BOOKWORMS in Helensburgh and Lomond and beyond are being urged to make a date in their diary after a stellar line-up was unveiled for the 2022 Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival.

The event, taking place at Cove Burgh Hall on November 26 and 27, opens with Angus Roxburgh whose book on Putin has been updated to encompass recent events.

Next up is a double act – Rosemary Goring and Clare Hunter have both written very different books about Mary Queen of Scots.

After lunch, Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross will be interviewed about his new memoir by the BBC’s arts correspondent Pauline McLean.

After Ricky it's the turn of crime writer Denzil Meyrick, who lives in Gartocharn and who will be in conversation with fellow writer Doug Skelton - with whom he also shares a podcast.

Sunday opens with novelist Chris Brookmyre and his consultant anaesthetist wife Marisa Haetzman, who write under Ambrose Parry. A Corruption of Blood is their third novel.

They will be chaired by Radio Scotland favourite Janice Forsyth who is also on parade for the following guest Mollie Hughes, whose new book is about Scotland’s water and its attraction for sailors, kayakers paddle boarders and every other form of water sport. 

After lunch the legendary environmental writer Jim Crumley is chaired by broadcaster Sally Magnusson, and the festival closes with foreign correspondent, photographer and documentary maker David Pratt who will screen excepts from his Iraq, Ukraine, and Balkans films.

Stars of past festivals include canine social media stars Olive and Mabel, who brought their human, TV sports commentator Andrew Cotter, to the 2021 event, as well as former BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor, crime fiction authors Val McDermid and Dame Denise Mina, and many more.

Weekend passes for the festival – taking place on the weekend of Saturday, November 26 and Sunday, November 27, will go on sale later this month.

Keep an eye on the Cove Burgh Hall website – coveburghhall.org.uk – for details.