AUTHORS, illustrators and performers alike headed to Chagford over the weekend to take part in the first ever Chagword literary festival.

An array of distinguished novelists, poets, broadcasters and illustrators were among the attractions at the event.

The weekend's activities kicked off with Australian author Kathy Lette broaching a range of topics in conversation with Sam North. Other highlights included appearances by Kate Mosse, children's author Philip Reeve and former MP and diarist Chris Mullin, a talk by Jonathan Dimbleby on the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein, and readings of poetry and prose by the Dartmoor-based Moor Poets.

Peter Shields from the organising team said: 'The whole weekend went very well indeed.

'In the end, everything sold out, so we had completely full houses throughout the entire weekend.

'The speakers and performers were all brilliant throughout the weekend, and it was a very enjoyable festival.

'The one thing that many of the authors and performers said was how much they enjoyed the festival, how well organised it was and how much they would like to come again if we were to hold another festival.

'That was very encouraging, and shows how well it all went.'