Wigtown Book Festival: 24 September to 3 October 2010

The Wigtown Book Festival is set in glorious rolling countryside in the shadow of the Galloway hills and a stone's throw from the Solway Firth, the royal burgh of Wigtown is Scotland's National Book Town. It has often been described as a sort Hay-on-Wye with a kilt: the ancient market town has more than 15 bookshops. It's also home to the Wigtown Book Festival (24 September to 3 October 2010), the largest annual literary gathering in Scotland outside Edinburgh.

Now in its second decade, the VisitScotland Thistle-award winning festival has almost doubled in size over the past three years and its reputation has grown as well. Last year, The Guardian picked the event as one of the UK's top five literary festivals. The Scotsman has been equally enthusiastic. "It may only have a population of 1,000," its reporter wrote, "but Wigtown doesn't just punch above its weight when it comes to attracting big name authors, it punches above pretty much everybody else's weight, too."

One of the things that makes this festival unique is the level of community involvement. Set up originally as part of a project to reinvigorate a (then) rather down-at-heel town, it relies on dozens of local volunteers. More than 10 per cent of the town's people give their time. The result is an event that oozes friendliness. Visitors tend to get the personal touch.

Recent speakers have ranged from Top Gear’s James May to Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle; from a political firebrand such as George Galloway to distinguished Scottish writers like James Kelman, Janice Galloway, AL Kennedy and Alasdair Gray. There are also events for children as well as music, theatre and film. This year’s programme will be released towards the end of July, but among those who have already confirmed attendance are Ian Rankin, Gervase Phinn, Jackie Kay, Andrew Greig, Richard Holloway, Allan Massie and Rupert Thomson.