Word – University of Aberdeen writers festival

Authors, thinkers and commentators from all over the world came each year to Aberdeen for a three-day celebration of the written word with a mix of readings, discussions, films and exhibitions.

[2] Attendance at the 2010 Festival was in excess of 11,000, with a year of record ticket sales for a weekend of various events – readings, debates, music, exhibits, workshops and film screenings from more than 100 authors, poets, musicians, actors, artists, thinkers and media personalities.

The 2010 programme was the most international yet, with Mayan poetry from Guatemala (translated into Scots), one of Poland's leading novelists, memoires of Sierra Leone, and an annual event on Spanish writing.

The international focus was juxtaposed against an equally strong Scottish line-up, including a tribute to the north-east Doric storyteller Stanley Robertson, a series of Tartan Noir events, a debate on the state of the Scottish nation, a Gaelic book launch and children's storytelling sessions in Gaelic and Doric.

Names appearing at the Festival included Nobel laureate Alasdair Gray, Alexander McCall Smith, Louis de Bernières, Seamus Heaney, Ian Rankin, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Lionel Shriver, and Irvine Welsh, as well as a packed series of events for young readers.