‘An annual celebration of books in Scotland's sunniest city,’ is how programme manager Peggy Hughes describes Dundee Literary Festival. Now into its eighth year, it was originally established by Anna Day and Professor Kirsty Gunn as a June-set event in celebration of those writers earning honorary degrees from the University of Dundee, but has long since moved its time slot and grown in ambition. ‘The purpose is to bring readers and writers together, to meet favourite authors, get excited about books and have a brilliant, amusing, inspiring time together. It allows us to showcase Dundee in all its creative glory,’ says Hughes of the now five-day event.

She says she’s most excited to welcome international stars Jung Chang and Jodi Picoult for two special ‘bookend’ events outwith the main festival dates (18 Oct and 6 Nov, respectively), while other guests will include recent Canongate signee Kevin Barry, former Slits guitarist and recent autobiographer Viv Albertine, and Scots broadcaster and debut novelist James Naughtie. There will also be a young readers’ morning, a ‘Translation Slam’ and two nights of spoken word and music from Culture Laser and New Portsound, as well as a Comics Day on Sunday featuring Game of Thrones concept artist Will Simpson and writing team Leah Moore and John Reppion.

A £12 debut pass also buys entry to a range of events from debut authors like Kirsty Logan, Carys Bray, Alan Rowan and Uuganaa Ramsay, while the annual Dundee International Book Prize will see £10,000 and a publishing contract with Cargo Publishing awarded to the winner. ‘The creative scene in Dundee is extremely vibrant and diverse, fuelled from the ground up and supported and amplified by Creative Dundee,’ says Hughes. ‘The literary scene is a part of that broad, exciting landscape, and it's growing all the time.’

Dundee Literary Festival, Wed 22–Sun 26 Oct.