Some of the country’s top writers will be lifting the lid on how they work and where inspiration comes on when they appear at the Borderlines book festival.

The event gets underway today and continues for more than a week at venues across Carlisle.

As well as authors giving readings from their books and discussing their works, there are also workshops and performances.

Some events are already sold out, but there are still some tickets available to hear top-selling author Adele Parks talk about her latest hit thriller Lies Lies Lies on October 5.

Next Saturday will also see an appearance from mental health nurse-turned best-selling author Nathan Filer.

The Shock of the Fall, his novel about the life of a young man grieving the loss of his brother, has sold over half a million copies and was a Sunday Times bestseller and translated into thirty languages. It won the Costa Book of the Year in 2013, and the Betty Trask Prize for first novel in 2014.

He will be talking about the psychiatric wards where he once worked, offering an insight into the misunderstood condition of schizophrenia and how we should think about mental health in general.

On October 6, Cumbria’s Katie Hale and Helen Mort, two poets-turned novelists w ill discuss how they turned to long-form storytelling and whether poetry was an advantage in writing their books.

Former Fairport Convention vocalist Iain Matthews will sing and talk about his 50 years in the music business on Tuesday.

He co-wrote his memoir Thro’ My Eyes with Ian Clayton and the two will bring the book to life with stories read by Ian Clayton interspersed with live songs from Matthews.

n For tickets, go to www.borderlinescarlisle.co.uk