make sure you...

Get wordy... at the "Ways With Words Literary Weekend" in York. If you've ever thought you'd like to be able to dodge bullets and speak to millions of people at the same time, then catch the first talk by Kate Adie, "From The Front Line", when Adie will discuss her experience of working in dangerous places as a TV reporter. On Saturday, husband and wife Paul Heiney and Libby Purves will be talking about their latest novels on home life and living on a farm, while James Long, an ex-BBC investigator who has turned his hand to a number of political thrillers, will speak about his latest novel, a romantic historical fiction called Ferney. There will also be Lisa St Aubin de Teran, discussing her exotic time living in the Andes; David Weeks, a neuropsychologist who has a theory on how certain old people manage to stay young; and the BBC racing correspondent Richard Pitman on his prolific series of novels based on a fictional horse-racing commentator.

Tickets from the Dean Court Hotel, Duncombe Place, York YO1 2EF (01904 625 082). Held at St William's College, 5 College Street, York. To 29 March

Get sharking... at the London International Dive Show. A diverse range of diving-related events, including Britain's first ever sub-aqua fashion show, In Too Deep, and a presentation of aqua films, from the apocalyptic The Island of Doctor Moreau to the paradisiacal The Blue Lagoon, will help you tell your fins from your flippers. And for those with a taste for danger, there's the husband-and-wife diving and underwater film-making team Ron and Valerie Taylor, best known for filming the live shark sequences in Jaws.

Olympia, The Grand Hall, Hammersmith Road, London W6. Tickets pounds 5 advance (call 0181-977 9878) or pounds 7.50 at the door. To 29 March