It isn’t just music festivals that have proliferated in the past five or so years, literary festivals have become increasingly popular as well, and marquees packed with interested bookworms have become part of the British summer. At the expense of sunshine, it seems.

Anyway, Wandsworth is getting in on the act – and why not, it is well represented by authors, those perhaps keen to live less conspicuously than the Notting Hill lot.

And the borough’s love for books is worth celebrating, hence the SW11 Literary Festival, which runs until September 29. It will include workshops, a literary quiz night, and a chocolate-themed night, but the bulk will be appearances by some fantastic authors, some world famous, some of more local interest.

Will Self happens to be both. The Wandsworth boy has become one of England’s biggest-selling writers, as well as being a regular broadcaster on television and radio,and contributor to newspapers and magazines.

A novelist and writer of extraordinary ingenuity, Self is a force of literary nature and good friend to Clapham’s book shops, such as Waterstones, and Clapham Books on the high street.

If Self isn’t a big enough name for you, how about Ruth Rendell? The queen of crime writing will be appearing as her pseudonym, Barbara Vine, which she uses when writing books of a psychological, suspenseful nature.

Her new work, The Birthday Present, is her 58th book in a career which began with the publication of the first Wexford novel, From Doon with Death in 1964. She was made a CBE in 1996 and sits on the House of Lords for Labour.

Battersea’s Rose Prince and Mark Hix host a night of food writing at Waterstones, SW11, on September 10, and if comedy really turns your page then check out William Sutcliffe And Tibor Fischer’s appearance, also at Waterstones.

Another highlight is the appearance at Waterstones on September 17 of Nadeem Aslam, one of our finest contemporary writers. His first novel, Season of the Rainbirds (1993) won the Betty Trask Award, the Authors’ Club First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award.

Naseem’s new book, The Wasted Vigil, is published this autumn and takes place in modern-day Afghanistan.

Other notable mentions are the award-winning, million-selling Victoria Hislop, Battersea short-story writer Angela Young and kids’ author Emma Chichester Clark, reading from her new book.

The festival has a poet in residence, Niall O’Sullivan, who hosts an evening of spoken word on September 16, and it all kicks off on September 2 with an exhibition of South African photographs by Adrian Erasmus called Picture As Narrative. Workshops which are taking place will help with crime writing, how to start a novel, and poetry, among other subjects.

For the full brochure, visit wandsworth.gov.uk/home/ leisureandtourism/arts, call 020 8871 6181 for booking.