What do an ex-Python, Martha Stewart, and a woman in the running for first female poet laureate all have in common? Come on now, use your deductive reasoning skills. They all somehow feature in this week’s Book Grocer, of course! Monday: Novelist David Benioff has a few recognisable names on his CV – he’s both collaborated with Spike Lee and written the screenplay for The Kite Runner. Tonight Benioff is at Foyles to discuss......

Cadbury creme eggs! Don’t you just love ’em? Ha ha, the book grocer sure does! Advance apologies if this week’s serving is full of even more exclamations than usual – we just might be hyped up on milk chocolatey goodness right now. Eventually we’ll crash, feel a bit ill, and begin to suspect that the beady little eyes on those choco bunnies are watching our every move. If the same happens to you (or......

It's officially Spring and by Pisces it's lovely out there in the sunshine. Crocuses have been spotted in Highbury Fields so our biggest recommendation for expenditure light trips this week is get to the parks and into the gardens and witness the miracles of the changing seasons. If you're in need of more artificial stimulation, however, and are squirrelling all your spare cash into your ISA before the end of the tax year then......

Ahoy hoy, book grocery shoppers! The metaphorical book grocer aisles are stocked high with choice meats and sweet confections this December, so whatever your tastes, fill up your shopping cart and gorge yourself on this week’s selection of literary events – they’ll give you much less of a stomach-ache than mince pies. Monday: Revisit Sylvia Plath by attending the aptly named Sylvia Plath Revisited, at the ICA (7pm in the Nash Room £10 nonmembers/£9......

Advent is upon us. Hanukkah starts on Wednesday. Office parties are already everywhere. Tis the season to be jolly, jolly, jolly but we know this can be draining, emotionally and financially. Don't let the state of your wallet throw you over the edge. We can't afford to buy tickets to the BFI IMAX all-nighter next weekend and we're not allowed to enter our own competition. But we can do the following splendid things for......

The second greatest comedy magazine ever to be named after a foodstuff has relaunched. Mustard (it's a gas) is the brainchild of Alex Musson, and draws on obvious influences The Onion and TV Go Home. Previously A4, the new-look mag is roughly the size of a piece of tin foil cut to a 17 X 23 cm rectangle. Cartoons, interviews, spoof news and other crap will leave you tittering with glea and glittering with......

Just out the Van: Lights, Music, Words, Action - It’s Book Slam time again with Guatam Malkani, author of the Londonstani, Salena Godden, writer, singer, and raconteur, and Iman, winner of the National Music Award. This Thursday at Neighbourhood, 6.30pm till late, 12 Aclam Road, W10 5QZ, £5 in advance or £6 on the door. Fresh Next Week: Michael Palin leads a reading from Another Sky, a new collection of work by writers whose lives......

Day One - London I pack. Video camera, tripod, still camera - check. Stage clothes, day clothes, enough socks and underwear to get through the whole time in case we don't do a laundry run - check. Books to while away the hours waiting to load the gear in to the venue - 'Teach Yourself Japanese' and Michael Palin's 'Himalaya'. Various knitting projects, sketch pad and pencils, diary, notebooks and laptop. Hair dryer, towels, toiletries.......

The traffic warden - one of the most hated jobs in London. The hatred is especially prominent in Camden, where a protest will take place against the number of tickets given in the borough. At least 200 cars will encircle the Town Hall, their disgruntled drivers dressed as pirates, to reinforce their claim that parking enforcement is banditry. The oddest display, however, will be a picket consisting of cabbies and local celebrities, including Michael......

There can be few buildings in Europe to match the splendor of the Palace of Westminster. Millions of tourists, some of them off-worlders, flock to the landmark each year, even if few actually enter. But a couple of weeks back (and sorry to keep going on about it) Londonist did just that. Our tour of the houses of parliament inspired us to find out more about the architect, Charles Barry. Was this his only......