ACADEMICS and experts from as far afield as Australia and America will be in Bolton tomorrow for an international conference.

The Whitman 200 conference, hosted by the University of Bolton’s English Department, is a major event in the literary world and puts Bolton and its university firmly on the map.

Walt Whitman was a great American poet of the 19th century and Bolton has been chosen as the venue due to its unique links with him.

In 1885, James W. Wallace, a working-class man from Bolton, set up the Eagle Street ‘College’, a book group that celebrated his love for Walt Whitman’s poetry. Attracting a small group of like-minded men, Wallace and his followers wrote to Whitman, who to their amazement wrote back.

This remarkable correspondence led to two members of the group visiting Whitman in his home in America, each returning with a detailed travelogue of their time with Whitman, inspired to spread the word of Whitman’s greatness throughout Britain.

It is a particular honour for Bolton to be hosting this year's festival as 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of Whitman's birth.