Where to start with Rupert Everett? His debut film performance in Another Country? His starring role in My Best Friends Wedding? The voice of Prince Charming in Shrek 2? Or, perhaps, with his writing? Everett is not just a fine actor he has been nominated twice for BAFTAs but an accomplished author too. Back in 1989 he wrote his first novel, Hello, Darling, Are You Working? Later he became a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, but it wasnt until he published his first memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, in 2006, that he was taken seriously as a writer. The book, described as continuously brilliant by The Guardian, earned him comparisons with Noel Coward, David Niven, Evelyn Waugh and even Lord Byron. Opulently gossipy, but tender too. Two more memoirs followed, cementing his reputation as an accomplished author. Now we have The American No, a collection of short stories that draws on Everetts wealth of TV and film ideas hes dreamt up over the years. One story features the ferociously unforgiving life of an LA talent agency. Another vividly evokes Oscar Wildes last night in Paris. And then theres the Russian-American countess who confronts sex and age in a Wiltshire teashop

With pithy and highly entertaining creations such as Early Morning Love Poem and powerful and moving poems such as Refugees, its no surprise that Brian Bilston has been dubbed the Poet Laureate of Twitter and the Banksy of the poetry world. A former marketing manager in publishing, Bilston didnt begin to publish poetry until the social media age was well under way. Not for him the long narratives of Byron or Eliot: Twitter is the perfect medium. Visit his website and click on About Brian, meanwhile, and you will simply be told: I write poems. Bilston will be treating LitFest to a smorgasbord from his collections, which include You Took the Last Bus Home; Alexa, What is There to Know About Love?; and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems. He is also the author of the novel Diary of a Somebody. His new book of poetry for children, A Poem for Every Question, illustrated by Joe Berger, will be published in September.