VISITORS to Dunbar could be writing a novel in just 90 minutes when CoastWord returns.

Leading authors, singers, poets and musicians are set to head to the town from May 22 to 25 for the annual written, spoken word and song-writing festival.

Preparations are already well under way and Hannah Lavery, creative director and founder, told the Courier: “We are lucky to have a very dedicated team of local volunteers and we have all been very busy putting together a really exciting programme.

“There is so much that goes into putting on a festival of this scale and ambition that our to-do list is never ending.

“But we have a lot of fun and are all really passionate about the festival and its aims.” This year’s programme features three days of events, concerts, workshops, readings and discussions with some of Scotland’s leading lights from the worlds of poetry and prose in attendance.

Highlights include musicians Karen Dietz and Richard Klein, Lach – an award-winning writer/performer of song, story and poetry – and Lucy Ribchester, who penned ‘The Hourglass Factory’.

They will all be joined by Rachel McCrum, this year’s Writer in Residence and author of ‘The Glassblower Dances’.

Events will take place in the town’s library and at the Dunmuir Hotel.

Mrs Lavery was “extremely excited” about the event.

She added: “There is so much to look forward to and I hope that there is really something for everyone in our programme.

“We have writing workshops, author talks and kids’ events.

“We also have an afternoon tea party with films of Dunbar from the Scottish Film Archive and evening cabaret nights which are going to be extremely special.

“These will showcase some fantastic talent, including both local and national writers, poets, storytellers and singer-songwriters, including last year’s favourite Monica Queen, Sexual Objects’ Davy Henderson, the amazing acoustic duo Jellybean’s Daughter, award-winning novelist Kirsty Logan and many more. “We are also really excited about bringing the highly acclaimed Village Pub Theatre from Sunny Leith to Sunny Dunny!

“This year we have also got some excellent creative writing workshops, among them a ‘Write a novel in 90 minutes!’ with award-winning novelist Zoe Strachan and meet the author events, including one with the exciting debut novelist Lucy Ribchester whose novel, ‘The Hourglass Factory’ has been one of the top 50 bestsellers in the UK.” The full CoastWord programme is available at www.coastword.co.uk and tickets are also now on sale.