THOUSANDS of book lovers visited Dorchester this past week to attend the town's literary festival.

Now in its second year, the Dorchester Literary Festival ran from last Wednesday until Sunday.

At least 3,000 people attended this years event, at least double the numbers of last year, festival directors have said.

The event brought authors from all over the world to Dorset with fans following close behind.

This year the festival was raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and an incredible £1,000 was raised just from collection buckets at the events, and there is more yet to come.

Festival director, Janet Gleeson spoke to the Echo about her highlights.

She said: "Tracy Chevalier, our patron, in conversation with Penny Strong was just such a lovely event. They talked about her book and cider making and we had samples of cider in the middle of it. Victoria Hislop in conversation with Steve Harris gave a fascinating insight into how a multi-million copy novelist got her ideas from and how she set off in her career.

"Sir Tony Robinson was just hilarious. Everyone was just in stitches.

"I think the most popular event and another highlight for me was Daphne Selfe, the 88-year-old supermodel. What was interesting was the audience, every event had a different type of audience and for this one it was a lot of women of a certain age looking very glamorous and immaculate. Daphne was very moving. Her own philosophy on life was very inspirational.

"Poems that Make Grown Women Cry by father and son Anthony and Ben Holden was another moving event. The poetry was just beautiful and gave you such thought while other poems were really quite funny.

"Our final event, Kate Adie in conversation with Paul Atterbury, was another packed event. She is a very popular woman. She talked about her experience in Tiananmen Square in 1989 which was a real eye opener.

"Overall it was a wonderful set of events and we are already looking forward to next year."

Dates for the 2017 Dorchester Literary Festival have already been confirmed and will be held from Wednesday, October 18 until Sunday, October 22. For more information visit dorchesterliteraryfestival.com/