ORGANISERS of Ramsbottom’s first Literary and Arts Festival hope the "writing's on the wall" for a successful event on Saturday.

The town has earned a reputation for holding crowd-pulling annual events including pie, cake and chocolate festivals and the world black pudding throwing championships.

Now people are expected to flock to town for its first festival celebrating authors, poets, burlesque dancers and the dramatic arts.

Organised by Ramsbottom Writers’ Circle, pubs, cafes, churches and schools will be welcoming visitors throughout Saturday (November 21), from 10am to midnight.

Spokesman Elaine Speakman said: “What we need now is bums on seats for all our events.

“We’re hoping for a fantastic and very busy event and have had a lot of interest so far.

“The burlesque night at The Grants Arms is going to be successful and we’ve got the best performer in the North West, so these ladies are no amateurs.”

There will be a variety of paid for and free events including ‘meet-the-author’ spots across the town.

The festival, which is being crowdfunded, will feature other main events at the town's library and civic hall.

There is a £1,000 Kickstarter funding appeal running, to support the organisational costs, which can be accessed at tinyurl.com/rammylitfest.

For further details and tickets: go to rammylitfest.com.