Cultur Vultur / Books & Ideas
Discover author talks, book launches and conversations worth getting out for, across London.
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91 talks and events in the next 7 days
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Elif Shafak will be at Hatchards in St Pancras Station to sign her latest book In One Brief Moment All Eternity.
This event is part of the free Lunchtime Lecture series. No booking is required.
Join us for our Crime Book Club at Waterstones Piccadilly on the third Thursday of every month. Chat with our booksellers about the best Crime & Thriller has to offer, both old and new.
Want to be able to tell your Homer from your Hugo, your Austen from your Aeschylus? Waterstones Gower St invites you to pick up the classics (and the Classics!) you've always been too intimidated to try.
Yap! follows in the pawprints of the breeds we have grown to love and cherish, from the small dogs memorialised in Ancient Rome, to the pug who colonised Napoleon’s marital bed, to the toy spaniels who never left the side of King Charles II and canine stars like Billy and Tiny the Wonder who drew crowds to Victorian taprooms and taverns. Through this endearing account we are brought all the way up to Y2K fashion trends popularised by Paris Hilton and her chihuahua, Tinkerbell, and the pet influencers of the 21st-century.
Join Sebastian Faulks to discuss his latest novel Farewell to Eden.
We’re very excited to welcome Jasper Fforde to Waterstones Piccadilly as we celebrate the publication of Dark Reading Matter, the final entry in the Thursday Next series.
The Future of Free Speech confronts a stark truth: the right to speak freely is under siege.
Join us for an evening of superstitions, spirits and more as we welcome authors Jake Arnott, Heather Davey, Melinda Salisbury and Vanessa Santos to this folk horror panel! Come along as we explore chilling tales and horrors passed down from times long forgotten.
Join us at Waterstones Chiswick for our October bookclub where we will be reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.
Please join Simon Franklin for a conversation with Ekaterina Schulmann about his new book Troublesome Words: A Cultural History of Russian (Reaktion, August 2026).
Sohn Won-Pyung visits Foyles to discuss her books Almond and Counterattacks at Thirty with Ella Lee
Join us for a special event with David Szalay to discuss his Booker Prize wining novel FLESH with Oactavia Bright
The Club That Created The 80’s
How did early modern people make festivals, and why did they take such enormous care in the production of seemingly ephemeral events? Elaine Tierney’s new book, Celebrating the City: Making festivals in early modern London and Paris, explores these questions by taking readers behind the scenes of urban festivities. Where other studies unpick the courtly, literary and iconographical contexts for festivals, this book foregrounds the processes of designing, making and organising by which the events were produced. This shift in focus reveals that urban festival politics cannot be understood without attention to the nitty-gritty of these material worlds. In making this case, the book combines the tools of design history and the concerns of political history to shed new light on how people, from royal officeholders to anonymous faces in the crowd, used festivals to participate politically in late seventeenth-century Europe’s two most populous cities. This event celebrates the book’s publication. After a short welcome and introduction from the author, two respondents highlight the volume’s key contributions to histories of festivals, political culture and urban life.
Join us for a very special publication day event with one our most beloved storytellers, the global bestselling novelist Elif Shafak at London’s Emmanuel Centre, as we celebrate the publication of In One Brief Moment All Eternity.
Artists Maggi Hambling, Bharti Kher and Linder Sterling discuss the gallery’s bold, storied history
Historian A.N. Wilson takes us on a journey into the heart of the progressive Victorian dream, and where it has left us today.
From the forthcoming changes to pensions to understanding how Inheritance Tax could affect you, bring your questions to ask our solicitor panel.
We’re delighted to host an evening to celebrate The Discworld Bestiary with illustrator Paul Kidby & Rob Wilkins, director of the Terry Pratchett estate.
The Somali Week Festival launch returns to the British Library.
Bitingly original, wildly funny, wickedly sharp: the author discusses her novel with Pandora Sykes
Director-General of CERN, Mark Thomson, explores what's next for the world-leading research facility, and how decades of research have got us to this point.
Join us for an evening of musical and cultural self-examination as Afrobeats artist Fuse ODG explores the social impact of Fela Kuti’s work and how it has inspired his own T.I.N.A (This Is New Africa) movement today.
Trading fire-breathing beasts for fairy dust and pirates, the authors of the beloved Dragon Realm books Katie and Kevin Tsang guide readers past the second star on the right and straight on till morning in the first of a magical series set in the world of J.M. Barrie's iconic Peter Pan.
We are thrilled that Robert Harris will be joining us on Saturday 17th October from 11am for a book signing only (no interview)
Curious about careers in the creative sector? Wondering where your own creative journey could take you?
Enter the darkness. Discover what lies within.
Join us as we explore the vast and complex history of Gay, Lesbian & Queer life in London and learn how we evolved into the dynamic and diverse LGBTQI+ community that we celebrate today. We take a deeper dive into the historic suffering that living a gay life endured in the past, leading to the death sentences of many. Learn about the pioneering drag queens of the 1700’s who paved the way for others, the life and loves of Oscar Wilde that led to his imprisonment, the emergence of a gay community meeting in the tea rooms of Central London, the birth of Gay Pride in the 70s and the devastating impact AIDS had on our community in the 1980s. No stone is left unturned in this walking tour timeline of dramatic events that takes you from Charing Cross to Soho Square on an exciting journey through the ages. As we head into Soho, we take in the wonderful sights of London and hear about the historic Queer stories surrounding well known landmarks such as Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus. Come on this Queer History Walking Tour to understand it's past and celebrate why London is one of the most exciting and openly free societies of the modern age, with the largest demographic of openly LGBTQIA Community in Europe.
Join us for an afternoon of musical recollection and personal celebration as we mark familial links with artists featured in V&A East museum’s The Music is Black: A British Story exhibition.
As digital systems and AI become increasingly embedded in art and design practices, Explore how emerging technologies shape material culture, memory and spirituality through the works of Aziza Kadyri and Eunjo Lee.
Celebrate punk's enduring legacy with Kevin Dettmar in conversation with Jon King (Gang of Four) at The Long Play Sessions.
Ari Emanuel has long been one of the most influential people in the world, but he’s also something of a mystery. Part of the reason is Emanuel’s job description. As Hollywood’s best-known super-agent—the inspiration for Ari Gold in the classic TV drama Entourage—he’s paid to speak for his A-list clients, not himself.
2025 Christmas Lecturer Maggie Aderin-Pocock returns to the Ri to explain what the James Webb Space Telescope's latest findings can tell us about the early universe.
Harry will reflect on 40 years of arsing about in comedy and bring some of his favourite characters vividly back to life on stage.
Join us on the 18th October in our cafe for an extra special comic-making workshop with Phil Corbett, author of Kitty Quest, to celebrate his new series: Ghost and Toast!
Peter James discusses his book Dead in Three Two One.
In this Ethical Matters talk, novelist & screenwriter Courttia Newland reflects on what it means to be an artist operating in the margins, creating art beyond the mainstream.
Co-creator of <i>The League of Gentlemen</i>, <i>Psychoville</i> and <i>Inside No. 9</i>, Reece is no stranger to the morbid and macabre.
We are delighted that Sir Ian Botham will be signing copies of his new book Seasons here at Hatchards.
Come along to a dance session that mixes ballet with contemporary, African and Caribbean dance.
Meet Nicko when he visits Waterstones Piccadilly to sign copies of Hello Boys & Girls!
A unique exhibition bringing together historical photographs of Sudan taken in the 1970s by photographer Jill Orpen and artworks by children
Join Rhea Freeman to discuss her book Big Brand Marketing, in conversation with Anthony Smith and Charlene Charity.
Humanity's journey from poverty to prosperity is filled with men who have become household names. But how many female entrepreneurs, merchants and industrialists can you name?
Come along and give your thoughts at this month's bookclub, where we'll be discussing Somebody is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez, a macabre encounter with famous graveyards steeped in history.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/punk-in-50-pieces-kevin-dettmar-in-conversation-tickets-2000062849824?msockid=3875dc6dfa8a682c3c1ccb9dfb7d6957
Mary Trump, clinical psychologist and niece of Donald Trump, speaks to John Crace about his past and what it tells us about his leadership.
