On the agenda: Bird's Eye View Film Festival; Alan Moore; Where Three Dreams Cross exhibition; Christopher Hirst's 'Love Bites'; Nicole Richie; The Wapping Project

Film

It's already a banner year for female film-makers, what with the Baftas being swept by Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, Andrea Arnold for Fish Tank and Martina Amati for her short I Do Air. And you can expect more treats from London's Bird's Eye View Film Festival, which showcases the very best new work helmed by women, including Whip It, Drew Barrymore's roller-derby-based directorial debut starring Ellen Page of Juno fame, and the heartbreaking Colombian drama Entre Nos. Thursday to 12 March, birds-eye-view.co.uk

Adam Jacques

Arts

Alan Moore, the graphic-novel genius whose next instalment of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is due out in a couple of months – is a notoriously private man. Which makes his appearance as the closing-night act at the north-east's biennial AV Festival even more special. He will perform a monologue inspired by JB Priestley's Depression-era travelogue English Journey, while images by the writer Iain Sinclair will be projected on the wall of the venue, The Sage in Gateshead. 5-14 March, avfestival.co.uk

AJ

Kids

If you haven't seen the excellent Where Three Dreams Cross exhibition at London's Whitechapel Gallery, then grab the kids and make a day of it with Saturday's one-off, child-friendly workshop. Not only do you get a guided tour of the exhibition – a study of 150 years of photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – and a workshop on making pinhole-camera pictures, but portrait photographer Marysa Dowling has transformed one of the rooms into a photo studio, where she'll snap you a free family portrait that reflects the local dress and customs of the original subjects of the exhibition. whitechapelgallery.org/tickets

AJ

Books

Unfortunately, this paper cannot review Christopher Hirst's excellent first book 'Love Bites' (Fourth Estate, £14.99), because the author, our former colleague, is so beloved here that nobody could give it an objective review. This is a shame, because his stories of a lifelong love affair through cooking (starting with Mrs H's scrambled eggs and culminating in a two-day Heston Blumenthal marathon, and containing not only recipes but the truth about what it's really like to cook them) is wise, tender and brilliantly funny, and everyone should buy it.

Katy Guest

Fashion

She's the LA socialite who's managed to wrangle herself happiness and a career after a brush with reality TV. Yes, Nicole Richie, she of the size zero/Paris Hilton's bestie fame, has grown up, filled out a bit and launched a pretty respectable fashion collection, following her charming House of Harlow jewellery line. The Winter Kate range is available at Selfridges from this weekend, so if you fancy working the sun-kissed, Californian boho look, you know where to go... selfridges.com

LM

Food

If you salivate over the dessert menu before even thinking about the starter, check out London's restaurant-cum-art space the Wapping Project's latest innovation: a three-course dessert menu. Marking a month-long collaboration pairing puds with Rémy Martin Cognac, you can gorge on nougat chunks, apricot tart and white-chocolate-and-pistachio cookies. But better book ahead – it's for one night only. 25 March, thewappingproject.com

AJ