The author behind a story which became a global blockbuster on the silver screen is set to appear at a market town’s first ever literary festival.

Fakenham & Wells Times: Louis de Bernieres. Picture: ARCHANTLouis de Bernieres. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

Organisers behind the micro festival, Norfolk Write Now, which is being held in Fakenham, are hoping to attract visitors in a bid to celebrate all that is fantastic about the written word.

Gilly Foortse, mayor of Fakenham, said: "It promises to be quite an event."

A panel of distinguished writers will be headlining the event, including author Louis de Bernières.

The writer, poet and musician wrote the war novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin and it was later turned into a Hollywood film featuring Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz in 2001. The book also won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel in 1994.

The author, who lives in south Norfolk, will be joined by Norwich-based poet Martin Figura and his wife and fellow poet Helen Ivory, as well as the author and screenwriter Jeremy Page.

Figura's collection and show Whistles was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and won the 2013 Saboteur Award for Best Spoken Word Show. His show, Dr Zeeman's Catastrophe Machine, is currently touring.

Ivory new Bloodaxe Books collection, The Anatomical Venus, examines how women have been portrayed as "other" including as witches, hysterics, and beautiful corpses cast in wax.

And Page, whose 2007 debut novel Salt is set among the saltmarshes of North Norfolk, is a previous fiction winner of an East Anglian Book Award. His second novel, The Wake, is set in the estuaries of East Anglia.

The event is being held at the Prince of Wales suite at Fakenham Racecourse, and has been supported by Fakenham Town Council.

People who attend will be able to ask the authors questions, as well as enjoy a free glass of wine.

During a break, participants will be able to meet and greet the authors too.

Norfolk Write Now! takes place from 7pm on Saturday, October 26. Tickets are £15. For more information, or to book, ring 01328 853653. Tickets and drinks will be issued at the door.