Even on its quietest weeks, London is something of a happy haven for bibliophiles such as ourselves, though we may be doing nothing more than perusing one of the city’s many lovely bookshops. This week, however, we’re in a veritable book geek heaven, as the London literary scene goes all glittery, playing host to some major names and fantastic events, leaving us tongue-tied and weak at the knees. Do we gush? Very well then,......

The book grocer’s coffers are chockfull of goodies this week, so let’s jump right in and get shopping... Monday: Crikey. Take a look at author and critic George Steiner’s publishing credits and you have to wonder whether the man has actually slept in the past fifty years. Yet the premise of the prolific writer’s most recent work, My Unwritten Books, is that there are actually some subjects that Steiner has purposely left unexplored. Join......

We love to be dazzled by youth. Be it Zadie Smith's precocious debut novel, the Arctic Monkeys storming straight to No.1 or Lewis Hamilton tearing up the track in his first F1 season, we are consistently enraptured and delighted by the ability of the young upstart to reach heights to which they have no right and to let rip with flair and skill that is unencumbered by the fear of failure that haunts the......

If you’re having a stroll along the South Bank tonight, be on the lookout for friendly hawkers trying to push books into your hands. We’re told that Canongate Books will be handing out 1,000 free copies – that’s free, folks – of Lewis Hyde’s 1983 classic, The Gift, along the South Bank at 6.00pm this evening. If you’re not familiar with the book, expect some heavy but worthwhile questions about the role of creativity......

Fresh Next Week John Lanchester's third novel Family Romance is the story of an extraordinary family - from his grandparents’ beginnings in rural Ireland and colonial Rhodesia, through his father’s wartime separation from his parents and his mother’s tragic first love, her decision to become a nun and her adoption of a new identity. Next Wednesday, 7pm, £6, The London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, WC1A 2JL, 020 7269 9030. Givin’ ‘em away: Tomorrow......

This Day in London's History 1485: Henry VII opens batting for the Tudor dynasty, taking the crown at Westminster Abbey. Attending the new king that day were the Yeomen of the Guard - the monarch's bodyguard - on their first official duty. The Yeomen of the Guard are not to be confused with the Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters, who patrol the Tower of London... 1841: The Tower nearly falls. Beefeaters and policemen scrambled to......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Thursday Thank goodness for this month's Bookslam is all we can say. Following on from the success of Zadie Smith as last month's super secret guest, August's slam is keeping it real with Ekow Eshun (pictured), creative director of the ICA and author of the 'Black Gold Of The Sun', up with Mr Hudson......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you'd like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Wednesday If know your manga from your anime, your Akira from your Ghost in the Shell, tonight's Tokyopop Manga looks set to draw a dedicated fan-crowd with an evening of music, film and art, including a masterclass and competitions, at the Foyles Gallery, 6.30pm. Tickets are free, but reserve yours by emailing mangaATfoyles.co.uk. The......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. There's a wide range of events to choose from this week, with something on offer nearly every night of the week. We also have new releases from, among others, Douglas Coupland (pictured), Peter Carey, Monica Ali, Will Self, and A.M. Homes... Events Around London: Tonight, Turkish author Elif Safak celebrates the English translation of......

It's been a good year for British Literature, what with the globally lauded Booker nominees and the Nobel Prize and all. But alas, it's not quite over yet... The folks over at the Whitbread headquarters wait all the way until next year to announce their 2005 prizes. On January 24th, 2006, honors will be dolled out for Fiction, Biography, First Novel, Poetry, and Children's Book. The Shortlists (announced yesterday) across the categories include Tash......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. The late summer/early fall book publishing frenzy seems to be finally dying down, and the announcement of the Booker Prize winner yesterday is appearing to serve as its exclamation point. Yes, if the list of "Forthcoming Titles" on Blackwell's website is any indication, we're not going to have nearly as much new stuff to......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. It's finally here -- this year's Booker Prize winner will be announced this Monday in a ceremony at Guildhall. The finalists, for those who may have forgotten, are Kazuo Ishiguro, Juliane Barnes, Zadie Smith, Ali Smith, John Banville, and Sebastian Barry. This year's has been quite a contest, and we can't wait to see......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. The Edinburgh Festival ended last month and we literary Londoners were finally allowed to have some interesting stuff to do around here for awhile. But alas, once again this week, the most interesting literary event in the UK is taking place in a place other than London, just a bit to the south in......

The Short Version: It's been quite a couple of days for British literature. First, the Booker Shortlist comes out and most of the names you're sure are going to be on there are nowhere to be seen. Then, Zadie Smith says all this awful stuff about London and England while in the States and apparently thinks no one over here will find out about it, perhaps because of the "general stupidity" in her home......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. All the big releases came out last week (Zadie Smith, Rushdie, Coetzee, etc). This week, there's little in the way of new stuff to read, but there are a ton of authors talking all the same, in the form of readings and discussions. Last week was good for the homebodies. This week, all of......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday. If you’d like to bring an event to our attention, please email londonistlit@gmail.com. Now that we are inching towards autumn, the book world seems to be emerging from its annual August slumber. And nowhere is this more evident than in the arena of new releases. Anything else happening in Literary London this week will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the windfall of new novels by the biggest names......

We're starting to feel a little peeved that every week we have to bow down to Edinburgh, this being the LONDONIST Literary List and all, and not an Ode to Cities to the North. But what can a column do, when it is not only London-centric, but Literary-centric as well, and all the literary stuff is in Edinburgh? But alas, there’s only a week to go, and it seems to be winding down a......

The Londonist Literary List appears every Tuesday on, well, obviously, Londonist. As the Edinburgh International Book Festival continues this week, we Londonists must still concede that the best literary action lies due north of our city. Doris Lessing regrettably cancelled her appearance scheduled for tomorrow (speaking of cancellations, we have noticed that there seem to be an unusually high number of them at this year’s festival), but there are still a number of highly worthwhile......

The longlist for the 2005 Booker Prize was announced yesterday to considerable praise. Word on the street is that this is the strongest crop of British novels in decades, with a mix of literary greats, first-time novelists, and long-time midlist authors deserving of accolades. You’ll recognize names like Coetzee, McEwan, Ishiguro, Rushdie, and Zadie Smith. Names you might be getting to know well quite soon include Tash Aw, Marina Lewycka, and Harry Thompson, and......

Yes, yes. There, there. All of you literary lovers out there now have a new reason to visit Londonist every Tuesday. It is here, yes, right here, on this Tuesday and on every Tuesday to come, that Londonist will be bringing you the very best and the very greatest of literary releases and readings and happenings around London. Yes, even writers have to get out of the flat every so often. Even bookworms need......

If the results of the Time Out 'best loved London books' poll have taught us anything it's that you have to be really specific when asking the public to vote for things. As the Guardian reports today the A-Z Street Atlas took fifth place in the poll, beating the likes of Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, Joseph Conrad, Zadie Smith and Peter Ackroyd. Time Out's books editor John O'Connell is quoted as saying that that......