CRIME, biography and history rubbed shoulders with sculpture, poetry and children's fiction at a memorable 2016 Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival.

Chris Brookmyre, Melanie Reid, Liz Lochhead, Muriel Gray, Alistair Moffat, Jan Patience and Louise Wyllie all spoke about their work and their literary passions over the two days of the event at Cove Burgh Hall.

And younger readers were thrilled by the chance to meet Lynne Rickards and Mairi Hedderwick – the latter the creator of the hugely successful series of 'Katie Morag' stories – and to find out more about their writing and how they came up with their much-loved characters.

Among the fascinating subjects discussed during the course of the weekend were the biography of Scots actor Gregor Fisher, written by Melanie Reid, and the twisting-and-turning crime thriller Black Widow, which won Chris Brookmyre the 2016 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime fiction.

Liz Lochhead, the former Scots Makar, showed just why she spent five years as Scotland's national poet with a series of sparkling readings to entertain her Saturday evening audience.

On Sunday Jan Patience and Louise Wyllie spoke about the life and work of the enigmatic sculptor George Wyllie, whose creations included a straw locomotive, hung from the Finnieston Crane in Glasgow in 1987, and a paper boat which floated on the Clyde two years later and went on to visit New York and Antwerp.

Alistair Moffat spoke about his 2015 work 'Scotland: A History From Earliest Times', before author and broadcaster Muriel Gray brought down the curtain on the festival in typically entertaining fashion.

The festival has grown in stature since the inaugural event in 2014 – and Advertiser columnist Ruth Wishart, one of the organisers, paid tribute to the small army of local volunteers who have helped make it such a success.

“It  just couldn’t happen without a squad of local volunteers looking after all the component parts,” Ruth said.

“Among our local stalwarts are a professional photographer and sound engineer, and brilliant flower arranger.

“We have also build up a bit of a reputation as a home baking festival with books attached - given the mound of goodies provided by local bakers.

“I reckon that over the two days some 25 plus folk took their turns on all the rotas keeping the show on the road, everyone giving up the weekend (and often many planning nights beforehand) to make sure the Book Festival runs on castors.

“We had a huge number of attendees coming round from Helensburgh, people from Glasgow and Gourock and Arrochar.  

“But the prize for dedication goes to Joan Michael and Jean Urquhart from Ullapool.  Joan runs the Ullapool book festival  on which our was based, and Jean was one of the moving spirits behind its launch in addition to running the legendary Ceilidh Place.  

“They made a 14 hour round trip and it was great to see them arrive to check up on their now not so little sister event."