FOR those who love books there is plenty on the Litfest09 bill to whet the appetite.

Up there among the Lancaster festival’s literary glitterati will be Yorkshire poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan, who - along with the Ian McMillan Orchestra - promises a scintillating night of poems, music, comedy and improvisation on Sunday, October 18 (8pm).

Also in the line-up will be top Cumbrian author Sarah Hall (her How to Paint a Dead Man longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize) in the spotlight with another prominent prize-winning scribe, Andrew Miller, on October 22.

The whole event kicks off on October 16, running for ten days until October 25.

From Booker-shortlisted writers, new debut novelists, tales of rock ‘n’ roll excess and a whole day full of subtle and beautiful poetry - it really is a vertiable literary feast.

Most of the events take place at Litfest’s new home in The Storey Auditorium, while the mighty McMillan and his entertaining crew will take to The Dukes Theatre stage (tickets from the Dukes box office on 01524-598500).

Meanwhile, fans of historical fiction should book tickets for novelists Kate Pullinger and Cynthia McLeod, who both bring historical novels featuring wealthy, powerful women to the festival DJ Taylor, who reads with John Murray, will take the audience back to the London high life of the 1920s and two acclaimed African writers – EC Osundu and Chike Unigwe - will be playing Lancaster as part of an international tour.

And as for ones to watch out for, Litfest has a batch of new novelists - Jenn Ashworth, Richard Milward and Chris Killen - two of them chosen by Waterstones for their New Voices 2009.

Those who love to read the book before they see the film should pop along to see Steven Hall; his novel The Raw Shark Texts is being made into a film screenwritten by Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy, and described as a mix of The Matrix, The Da Vinci Code and Jaws.

Fans of the band The Fall are in for a treat as music journalist Dave Simpson, author of The Fallen: Searching for the Missing Members of The Fall, joins Litfest for a night of fiction, non-fiction and music.

He will be joined by Manchester-based Peter Wild, editor of the fiction anthology Perverted by Language: Fiction Inspired by the Fall, and Niall Griffiths, one of the writers who contributed to the collection.

All that plus writers’ work-shops, digital poetry displays, and writing from local groups.

Find out more from 01524-62166 or visit www.litfest.org.