IT'S the area's newest literary festival and like all good ideas it came about after a glass of wine or two.

That's the ISBN Festival, which as well as being the identification number for all books in the UK, also stands for In Stoke By Nayland.

The inception of next weekend's inaugural event began at a dinner party at the end of 2015, since when a committee of eight have been working tireless to put together a festival to be proud of.

And they've certainly done that with a whole host of big names lined-up including Deborah Moggach, the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, award-winning writer Jill Dawson, and publisher, Liz Calder, who was a founder of Bloomsbury and behind the publication of some of the greatest authors of our time.

David Charleston, who runs the Open Road bookshop in the village, is also one of the organisers of the festival.

He says: "It started at this dinner party and after such lovely food and drink, we started to talk about some of the people we knew and it turned out a lot of them were authors or in publishing.

"It had occurred to me before, that after having plenty of authors in the bookshop, perhaps we could take it to the next level and arrange for a whole series of events in and around the village."

Jane Wilson, who is also on the committee, adds: "After that evening it just took off and we began pooling our resources, plundering our connections, to put this festival together.

"I think we've all aged another five years trying to make it happen and it was a lot more work than we first envisaged but we're very happy with our first programme."

As well as the literary big hitters there's a huge vein of nature writing running through the festival bill.

Local legend Ronald Blythe will be in conversation with Essex University's James Canton, who himself will be talking about his latest book, Ancient Wonderings.

There's also appearances from Richard Mabey, talking about his career writing about plants, and Jules Pretty whose latest release is The East Country: Almanac Tales of Valley and Shore.

There's also some local talent popping in with Ella Berthoud, whose family home is in Stoke. She's the co-author of The Novel Cure, a medical handbook that prescribes books as cures for various ailments.

With an art exhibition in the impressive church, talks and walks celebrating Constable and Gainsborough, and acclaimed poets such as Leo Aylen and Kit Wright also paying a visit, The ISBN Festival takes place over the weekend of June 10 to 11.

Tickets are available via the Mercury Theatre box office on 01206 573948 or on-line at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

For more information go on-line at www.isbnartsfestival.com