Our 2021 festival is a month-long programme of inspirational events through May into early June.
Word from the Cabinet
Cllr Sonia Winifred, Cabinet Member for Equalities and Culture, said: “I’m delighted to welcome you to Lambeth Libraries Readers and Writers Festival. In the 17 years since the first festival, it’s become a regular highlight and goes from strength to strength. In 2021 we have events to suit all tastes – reading, writing, discussion or simply sitting back and listening. Come and join us and express yourself! You’ll be amazed at the fun you can have in your local library.”
Amazing true stories
Biography: Paul Morley on Bob Dylan
Authors’ readings and Q&A sessions on biographies including:
- Bob Dylan by Paul Morley
- Polish war hero Witold Pilecki who volunteered to be imprisoned in Auschwitz to create an underground resistance there.
- Mariella Novotny, whose suspected murder prevented her finishing her memoirs of political scandal in the USA and UK and undercover investigations police work.
Fascinating Fiction
Talk to writers about their new fiction:
- Patrick McGrath – Last Days in Cleaver Square: A Spanish Civil War veteran confronts his past.
Fiction: Nadifa Mohamed & her book
- Leone Ross – This One Sky Day: Star-crossed lovers try to find their way back to one another across one day.
- Nadifa Mohamed – The Fortune Men: Tiger Bay’s Mahmood is a chancer – not a murderer. But when a shopkeeper is murdered, suspicion falls on him.
- A night to celebrate Love, Life, Laughter… and school-run affairs! Anstey Harris’ heart-breaking new Where We Belong, James Bailey’s hilarious debut The Flipside, Mike Gayle’s life-affirming new novel, All the Lonely People, and Eva Verde’s bittersweet debut Lives Like Mine.
Cultural studies
- Lola Olufemi – Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power – reclaiming feminism from consumerism, showing that the struggle for gendered liberation is a struggle for justice.
Reading groups & book clubs
- Radical Readers: For the30th anniversary of the Poll Tax rebellion that helped bring down one of the most powerful Prime
Radical Readers discuss 30th anniversary of Poll Tax
Ministers, join the discussion with author Simon Hannah. For a copy of Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay: The Fight to Stop the Poll Tax. contact 020 7926 1056.
- LGBTQ+ book club discuss classic Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.
Competitions
- Writing competition 15 May 2021#DigitalOriginals #OneDay open submission day (#LoveLamLibOneDay) exclusively for Lambeth residents, enabling authors to submit their first three chapters, for the first time, directly to the editorial team. For entry details and information see Simon & Schuster’s Books and the City website
- Test your knowledge with our fun Literary bingo with quiz questions everyday.
Digital originals Simon & Schuster authors’ competition logo
Lambeth Libraries
- For a full guide to every event see the festival microsite
- For more information about bookings, readers & writers month contact your local library or email readersandwriters@lambeth.gov.uk.
