Top literary names including Robert Harris and Victoria Hislop are lined up to appear at the fourth edition of the Queen's Park Book Festival.

Running over September 17 and 18, this year's festival boasts 20 talks with 50 guests, including a lively Saturday night celebration with music and late bar, and a spot of punditry about the Qatar World Cup with festival co-founder and broadcaster Hugh Pym.

Festival director Thomas du Plessis, said, Wimbledon Common aside, it's the only book festival to take place in a London park.

"It has all the right ingredients, a beautiful park, a lot of goodwill, a residents associations with lots of energy, and a very literary area - we've had some top people since we started in 2018, and authors love it."

The management consultant was inspired to found the annual fixture after hearing about a smaller venture some years before.

"I heard there was a tiny book festival in 2011/12 and thought it was the perfect place to create an artistic programme of all genres, but with a focus on fiction. I love literature and really wanted to do it."

Harris discusses his new novel Act of Oblivion, about the manhunt for the killers of Charles I; prize-winning novelist Eimear McBride joins a panel with two local film-makers exploring the centenary of James Joyce's Ulysses; travel writer Colin Thubron's latest book follows the river which divides Russia and China; and Hislop's One August Night is a sequel to bestseller The Island which returns to the Greek island of Spinalonga at a dramatic moment in its history.

One theme is of mothers, with Hampstead author Susie Boyt discussing her novel about the limits of maternal love Mothers&Daughters; Kate Maxwell, Lana Citron and Michelle Shine debating 'Motherhood and Female Identity,' and Howard Jacobson talking about his memoir Mother's Boy - A Writer's Beginnings which describes his journey from working class immigrant to Booker prizewinner.

Alongside the two main marquees there's a free community tent featuring up and coming local writers.

"It's a really special ingredient that aims to attract lots of different writers," said du Plessis. "You'd be amazed by how many authors are local."

There are also free tickets for Brent Sixth Formers, two children's events and a Young Writer's competition with local schools.

"We are volunteer-run so it's about building slowly, you need a core community of loyal supporters who will come every year and we have that in Maida Vale, Queen's Park and Kensal Rise."

Du Plessis is personally excited about Philip Oltermann discussing his book The Stasi Poetry Society about the spies who tried to win the culture war with the West, and comic Konstantin Kisin's witty An Immigrant's Love Letter to The West which charts his upbringing in Soviet Russia and move to the UK.

"Our secret is to treat the authors well and work hard to get them good audiences - the day pass system helps people to experiment and enjoy those unexpected encounters and events."

The Queen's Park Literary Festival runs September 17-18 with day passes £20 and weekend passes £36. For a full line up and tickets go to https://queensparkbookfestival.co.uk/