The Booked! 2018 literary festival, which saw a flurry of free events across West Dunbartonshire over the past fortnight, has been dubbed “another huge success”.

Organised by West Dunbartonshire Council’s Libraries and Cultural Services department, with sponsorship from Creative Scotland, the “festival of words” welcomed a host of authors to venues across the area, sharing their knowledge and creativity for the public.

Highlights of this year’s programme of predominantly free events included an appearance from musician, songwriter and novelist Stuart David, best known as one of the founding members of influential band Belle and Sebastian.

The star returned to his hometown of Alexandria to talk about his newest novel, ‘Peacock’s Alibi’ – the latest in his series of Peacock novels.

Dumbarton Library was also packed to the rafters to hear leading broadcaster Sally Magnusson, in her third appearance at a Booked! festival, discuss her fiction debut The Sealwoman’s Gift.

Alom Shaha, the teacher, writer and film maker who is author of The Young Atheist’s Handbook and Mr Shaha’s Recipes for Wonder, also made a return to Dumbarton Library.

The popular science teacher ran a workshop of fun science experiments for children.

Meanwhile, Shaun Bythell, the owner of the largest secondhand bookstore in Scotland, dropped into Balloch Library to talk about his offering, Diary of a Bookseller.

And the festival wasn’t just about talks; there was also an opportunity for residents to get to grips with their own creativity and bring on their skills in workshops.

A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “Booked! 2018 has been another huge success. This year’s programme saw the introduction of two events specifically for families and the feedback has been extremely positive.

“We also delivered 10 interactive workshop sessions with authors in each of our high schools.

“We’ve continued to develop skills and creativity by offering two writing workshops hosted by Kirsty Logan.”

The festival finale, the Booked! Caberet at Millenium Hall, Gartocharn, brought together yet more talent in the form of singer-songwriter Emma Pollack, writer Chris McQueer, poet Katherine MacFarlane, musician Heir of the Cursed, and poet/songwriter Michael Pederson.