The 'Bank we like best!

...we refer, of course, to the South Bank, where from now until early December the great and the good rub shoulders at the Literature and Spoken Word Festival, including special events around this year's National Poetry Day (October 8th) and a whole day of festivites celebrating 30 years of the incomparable Hitchhiker's Guide.

Other highlights of a packed and tempting schedule include: Agatha Christie Night on September 16th at which Val McDermid, Kate Mosse and Jasper Fforde share extracts from their favourite works and well as fielding questions; Wendy Cope, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Alice Oswald and Daljit Nagra at the Faber Anniversary Readings (Sept 22nd); legendary film-maker and all-round renaissance man Werner Herzog (Oct 3rd); 2009 Man Booker Prize Readings, which brings together all six shortlisted authors for their only Q&As and reading session en masse, chaired by Man Booker Literary Director Ion Trewin (Oct 5th); John Irving discussing his latest book, Last Night In Twisted River,(Oct 12th); Anita and Kiran Desai in conversation with Maggie Gee (Oct 31st); Beyond Words, which features 5 South African poets brought together by the country's Poet Laureate and renowned campaigner Keorapetse Kgositsile (4 November); Tristram Hunt and Robert Service discussing revolutionary lives through their biographies of Engels and Trotsky (Nov 11th); poets from Radio 4's Saturday Live (Kate Fox, Matt Harvey, Elvis Mcgonagall and Luke Wright) meet South Bank Artist in residence Lemn Sissay (Nov 26th) plus a celebration of the life of Adrian Mitchell on Dec 9th at which Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy joins Patience Agbbi, John Hegley, Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Michael Rosen to reflect on Mitchell's life, work and the effect he had on poetry and performance; the date also marks the publication of Mitchell's final collection, Tell Me Lies.

Admission rates vary so best to check the SB site before setting off.