Three days, 60 events, 80 literary minds. It can only be the Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival , offering London’s literature lovers an outstanding line-up of authors, journalists, politicians and writers, now in its fourth year.

Over three days at Ivy House in Golders Green, the home of the London Jewish Cultural Centre, you will have the chance to hear the likes of Howard Jacobson, Rose Tremain, Michael Palin, Kathy Lette, Peter Hain MP, Pam Ayers, Robert Goddard, Gillian Slovo and Sam Bourne.

As well as hearing the guest speakers, visitors can attend one of three creative writing workshops with experienced tutors.

Highlights of the opening day, Sunday, September 9, include Claudia Roden talking about her latest book, The Food of Spain , a cookbook which takes in the different regions and looks at the history, the culture and people at the heart of this country, as well as the delicious food. In Blog to Book , two bloggers will discuss how they turned their blogs into books, one of them Jen Campbell, a bookseller at Ripping Yarns in Highgate whose Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops has gone on to become a Sunday Times bestseller.

Times sketchwriter Ann Treneman, who lives in Arkley, is the author of Dave and Nick: The Year of the Honeymoon , a comedy on the ‘love story’ between Cameron and Clegg and how the ‘marriage’ descended in to madness. The day rounds off with talks by Peter Hain MP and top journalist Gavin Esler on the secrets of those who achieve power.

Over the following days, choose between sessions with Nicola Beauman, who founded Persephone Books to reprint neglected women writers, or radio presenter, agony aunt and relationship expert Dr Pam Spurr, who will be talking about sex. Recently long-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, Rachel Joyce will be talking about her debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry , and she will be joined by another newcomer, S J Watson, author of the award-winning thriller Before I Go To Sleep .

Also on offer are Gillian Slovo talking about the semi-mythic British hero General Gordon, Kathy Lette drawing on her experience of having a son with Asperger’s Syndrome for her latest novel, The Boy Who Fell to Earth , and Michael Palin talking about his new novel, Truth , and his forthcoming travel book, Brazil .

  • The Hampstead & Highgate Literary Festival 2012 takes place at Ivy House, North End Road, Golders Green from Sunday, September 9 to Tuesday, September 11. See website for details and times. Details: 020 8511 7900, email litfest@ljcc.org.uk or visit www.hamhighlitfest.com