1. Crystal Palace-based author Laura Barnett has been tipped by the Observer as one of the new faces of fiction for 2015 for her debut novel The Versions of Us.  

The 32-year-old lives with her husband Andy and cat Eno in Crystal Palace and described the area as “one of the most underrated spots in London” blog. She is also a schoolfriend of Forest Hill resident and News Shopper favourite Jessie Burton.

The Versions of Us will be published by Orion in June.

2. Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre has unveiled a great series of free events over the coming months featuring Ali Smith and Will Self.

The university is continuing to help burgeoning writers carve out careers and is acclaim for its yearly Goldsmiths Prize which recognised A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing back in 2013.

For more information on the events in the New Cross-based university visit the website or search for ‘Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre’ on Eventbrite.

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3. Brockely born Kate Tempest is touring the UK this year as well America after her Mercury-nominated debut solo album, Everybody Down was published at the end of last year to great acclaim. 

The 29-year-old, who still lives in south east London, will also have her debut novel The Bricks that Built the Houses published by Bloomsbury next year.

4. Former Sydenham resident Kazuro Ishiguro's new book The Buried Giant is being released in March and already has cultural commentators foaming at the mouth because it’s his first novel for a decade.

Last month he had written his award-winning book Remains of the Day in six weeks shortly after moving to Sydenham.

He wrote in the Guardian on December 6: “I was then 32-years-old, and we’d recently moved into a house in Sydenham, south London, where for the first time in my life I had a dedicated study. (I’d written my first two novels at the dining table.)

“On my first Sunday off I ventured outdoors, on to Sydenham high street, and persistently giggled – so Lorna told me – at the fact that the street was built on a slope, so that people coming down it were stumbling over themselves, while those going up were panting and staggering effortfully.”

5. Greenwich-based writers Dale Shaw and Daisy Buchanan have set up a free night of comic correspondence, We Could Send Letters, on each month at the Greenwich Tavern in King William Walk.

The night is based on Dale’s Letters of Not, a spoof collection of letters and notes, supposedly written by famous types such as Alfred Hitchcock, Joan of Arc and Geoffrey Chaucer.

Daisy is a journalist and author of the recently published a book about the minefield of internet dating.

For more information on the monthly pop up night, visit lettersofnot.com