MORE than 200 tickets sold in the first afternoon as the online box office for Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival opened to the public this week.

The festival is now in its third year and is being held on Saturday and Sunday, November 16 and 17.

Copies of the printed programme are now also available to pick up across Exmoor, Devon, and Somerset.

A host of authors have been lined up for talks in Dulverton Town Hall during the festival.

They include Deborah Meaden and money agony aunt Claer Barrett demystifying finance for young people, and Jonathan Dimbleby and historical biographer Andrew Lownie discussing Stalin and World War Two.

Caroline Quentin and editor Gaby Huddart will be ‘Drawn to the Garden’, while fashion icon Plum Sykes with writer Alice Thomson will discuss Plum’s new novel ‘Wives Like Us’, and former Children’s Laureate Lauren Child will be appearing with her latest ‘Clarice Bean’ story.

Others include bestselling novelists Jennie Godfrey, Vanessa de Haan, Jessica Moor, and Kate Lord Brown.

Exmoor resident Stanley Johnson will chat about his latest travel journal with editor Miranda Taylor, while there will be a launch of the new photographic book ‘Exmoor Farms: A Year on the Moor’ by Victoria Eveleigh.

Professor Charles Foster will immerse himself in the lives of wild animals with writer Rachel Campbell Johnston, and horse racing experts Janet Vokes, Johnson White, and Charles Blanning will also star.

Tickets for the festival are only available online through a box office on the Visit Dulverton website here.

This year includes a ‘Introduction to Crime Writing’ discussion with crime writers Louise Douglas and Sarah Easter Collins in Dulverton Library, although the venue can only accommodate 20 people.

A number of free admission events have been added to the weekend which will not require tickets, including novelist Hazel Prior’s book readings, with her Celtic harp, in the Bridge Inn, a ‘Meet the Author’ session in the library with Jo Middleton, Zoe Gibson Quirk, Ian Parsons, Richard Collis, and Powers Ian Mawby, and a ‘Children’s Story Corner’ with book readings for youngsters with Emily Hamilton and Emma Bettridge, also in the Bridge Inn.

Waterstones Barnstaple will again stage a pop-up bookshop, providing an opportunity for author-signed books to be purchased in time for Christmas gifts.

Entries have started to be received for the festival’s children’s writing competition with this year’s theme for writers aged under 13 years being ‘Magical Exmoor’.

The prizes will be presented by Lauren Child.

Festival director Ali Pegrum said: “We are thrilled that so many extraordinarily talented writers are coming to our charming moorland town, bringing an often-requested slice of literary culture to Exmoor.

“There could well be tickets still available on the door on the day, but it is definitely wise to book beforehand.

“Our huge thanks to the many local businesses and individuals for sponsoring the event, thus enabling it to go ahead for a third consecutive year.”

A pre-festival nostalgic ‘Dulverton and Exmoor on Film’ evening will also be held in the town hall on October 25.