STORIES are being brought to life this week with a series of unique and vibrant author talks, workshops, dance and poetry as part of Bracknell Forest Library’s first ever literary festival. 

The successful event is well underway having launched at South Hill Park with Carnegie nominated and talented performance poet Joseph Coelho on October 26. 

But there is still plenty to enjoy until November 2 at venues around the area. 

Today (Thursday) will see a day packed full of talks and workshops for adults and children alike - including an interactive event with children’s author Eloise de Sousa at Ascot Heath Library from 10.30am for an hour. 

Eloise will join fellow author Fiona Barker at Birch Hill Library later that day from 2.30pm to 4pm for an adult workshop on how to write for children.

Anjana Chowdhury will give an insight into ‘A Taste of India’ complete with a name that spice challenge and saree wrapping demonstration at Whitegrove Library from 5pm to 6pm, while David Barker will entertain audiences at Sandhurst Library from 2pm to 3pm with a talk called ‘Cli-Fi and the World War for Water’. 

Anjana was shortlisted for the Yeovil Prize 2014 and was winner of the Cinnamon Press Annual Debuty Novel prize in 2015 - both for her book, Under the Pipal Tree. 

She is a much-travelled English teacher, rap and ballet fan and is currently working on her second novel. 

Friday, November 1, will see non-fiction fans  enjoy the company of Alan Gallop with his latest book ‘Heathrow Airport Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ at Binfield Library from 3.30pm, and Birch Hill Library will host adventure writer SM Porter for a talk on ‘Archaeological Adventures’  at Birch Hill Library from 6pm. 

The final day of the festival will see a range of events at Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst libraries, including an adults workshop by Susan Purcell which will unravel the language of cryptic crosswords and an author talk by Katharine Johnson on ‘The Suspects’. 

Susan Purcell is the author of several children’s dictionaries and thesauruses and is co-editor of the Puzzle Crossword Solver’s Dictionary, published by Penguin. 

SP K-Mushambi will provide interactive storytelling for The Mysterious Melody at Sandhurst Library - complete with African drums, maracas and other instruments, giving children a chance to create noise and musical mayhem. 

The Noir Collective - made up of three authors, GD Harper, Helen Matthews and Katharine Johnson - will host a workshop at Crowthorne Library and will talk about how a bad decision is the driving force behind so many great stories, from Shakespeare to Thomas Hardy and Paula Hawkins. 

The audience will be encouraged to engage, ask questions and if enough, share some of their own bad-choice stories. 

For the full programme of events and more information, go to www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/literaryfestival. 

Tickets £5 for adults and £2.50 for children - book in person, call or email your local library.