{"id":134209,"date":"2025-10-20T16:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134209\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T16:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T16:02:12","slug":"self-esteem-travis-alabanza-sebastian-faulks-simon-armitage-and-more-london-literature-festival-authors-on-their-greatest-ever-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134209\/","title":{"rendered":"Self Esteem, Travis Alabanza, Sebastian Faulks, Simon Armitage And More London Literature Festival Authors On Their Greatest Ever Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

October is a huge month for culture in the capital. Hot on the heels of the London Film Festival<\/a>, Frieze London<\/a>, London Cocktail Week<\/a> and a whole bunch of theatre<\/a> and gallery openings, it\u2019s time for the city\u2019s literary scene to take centre stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

London Literature Festival<\/a> arrives at the Southbank Centre this week, with\u00a013 days of talks, readings, workshops, screenings, performances and award ceremonies celebrating the written and spoken word. Both rising stars and\u00a0literary titans appear on a stacked line-up co-curated by Rebecca Lucy Taylor,\u00a0AKA Self Esteem.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0BRIT Award-nominated singer (and former\u00a0Time Out cover star<\/a>) will be taking over the venue on Saturday November 1, appearing in conversation with Dolly Alderton to discuss her new book,\u00a0A Complicated Woman,\u00a0before hosting a Saturday night\u00a0music and spoken word variety show featuring some of her writers and performers, including Travis Alabanza, Tom Rasmussen and Pam Ayres.<\/p>\n

So celebrate the festival\u2019s arrival this week, we asked the pop star, her line-up and a few names from the wider festival programme to tell us which one book they would take to a desert island.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Lucy Taylor, AKA Self Esteem\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\"Self
\nPhotograph: Scarlett Carlos Clarke <\/p>\n

\u2018I wish I could remember who suggested I read\u00a0Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Est\u00e9s. I was about 30 and so very angry, and this was the first time I read that my anger was perfectly reasonable. Not only was it reasonable, it was NATURAL. Were I on a desert island I think that re-reading a book that compounds\u00a0that all the answers are within me would be a good use of my time. I\u2019d also probably finally have the time and space to do some healing, and this book is a great bit of kit for that too.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rebecca Lucy Taylor\u00a0AKA Self Esteem is curator of this year\u2019s London Literature Festival and appears in conversation with Dolly Alderton at \u2018Self Esteem: A Complicated Woman\u2019, and alongside a\u00a0line-up\u00a0of invited guests for\u00a0\u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019, both on Sat 1 Nov. Free events will take place throughout the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marged Si\u00f4n<\/strong>
\n\"Marged
\nPhotograph: Carys Huws <\/p>\n

\u2018I was gifted\u00a0Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs by a very dear friend of mine. It\u2019s a collection of meditations based on Black feminist lessons from marine mammals. It\u2019s the most beautiful, thorough and divine collection of research that is a guidebook on how to learn from the resilience and submerged wisdom of aquatic life. I\u2019ve always had a deep affinity for the ocean. This book is everything!\u2019<\/p>\n

Marged Si\u00f4n joins Rebecca Lucy Taylor for \u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seraphina Simone<\/strong>
\n\"Seraphina
\nPhotograph: Isy Townsend <\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019d take the complete works of William Blake! At primary school we sang some poems from Songs of Innocence & Experience, then I did a deep-dive into him reading English Literature at Oxford – his work is so varied. He\u2019s a fascinating, complex creature – a mystic, artist, visionary genius, suffering bouts of psychosis and hallucination. There\u2019s such rich symbolism, mysticism, mythology AND gorgeous art that I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever get bored.\u2019<\/p>\n

Seraphina Simone also joins Rebecca Lucy Taylor for\u00a0\u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tom Rasmussen<\/strong>
\n\"Tom
\nPhotograph: Dani d\u2019Ingeo <\/p>\n

\u2018I am going to break the rule and choose three because I literally can\u2019t choose one. And why should I? So my case will sink my raft? I\u2019ll swim ashore! James Baldwin\u2019s Giovanni\u2019s Room because it\u2019s beautiful and bleak and gay, much like the first few months on the island might be. Fifty Visions of Kate Bush by Tom Doyle because it is my creative bible. And Diary of a Drag Queen by me, because while I find it a little cringe to read my writing from a decade ago, it would be wonderful to take all those memories with me for when the island gets lonely.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tom Rasmussen also joins Rebecca Lucy Taylor for\u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019.<\/p>\n

Pam Ayres<\/strong>
\n\"Pay
\nPhotograph: Mikal Ludlow Photography <\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019d choose Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens to take to my desert island. I really love this atmospheric book for its descriptions of the creatures inhabiting the marshes of North Carolina.\u00a0 These, combined with a love story and a murder amid the swamps, make it a great favourite of mine.\u00a0 I thought the ending was perfect, not the damp squib I always fear, and I felt that Delia Owens was so well informed about the wildlife of the area that I learned something, as well as being charmed and intrigued by the story.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pam Ayres also joins Rebecca Lucy Taylor for \u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019. <\/p>\n

Travis Alabanza\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\"Travis
\nPhotograph: Eivind Hansen <\/p>\n

\u2018Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.\u00a0 I’ve read this book so many times and each time I find a new world or imagination within it. If I was stuck on an island, you need a book that you can return to, and Butler’s imagery feels endless.\u2019<\/p>\n

Travis Alabanza also joins Rebecca Lucy Taylor for \u2018Self Esteem Presents\u2019. <\/p>\n

Bora Chung<\/strong>
\n\"Bora
\nPhotograph: Hye Young <\/p>\n

\u2018The Doll by Boleslaw Prus. This is a very well-known novel from the Polish Positivist era. It can be read as a tragic love story, an in-depth observation of Polish society in the nineteenth century under Russian rule, and a study in misunderstanding and miscommunication. And, to be honest, I recently saw a meme where the protagonist Wokulski gives a Labubu doll as a gift to Izabela, the heroine, and I couldn’t stop laughing. I love it.\u2019<\/p>\n

Bora Chung will discuss her new novel \u2018The Midnight Timetable\u2019 on Thu 23 Oct.<\/p>\n

Simon Armitage<\/strong>
\n\"Simon
\nPhotograph: Paul Stuart Photography <\/p>\n

\u2018One book. That\u2019s a bit stingy, isn\u2019t it? How big is this desert island and how long am I staying there? Is there a library? WiFi? Can I remember how to read or was I concussed during the fall from the aeroplane, or maybe I bashed my head on a rock while being washed ashore. Will the book be safe against wet weather and insect infestation or should I choose something laminated? Will I have a pen or pencil with me to doodle and sketch and make notes \u2013 if so I\u2019d like something with not much text and wide empty margins. Not Robinson Crusoe.\u2019<\/p>\n

The former poet laureate hosts \u2018An Afternoon with Simon Armitage\u2019 on Sat 25 Oct and later joins fellow poets Jackie Kay and Michael Rosen for Out-Spoken on Sat 25 Oct.<\/p>\n

Lisa Smith<\/strong>
\n\"Lisa
\nPhotograph: Yolande De Vries <\/p>\n

\u2018While there are only a handful of novels I ever re-read, I come back to poetry again\u00a0and again, especially Maya Angelou\u2019s And Still I Rise. Love, identity, history,\u00a0belonging, in fact almost everything is explored in this slim collection. The tone shifts\u00a0from exuberant and defiant to playful and sassy. These poems never get stale!\u00a0Angelou would be the perfect desert island companion as I waited for rescue.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lisa Smith will join the panel of new writers at Debut London Literature on Sun 26 Oct.<\/p>\n

Funmi Fetto<\/strong>
\n\"Funmi
\nPhotograph: Lewis Hayward <\/p>\n

\u2018If I were to be stranded on a desert island, I\u2019d want the Book of Psalms with me. It\u2019s beautifully written – powerful poetry and prayer in one. The Psalms speak to every human mood: despair, hope, joy, fear… They lift the spirit and feed the mind, reminding you that even in solitude you\u2019re never truly alone. And somehow, no matter how often you read them, they offer fresh revelation every time.\u2019<\/p>\n

Funmi Fetto will also join the panel at Debut London Literature.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Faulks<\/strong>
\n\"Sebastian
\nPhotograph: Still Moving <\/p>\n

\u2018Great Expectations by Charles Dickens has it all. Love, crime, character, violence, sweetness, arson and a heart-churning, page-shredding story. A child can read it for fun. A scholar can examine its dazzling narrative switches and minute social analysis. You are a wreck when you finish. Enjoy!\u2019<\/p>\n

Sebastian Faulks will discuss his new novel \u2018Fire Which Burned Brightly\u2019 on Wed 29 Oct.<\/p>\n

Odeon Covent Garden is being transformed into a new cinema and nightlife venue<\/a><\/p>\n

G<\/strong>et the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke \u2013 from news and reviews to events and trends. Just\u00a0<\/strong>follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay in the loop: sign up for our\u00a0<\/strong>free Time Out London newsletter<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October is a huge month for culture in the capital. Hot on the heels of the London Film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,9858,18,117,19,17,19606,9852],"class_list":{"0":"post-134209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-news-city-life","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}