Photo: Ashley Van Haeften / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

With Black History Month in full swing and half-term just around the corner, the next ten days bring a lovely mix of books, stories, film and family fun to Waterloo, the South Bank and across Lambeth. The London Literature Festival is filling the Southbank Centre with free activities, our libraries are celebrating Black history with talks and crafts, and the Garden Museum and IWM London have plenty to keep young ones busy. Here are some of our favourite picks – almost all of them completely free.

Free events

• Tuesday Tots: Harvest Day Storytelling – Tue 20 Oct, 10.30am–11.30am, Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road. Free, no booking needed. A cosy autumn story session for under-5s and their grown-ups, followed by mini pumpkin painting.
• Sky City with Jacqueline Crooks – Tue 20 Oct, 6.30pm–8pm, Brixton Tate Library. Free (book via Eventbrite). Women’s Prize-shortlisted author Jacqueline Crooks talks about her new novel with Aditi Jaganathan in this Black History Month evening.
• London Literature Festival Book Swap – Wed 21 Oct to Sun 1 Nov, 10am–8pm (closed Mon 26 and Tue 27 Oct), Blue Side Foyer, Royal Festival Hall. Free, no ticket required. Bring a book, take a book – and leftover books will go to the Upper Norwood Library Trust here in Lambeth.
• Charles Gimpel and Brixton – Thu 22 Oct, 6.30pm–8pm, Lambeth Archives, 16 Brixton Hill. Free (book via Eventbrite). Public historian Kelly Foster, Gimpel’s son Charles Beauchamp and curator Jon Newman share the story behind his evocative 1960s photographs of Black family life in Brixton.
• WordPlay – Fri 23 Oct, 10.30am (ages 0–2) and 11.30am (ages 3–5), The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall. Free, no ticket required. Original songs, live harp and storytelling from the WordPlay band The Early Birds, in a soft and playful space for little ones.
• Service95 Book Club: Authors of the Estate – Sat 24 Oct, from 3pm (around three hours), The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall. Free, no ticket required. Drop in with all the family to roll the story dice, sketch, model and share your own stories.
• Creative Future Writers’ Day – Sun 25 Oct, from 10.30am, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Free, no ticket required (ages 15+). Budding writers can pick up tips from literary agents, poetry publishers and successful self-published authors, and browse a literary fair in the foyer.
• Big Story Festival – Sun 25 and Mon 26 Oct, 10am–6pm, IWM London, Lambeth Road. Free entry (some talks and tours are ticketed). A family celebration of storytelling, with drop-in creative activities, free illustration workshops with Will Hughes and a sing-along with musician Tom Carradine.
• Family Autumn Hybrid Nature Craft – Tue 27 Oct, 11am–3pm, Garden Museum, Lambeth Palace Road. Free (booking essential, ages 5+). Children forage in the community garden to make a leafy lantern – older ones even build their own light circuit – so bring a packed lunch and enjoy a creative day out.
• Build a Windrush Suitcase – Tue 27 Oct, 2.30pm–4pm, Clapham Library, Mary Seacole Centre. Free (ages 5–12). A hands-on half-term session where children discover the Windrush story and decorate their very own pretend suitcase.
• African Fabric Printing – Wed 28 Oct, 2.30pm–4pm, Minet Library. Free (ages 4–12). Young designers can try bold, colourful printing inspired by Ankara fabrics, a vibrant part of African cultural heritage.

Also worth booking

• Black Screen Classics – from Mon 19 Oct (until 30 Nov), BFI Southbank. £9.50 (£4 for under-16s). A wonderful Black History Month season of Black cinema, from Touki Bouki and Horace Ové’s Pressure to Babymother, celebrated as the first Black British musical.

Whatever you choose, we hope you have a wonderful week and a happy half-term – enjoy everything our brilliant neighbourhood has to offer!