Chapter and verse as festivals book a place in the diaries of literature lovers

It's also a hectic period on the ever-widening literature festival circuit. Twenty years ago, there were only a handful of these gatherings in the UK, but now there are more than 120 dotted around the country, from big hitters like Cheltenham and Hay-on-Wye, to fledgling events like the Malton Literature Festival, which opens its doors for the first time later this month.

Despite the fact that year-on-year sales of books are down, the popularity of literature festivals has remained buoyant, with Yorkshire home to some of the biggest and most vibrant in the country. The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, in Harrogate, is now the largest crime writing festival in Europe and attracted a record 8,500 visitors this summer, while

Ilkley Literature Festival is the North of England's oldest and largest lit fest and in the top five in the country.

There are also established literary festivals in Beverley, Huddersfield, Scarborough, Sheffield, Morley, Hull and York. These aren't tin-pot events that attract the kind of minuscule audience you can count on one hand, either. Louis de Bernires, author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, kicked off the Beverley Literature Festival earlier this month, while the Morley Literature Festival, now in its fifth year, is the fastest-growing literature festival in Yorkshire, and this year boasts appearances by the likes of Barbara Taylor Bradford, Blake Morrison, Will Self and Iain Banks.

According to regional tourism organisation Welcome to Yorkshire, around 9,000 tickets sold for this year's Ilkley Literature Festival were bought by people living outside the area, and with the average festival-goer spending 28 per day in Yorkshire, this generates an extra 250,000. The Festival, which started in 1973, has grown dramatically over the past decade. In 2003, it had 43 events and attracted just 3,000 people, compared to last year, when 22,500 visitors flocked to around 200 events.

Festival director Rachel Feldberg believes there are a number of reasons for this surge in popularity. "People often say they're tired of hearing soundbites, and festivals give them opportunity to go and experience, firsthand, an author talking about a subject in depth.

"You hear people who say our culture has been dumbed down, but that isn't the case. We've had an audience listening in absolute rapture to a one-hour talk about the Israel-Palestine situation and we had a professor talking about Arabic science in Baghdad during the 8th century. It might not sound something that would necessarily interest people but it sold out weeks ago. We had retired people and teenagers in the audience and it was utterly compelling."

The allure of these kind of events can also be quite simple. "There's a real groundswell of people with an appetite for this kind of thing because adults love being read to and when do adults ever get read to?" The growing number of literature festivals has coincided not only with the development of the Internet and the online forum, but also with the demise of TV arts programmes like The South Bank Show. But who actually goes to them – is it just the affluent middle classes? "We feel the Festival should be accessible to everyone which is why we work with inner city schools in Bradford and Leeds and community groups that perhaps wouldn't normally have access to these kind of things," says Feldberg.

"Literature festivals aren't only for people who love readings. They're for people who want to come and listen to someone speak. Ellen MacArthur came here and gave a talk where she was saying 'we have to change the world' and by the end of it she had the whole room enthralled. And it wasn't about her book, it was about an amazing woman with great ideas being inspirational."

Author Will Self, who makes regular appearances at literature festivals, believes they have changed the nature of book readings. "Why has Britain got so many literature festivals? There used to be Cheltenham and a few others and that was it, but there are now well over 100," he says.

"It wasn't such a phenomenon when I started out. Readings at book shops had the virtue of being honest in the sense they were about a specific author and his, or her, writing, whereas literary festivals today are fulfilling a slightly different objective. They are less about the books and more about filling a cultural remit where people come for a cultural experience."

Nevertheless it is proving a popular one and as well as offering a shared experience for those with a love of books and reading, literature festivals are increasingly attracting a wide range of subjects and authors. Where else would you get the chance to see Alastair Campbell at the same event as Simon Armitage and comedian Jenny Eclair, all of whom feature in the line-up for this year's Off The Shelf festival in Sheffield?

Katie Allen, media editor at The Bookseller, says this is a growing trend. "Live fiction is getting more and more popular and in recent years we've seen more festivals that mix comedy and literature, so they end up with a broader audience."

She points out that these literary events are a cheaper way for publishers to promote an author's new book, rather than having to fork out for advertising and a nationwide book tour. "I think they have also changed what people expect from authors. They have to get out and promote their books and do the festival circuits if they want to sell more copies, because there are so many authors out there now. Writers can no longer sit locked away in their ivory towers."

But, given the fact that many literature festivals receive some kind of subsidy, are the impending public sector cuts likely to burst this bubble? "There are a lot of really small festivals in quite obscure places around the country that have popped up in recent years, so I'm not sure how they will do, but the bigger festivals seem to be doing well," says Allen.

Erica Morris, literary festivals manager with Harrogate International Festivals, believes they are here to stay. "Literature festivals have become a much more democratic art form because they allow people to meet their favourite authors and actually talk to them. You can interact with authors in a way you can't with, say, an orchestra and that's part of the appeal, because it doesn't cost much to buy a ticket but the return you get is worth so much more.

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n Hear audio recordings of many events at the Ilkley Literature Festival and interviews with the participants, at yorkshirepost.

co.uk/booksoutloud.