WHEN: Friday 30 April - Sunday 19 September
WHAT: MAGNIFICENT MAPS: Power, Propaganda and Art
Magnificent Maps showcases the British Library's unique collection of large-scale display maps, many of which have never been exhibited before. The exhibition will include large-scale maps from the 1400s to the present day, including the largest atlas in the world, the Klencke Atlas of 1660. It will suggest the settings in which they might originally have been seen, reveal the themes that unite them, and explore the reason behind their construction ranging from indoctrination and statements of power to expressions of local pride.
WHERE: Paccar Gallery, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, LONDON, NW1 2DB (Tube: Kings Cross)
PRICE AND INFO: Free. Find out more (including opening hours) on the British Library website

WHEN: Wednesday 5 May - Thursday 27 May
WHAT: Asia House Festival of Asian Literature
The only festival in Britain dedicated to writing about Asia, The Asia House Festival of Asian Literature returns to London for its 4th year, with more than 40 writers appearing in 20 different events. Highlights include appearances by author of Songs of Blood and Sword, Fatima Bhutto; writer and historian William Dalrymple; author of A Life Apart, Neel Mukherjee; biographer Hilary Spurling; author and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown; poet Daljit Nagra; writer Victoria Schofield and author and broadcaster John Kampfner.
WHERE: Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, LONDON, W1G 7LP (Tube: Oxford Circus)
PRICE AND INFO: Various prices. For more information telephone 020 7307 5454 or go to the Festival of Asian Literature's website

WHEN: Tuesday 25 May, 7pm
WHAT: 21st Century Challenges: Natural Disasters - how can we improve?
Cameron Sinclair, the founder of Architecture for Humanity, a San Francisco based non-profit organisation which seeks architecture and design solutions to humanitarian crises, will be speaking alongside Dame Barbara Stocking of Oxfam GB and Martin Bell. The discussion will focus on how international aid agencies, governments and the private enterprise can improve and better co-ordinate their responses to natural disasters, to ensure the lessons learnt benefit vulnerable communities worldwide in the long term.
WHERE: Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), 1 Kensington Gore, LONDON, SW7 2AR (Tube: South Ken)
PRICE AND INFO: Tickets are £7 for RGS-IBG members, £10 for non-members. Find out more on the RGS website