STARS of the literary world will be in Dorchester this weekend as the county town hosts its first ever literary festival.

The three-day event will run from Friday to Sunday and has attracted a host of names such as Dom Joly, Julian Fellowes, Minette Walters, Richard Madeley, Judy Finnigan and Kate Adie.

The festival was organised by Antiques Roadshow star Paul Atterbury and writer Janet Gleeson as they felt a town with Dorchester's rich literary heritage was long overdue such an occasion.

They hope to make it an annual event.

Festival patron Tracy Chevalier, who achieved global acclaim with her best selling novel Girl With a Peal Earring, will help launch the event on Friday when she chooses her Desert Island Books in conversation with Mr Atterbury.

She said: "I'm really looking forward to it and in a way it makes perfect sense that Dorchester, with all of its literary connections to Hardy, would want to have a literary festival.

"I think it was only a matter of time before that happened."

Tracy said there was always an element of the unknown when events such as literary festivals are held for the first time but she was confident Dorchester's offering would prove to be a success.

She said: "It's always a little bit of a leap into the dark when it's a new festival but I know tickets have been selling well and there has been a lot of interest public and press and that's really great."

Tracy said she had been thinking hard about her Desert Island Books and was looking forward to sharing them with the audience.

She said: "It's more a look at the books that represent some part of your life.

"I think it's a great way to go through a writer's life because in order to write you have got to try and read a lot."

Tracy said she was hoping to catch a number of the other speakers during the festival.

She said: "I think it's going to be a really great weekend."

Saturday's events will include Antiques Roadshow star Marc Allum talking about his book, Allum's Almanac.

He said he was looking forward to getting involved in the first ever Dorchester Literary Festival.

Marc said: "It's always really quite nice to be in on the ground floor when something gets going.

"I think Janet and Paul and everyone involved has done a brilliant job of organising it.

Marc said he was impressed by the big names who has been lined up for the festival.

He said: "I feel slightly humbled by some of the people I'm surrounded by."

For a full list of events and more information visit dorchesterliteraryfestival,com