Tickets for this year’s Bridport Literary Festival go on general release this Friday, 26 August.

There’s already great interest in the 43 events, which take place in venues around the town from 6-12 November.

Sponsored by Dorset law firm Kitson & Trotman, BridLit will be hosting events at The Electric Palace, The Bull Hotel, Sladers Yard in West Bay, The Tithe Barn at Symondsbury, Bridport Library, The Sir John Colfox Academy and The Book Shop in South Street.

Stars from stage and screen are joining top names in literature for the 18th annual festival we all know (and love) as BridLit.

They include actors Dame Sheila Hancock and Hugh Bonneville and award-winning novelists Maggie O’Farrell and Kit de Waal, whose memoir has just been featured on BBC Radio 4, travel writer Colin Thubron, environmental activist George Monbiot, singer songwriter Polly Harvey, politicians David Owen and Chris Patten, war correspondent Jeremy BowenToday presenter Justin Webb, veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, gardener and novelist Alan Titchmarsh and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

General booking opens from 26 August at Bridport Tourist Information Centre, in Bucky Doo Square (telephone 01308 424901 and email bridport.tic@bridport-tc.gov.uk), where printed programmes are available, and online at bridlit.com

Poetry, children’s events, politics, journalism, environmentalism, travel and nature writing are all represented at the festival.

Please check out our BridLit updates on Facebook – facebook.com/BridLitFestival – on Twitter @BridLitFestival and on Instagram as @bridlitfestival