Booked! - the West Dunbartonshire Literature Festival

The sixth West Dunbartonshire Literature Festival will take place 5 - 12 June, beginning with an Alastair Pearson lecture and ending with the ever-popular Folk Night in the Railway Tavern, Dumbarton.

There are varied programmes for both adults and children, and all events, with the exception of the Folk Night, are free of charge, although a ticket is required to gain admission.

The programme

Some of the events taking place as part of the Adults' Programme are:

• Jack McLean - The Man in the Fedora Hat. Jack McLean will be known to many readers in the area as a witty columnist for The Herald over the past 25 years. He is also the author of titles such as The Bedside Urban Voltaire and the autobiographical Hopeless, not Serious.
• Writers' Group Roadshow - Local writers' groups travel to the Vale on the Festival Roadshow bus, to display their literary talents.
• Zoe Strachan and Alan Bissett - Zoe Strachan is author of Negative Space and Spin Cycle and Alan Bissett is a creative writing tutor and author of Boyracers and The Incredible Adam Spark.
• Christopher Brookmyre - one of the hottest properties in UK crime fiction, with several highly successful novels to his credit.
  

For times, venues and details of other events, please visit the West Dunbartonshire Libraries website.

The children's programme is one of the biggest yet, with appearances from authors such as Moira Munro, Cathy Cassidy, Catherine Forde and Karen McCombie. There will also be two 'Inspirational Poetry Days' on 10 and 17 June. These days, for groups of children from local primary schools, have been highly popular in the past and this year, children will come from schools in Vale of Leven and Clydebank.

Special events and competitions

There are several special events and competitions taking place, including the West Dunbartonshire Novella Award, the Annual Poetry Competition and an online quiz.

To enter the Novella Award, novellas of between 20,000 and 40,000 words should be submitted to Novella Competition, c/o Mr Ian Baillie, Clydebank Library, Dumbarton Road, Clydebank, G81 1XH before 28 February 2007 and the winner will be announced at next year's festival.

If you don't fancy writing a novella, you could write a poem instead. The theme of this year's competition is 'War and Peace' and first prize is a £50 book token with a runner-up prize of a £25 book token. The closing date for entries is 7 June 2006. For more information please visit the West Dunbartonshire libraries website.