This year’s London Literature Festival explores the theme of friendship through unmissable encounters with the writers and artists shaping our cultural life. here are my top picks…

Common Ground: Friendship in the City of London – Thursday 21st, 7.45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, £10

Rising literary stars Caleb Azumah Nelson, Vanessa Onwuemezi and Naomi Ishiguro read from their work and reflect on friendships forged in London.

London is a city that can spark love, friendship, and solidarity, but is also a place marked by isolation, loneliness and inequality. The panellists explore the complexities of contemporary friendship through the lens of London. How are friendships and relationships forged in the city shaped or warped by the pressures of London life?

Writer and photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson. Photo credit: Stuart Simpson @ Penguin Books

Caleb Azumah Nelson’s acclaimed debut novel Open Water movingly charts the faltering relationship of two young people who meet in a pub in south-east London, struggling to make their mark as artists in a city that alternately celebrates and rejects them.

Following her acclaimed short story collection Escape Routes, Naomi Ishiguro’s debut novel Common Ground tells the story of a friendship between two characters from very different backgrounds: a suburban boy fleeing from school bullies and a fiercely intelligent Romany boy with a nose for local history.

One of the most strikingly original new voices in contemporary fiction, Vanessa Onwuemezi presents a lyrical journey through a landscape of alienation, loss and shame in her debut collection of short stories, Dark Neighbourhood. With a detached eye and hallucinatory vision, these stories observe their own worlds as the line between dream and reality dissolves and they themselves begin to fragment.

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Candice Carty-Williams: Empress & Aniya – Saturday 23rd, 7.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £10

The Queenie author discusses her new YA novel and the value of friends with Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff

Empress & Aniya is South London’s answer to Freaky Friday. It follows two teenage girls from different backgrounds who accidentally cast a body swap spell on their 16th birthday. Empress is from a single-parent household and lives on an estate that she’s learned to love, while Aniya’s parents are in high-profile jobs and have given her a life that she often takes for granted. Empress & Aniya is a warm, moving, and funny portrayal of the importance of real friendship and the power in seeing the world through someone else’s eyes.

Best selling author Candice Carty-Williams. Photo credit: Sarah Brick

Carty-Williams appears in conversation with award-winning journalist, editor, columnist, and podcast host Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff. She is the editor of Black Joy, a new anthology that explores what it means to be Black and British today, focusing on moments of happiness and joy that well-known Black Brits have found in their lives.

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#Merky Superheroes: Stories of Secret Strength – Thursday 28th, 2pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £12 adults, £9 children

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Superheroes: Inspiring Stories of Secret Strength, the new book from author Sophia Thakur, Stormzy and the #Merky Books team, empowers kids by highlighting modern-day heroes from across the worlds of sport, food, and the arts. Alongside the book’s author, the performance poet Sophia Thakur, a league of superheroes swoop in to visit, including dancer Princess K, illustrator Denzell Dankwah, the Chineke! Orchestra and playwright Theresa Ikoko. To build on their mission of inspiring the next generation to harness their powers, this launch packs in a day of performances, music, poetry and workshops for families and children of all ages.

Poet and author Sophia Thakur. Photo credit: Derrick Kakembo

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Passing on Poetry with BORN:FREE – Friday 29th, 6.30pm, Queen Elizabeth Foyer, Free

A night for new African and Afro-diasporic writing – spread the word. Curated by literary and sound artist Belinda Zhawi; writer and theatre-maker malakaï sargeant; and writer and filmmaker Chima Nsoedo, the evening packs in spoken word, live music, and readings for an informal blend of insight, inspiration, and deep laughs.

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Keisha The Sket – Friday 29th, 7.45pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £10

Keisha The Sket, the noughties viral coming-of-age story, is now available in print for the first time and you can celebrate with her creator, Jade LB. She is joined at this event by writers Candice Carty-Williams and Aniefiok Ekpoudom, who have contributed essays to the print edition. The event is chaired by bestselling author and presenter, Candice Brathwaite.

Keisha is a girl from the ends who is sharp, feisty, and ambitious. She’s been labelled ‘top sket’, but she’s making it work. When Ricardo, her childhood crush and long-time admirer, finally wins her over, Keisha has it all: power, a love life, and the chance for stability. But trauma comes knocking and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of a woman she truly wants to be.

Jade LB, Carty-Williams and Ekpoudom talk to Candice Brathwaite about where they were when Keisha The Sket first broke the internet and share their thoughts on why it became such a memorable cultural moment for a generation of young Brits.

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Keep the Receipts – Saturday 30th, 5PM, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £10 – £20

Tolani Shoneye, Audrey Indome and Milena Sanchez, creators, and hosts of the hugely popular podcast The Receipts, launch their acclaimed new book in a special live event – bringing their trademark real talk with no filter.

Keep the Receipts is a love letter to sisterhood for women. In it, Shoneye, Indome and Sanchez chart their highs, lows and learnings according to their lenses and voices. The trio also navigate self-empowerment, society, and relationships, in the hope that their stories will encourage all women to live fully, without apology.

For this event, the trio are in conversation with the actor, writer, founder of Kelechnekoff Fitness studio and host of the Say Your Mind podcast, Kelechi Okafor.

The Receipts has over 11 million listeners across all podcast platforms and has garnered five award nominations, a Spotify deal, and a series of sell-out shows in the UK.

It is the first podcast hosted and produced by women of colour to reach number one in the Apple Podcast charts.

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Header Image: (L-R) Tolani Shoneye, Milena Sanchez and Audrey Indome, the hosts of The Receipts podcast. Photo: Matt Monfredi