Clare Balding will appear at the Chiswick Book Festival (Image: Alex Lake)
QUEEN’S PARK BOOK FESTIVAL 31st August &1st September
Queen’s Park Book Festival welcomes authors and readers alike each year to a weekend of events in marquees in the grounds of the park. Visitors can expect to hear from Alan Bennett, Mishal Husain, Michael Palin, Jay Rayner, Elif Shafak and Howard Jacobson.
The Festival’s unique Queen’s Park Community Tent is the stage dedicated to nurturing local talent and partnering with local charities.
CHISWICK BOOK FESTIVAL 11th -18th September
The Guardian described Chiswick as London’s most literary borough. And the leafy West London enclave does have an impressive track record.
The Chiswick Writers Trail lists hundreds of authors who have lived or written in the area including William Thackeray, Harold Pinter, Alexander Pope and E.M.Forster to name a few.
The annual book festival, held in various locations in Chiswick, brings together authors from various genres. This year’s line-up welcomes local resident and national treasure Clare Balding as keynote speaker in the Garden Pavilion at Chiswick House & Gardens on September 12th. Other speakers will include Bill Wyman, Polly Toynbee, Robert Hardman, Adrian Chiles and Daisy Goodwin.
British rapper Ghetts curates the opening weekend of The London Literature Festival on the Southbank (Image: Supplied)
BARNES BOOK FEST 20-22ND September
A weekend of writers, talks and books in the heart of SW13 will take place in September. You can expect to hear from Gyles Brandreth, Miriam Margolyes, Bernard O’Keefe and Robert Harris.
The festival will be launched by impressionist Alistair McGowan who has just published his first book of poetry.
Radio 4 Today presenter Emma Barnett and husband Jeremy will be at the Peckham lit fest this autumn (Image: J Hawkins)
LONDON LITERATURE FESTIVAL, SOUTHBANK 23 rd October – 2nd November
Established in 2007, the Southbank’s London Literature Festival hosts a number of well-known authors over ten days in a series of talks, discussions and workshops.
This year British rapper and songwriter Ghetts is co-curator of the opening weekend and will bring together the best of London’s spoken word and music scene in an exclusive performance at the Royal Festival Hall. The festival kicks off with a celebration of new writing by five new authors in Debut London Literature. Elsewhere a host of UK-exclusives include the launch of Hanif Kureishi’s highly anticipated memoir, along with launches from Kevin Barry, Rupert Everett, Susanna Clarke and more.
WIMBLEDON BOOK FEST 17-27th October
This annual book festival will take place across venues in Wimbledon. Confirmed authors include Kate Mosse, Mary Berry, Zandra Rhodes, Kate Humble and Zeinab Badawi.
THE SOUTHEAST LONDON BOOKFEST 2024 November
A brand new book festival is launched his year in South East London. Set up by Peculiar Publications who publish newspapers including The Peckham Peculiar, they are bringing together 50 authors over four weeks in November with an emphasis on local writers.
Authors taking part in events include BBC Radio 4 presenter Emma Barnett and her husband Jeremy Weil, and Kenny Imafidon, author of ‘That Peckham Boy’.
Local foodies Mike Davies (Frank’s Cafe, The Camberwell Arms) and The Flygerians (a restaurant run by sisters Fo and Jess) are also taking part to help promote their debut cookbooks.
The vast majority of events will be free, but any profits made will go to local foodbanks
