Book Fair hosts bestsellers

The London Book Fair is a must for literary enthusiasts. With a mix of educational and business events it is an ideal opportunity to share knowledge or for budding novelists to make publishing contacts. Sebastian Faulks, Francesca Simon and Alaa Al Aswany will be among bestselling authors in attendance. Many will be showcased in the Literary Café as well as giving readings, followed by book signings. You can also put your ideas forward in the various seminars being held throughout the fair. Here are the details of this year's highlights:

Author of the day 2008

Sebastian Faulks
Monday April 14
Book signing: Blackwell's, 16:45-17:00
Activair Award for Exporting presentation, The Literary Café, 17:30
Sebastian Faulks worked in journalism before starting to write books. He is best known for the French trilogy, The Girl at the Lion d'Or, Birdsong and Charlotte Gray (1989-1997) and is also the author of a triple biography, The Fatal Englishman (1996); a small book of literary parodies, Pistache (2006); and the novel Human Traces (2005). He lives in London with his wife and their three children. His latest novel is Engleby.

Alaa Al Aswany
Tuesday April 15
'Literature Knows No Frontiers' panelist: Victoria Room, 13:00-14:00
In conversation with Alaa Al Aswany: The Literary Café, 15:00-15:30
Book signing: Blackwell's, 15:30-16:00
Alaa Al Aswany is a dentist by profession, and for many years practiced in the Yacoubian Building. He has written prolifically for Egyptian newspapers on politics, literature and social issues. His novel, the Yacoubian Building, set in downtown Cairo, has achieved international success and been made into a film.

Francesca Simon
Wednesday April 16
In conversation with Francessca Simon: The Literary Café, 11:00-11:30
Book signing: Blackwell's, 11:30-12:00
Born in the US and following her undergraduate degree at Yale, Francesca Simon came to Oxford to read medieval studies in the late 1970s. She then fell into journalism and a busy career as a theatre and restaurant critic ensued. She began writing shortly after her son Josh, now 12, was born. The first Horrid Henry book was published in 1993. Since then she has written more than 30 books.

The Cook Book Corner
The London Book Fair is partnering with the Gourmand World Cook Book Awards to host a Cook Book Corner at this year's book fair. Located by the Gosset Champagne Bar in Earls Court Two, the Cook Book Corner will bring together Internationally renowned chefs from around the world to perform culinary demonstrations and sign copies of their cook books. The demonstrations take place daily between 10:00 and 17:45.

Seminars
Anne Cassidy, Tracy Chevalier, Ann Cleeves, Roderick Gordon, Adam Thirlwell and Brian Williams amongst others will participate in this year's seminar programme. For a full list of seminar dates and times go to londonbookfair.co.uk.

Arab Authors Evening
Monday April 14, 18:30-20:00
Foyles, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0EB
The panel will be chaired by Dedi Feldman from Words Without Borders, and will include Alaa Al Aswany with Khaled Mattawa and Hisham Matar.
The event will start at 18.30, followed by the discussion at 18.45 and opening up to questions from the audience from 19.30. Tickets are free, but email events@foyles.co.uk to reserve a seat.

Podcasts
In case you can't make it to all of the events the Fair will be producing podcast interviews which will be available to download on the website. Three key members of the publishing industry will talk about each of the areas that the seminar programme will be focusing on this year: Julian Friedmann from Blake Friedmann Literary, TV and Film Agency for Film & TV; Viv Bird, Director Booktrust for Children's Books & Publishing; Francis Bennett, Chairman Ehaus talking about Digitisation. In addition to these there will be video podcasts of each of the authors taking part in the Author of the Day programme.