Queen’s Park already existed when James Joyce’s Ulysses was published, in 1922. Perhaps the banned book was even read there, smuggled onto those 30 acres of green, nestled then and now in a neighborhood of Victorian homes. One hundred years later, the Ulysses centenary is one item on the Queen’s Park Book Festival program. Convening in North London on September 17 and 18 are the literary mammoths Robert Harris, Howard Jacobson, Eimear McBride, Victoria Hislop, Susie Boyt, and Colin Thubron. Up for discussion are topics such as marginalized Victorians, travel writing, identity and belonging, mothers and daughters, a Stasi Poetry Circle, baking, the World Cup, new books, debut books, and more. The festival, now in its fourth iteration, has been called an “oasis.” Come drink. —Grazie Sophia Christie