BRIDPORT: A celebration of the written word has drawn book lovers to the town.

The tenth Bridport Literary Festival, running until Sunday, has given trade in the town a boost and has attracted authors such as Costa Novel Award winner Christopher Nicholson and Charles Spencer, Earl of Althorp.

This year’s festival is proving the most popular to date and many of the 25 events have sold out, organisers at the festival’s venues say.

Bookworms have been flocking to The Bull Hotel, the Electric Palace, the Bridport Arts Centre and Sladers Yard Cafe and Gallery in West Bay for a range of author talks and literary discussions.

The George Millar Literary Dinner was held at the Bull Hotel on Tuesday evening with guest speaker Anthony Sattin talking about his book on TE Lawrence.

Special event ‘A Dorset Parish Remembers 1914-1919’ was held yesterday at the Riverside Restaurant at West Bay – a discussion on a book written about 11 men from Powerstock who fought in the First World War, written by 17 would-be authors from across the parish.

Alice Draper, events manager at The Bull Hotel, said events at the hotel had proved ‘incredibly popular’.

She said: “We’ve been involved with the literary festival for about four years and the popularity has grown immensely, each talk here has been a sell-out.”

Locals and visitors alike have visited the festival, Alice said.

“I’m seeing a lot of local faces but also among the crowds there are people who have travelled from elsewhere.

“We’re getting a lot of phone calls from people since the festival started.

“I think it’s really positive, not only for the hotel, but for the whole of Bridport as well.”

Sladers Yard has hosted a talk by author James Crowden on his book on the First World War and a talk by author Graham Fawcett on the poet WH Auden.

The Ian Smith Trio jazz performance on Sunday is expected to draw in the crowds, with an exploration made of the deep connections between music and Harold Pinter’s writing.

Anna Powell, curator of Sladers Yard, said the popularity of festival events at West Bay cafe and gallery has mushroomed over the last few years.

She said: “The poetry evening we had always has a steady, regular following and the Ian Smith jazz trio has gone down a storm.

“I think it’s lovely for us to be a part of it. It’s really great they keep asking us to do it.

“It’s very gratifying and it seems to have become a hugely popular festival.”

Today is Crime Day at the festival, with Felix Francis, son of Dick Francis, talking about his fifth novel Damage.

Tomorrow is British History Day when the life of Sir Winston Churchill and his paintings will be discussed by his granddaughter-in-law Minnie Churchill. On Saturday scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock will give the Kenneth Allsop Memorial Talk on his life as a scientist, nature writer Horatio Clare will talk about travelling the oceans on cargo ships and Jung Chang, bestselling author of Wild Swans, will talk about Empress Dowager Cixi, believed to be the most important woman in Chinese history.

See bridlit.com for more information.