A selection of bookshop readings, performances, literary lunches, salons, festivals and other writerly goings-on are listed here and regularly updated.
For your wider literary and cultural fix, check out the in-person and virtual event listings at the British Library, the London Review Bookshop, Waterstones, English PEN, the Southbank Centre, publisher and author websites and social media streams, as well as those of your local organisations and venues.
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Wednesday 7 to Sunday 18 October
The 70th BFI London Film Festival
London and UK-wide
Various times daily
Tickets on general sale from Thursday 17 September
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK’s foremost celebration of screen culture, inviting audiences to engage with the finest filmmaking talents from around the world with screenings and events in London and across the UK. A captivating and diverse programme of over 250 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 88 countries play across the 12 days of the festival. Screenings with a literary theme include Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, with Jenny Ortega playing an enthusiastic artificial friend desperate to find a loving home; Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, a raucously funny love letter to community theatre featuring a luminous lead performance by Julianne Moore; and Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter (above), adapted from Colm Tóibín’s short story, an understated drama starring Fred Hechinger that delicately uncovers hidden family fractures, revealing painful unspoken truths.
More info and book
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Ongoing
Arvon courses and retreats
Online or in-person, from one hour at home to five weeks at historic writers’ houses in Devon, Shropshire and Yorkshire, you can find inspiration, support and transform your writing with Arvon. Discover a range of creative writing courses and events for writers of any genre and any level of experience.
Residential courses for Summer/Autumn 2026 include Stories from Life with John-Paul Flintoff, Lily Dunn and Clover Stroud (Totleigh Barton, 5 to 12 September); Making Human Connections with Kirsty Logan and Chikodili Emelumadu (Lumb Bank, 7 to 10 September); Poetry: Polishing and Redrafting with Helen Mort, Declan Ryan and Sarah Howe (Lumb Bank, 12 to 19 September); Non-Fiction: Clearing the Path with Keiron Pim, Rose Tomaszewka and Rebecca Carter (Totleigh Barton, 14 to 19 September); and Jump Start Your Fiction with Nicholas Royle, Kerry Hadley-Pryce and Simon Okotie (Lumb Bank, 28 September to 3 October).
More info and book
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