The writers heading to Scarborough for Books by the Beach festival

It is described by its organiser as somewhat of a book pilgrimage, bringing avid readers to Scarborough for a holiday whilst enjoying literary treats.

Books by the Beach festival has been running for nearly a decade and is back this weekend for another year of novels and conversation.

The festival has traditionally used a variety of quirk venues, with those attending in the past experiencing a lighthouse, Victorian prison and the kitchen of Grade II*-listed country house Wykeham Abbey.

“About 70 per cent of the audience are local to the area but 30 per cent travel from around the UK to visit Books by the Beach every year.

“It’s a book pilgrimage for many, who organise holidays around the festival dates.

“It’s very important culturally for the town and helps keep it on the map.

“Many visiting writers also leave with happy memories of Scarborough and pass these stories onto their publicists and fellow authors.”

This year’s event will be launched by novelist Patrick Gale, who will be introducing his new work Mother’s Boy.

Author Lisa Jewell will then share a stage with her biographer Will Brooker, who has written on Lisa’s career and the creative process of forming a novel.

Saturday night’s headliner is Charlie Higson, the creator and star of comedy series The Fast Show, who has written widely for radio and television.

Leading Sunday’s lineup is former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, whose memoir trilogy based on his life and career has won a number of awards. He will be talking about his move into fiction and debut novel.

Other highlights include a talk by John Volanthen, a cave diver who played a leading role in rescuing a soccer team and their coach trapped underground in Thailand in 2018.

Others telling their stories are Professor Lucy Easthope, a leading authority on disaster recovery, who plans for unthinkable, life-changing events such as earthquakes, wars, terrorist attacks and plane crashes, and journalist Anita Sethi, who became the victim of a race-hate crime on a train journey and then turned to nature and outdoor exercise to heal herself, walking the ‘backbone of Britain’, exploring place, identity and belonging.

TV presenter of Coast and geographer Nicholas Crane will be discussing his new book Latitude, Dr Chloe Duckworth, a lecturer in Archaeology at Newcastle University and expert on Channel 4’s The Great British Dig will be discussing her TV tie-in book and the fun the team have excavating the back gardens of Britain and for the festival finale, Keith Brymer Jones will talk about his journey to becoming master potter and lead judge of The Great Pottery Throwdown.

Heather says: “This year’s programme offers a variety of best-selling novelists and personal stories and I’m really looking forward to it.

“I couldn’t deliver Books by the Beach without the assistance of a wonderful band of volunteers who have been loyal since the outset. They love the buzz of the festival, helping ensure audiences and authors are happy.

“The festival employs local graphic and web designers, printers and sign makers. It doesn’t receive any public funding or business sponsorship and everything rests on tickets sales.”

Books by the Beach festival, whose patron is former head of BBC Radio Helen Boaden, takes place on June 11 and 12.

The full programme is available online.

To see that, and for tickets, visit www.booksbythebeach.co.uk or call Scarborough YMCA Theatre on 017213 506750