Bridport Literary Festival kicked off to packed houses at the Electric Palace on Sunday.

Audiences were entertained by a varied programme of politics, military history, nature writing and Shakespeare.

At Sladers Yard, West Bay, festival goers enjoyed an afternoon of music and poetry with The Ciderhouse Rebellion and poet Jessie Summerhayes.

Then at Bridport Arts Centre, young people from The Bank of Dreams and Nightmares put on an evening of readings, performance and poetry after working with the poet Anthony Anaxagorou as part of Bridport 24 Year of Culture.

On Monday, The Bull Hotel was the venue for the day, with a variety of talks, followed by a free open mic poetry event for women at Waterstones.

Festival director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart said: "It was a great start to festival week - and there’s still lots more to come.

"I’d like to thank our main event sponsors, Kitson & Trotman, and all the individual event sponsors and our supporters for helping to make BridLit happen each year.

"It’s amazing to think we have been going for 20 years, and still the programme is as fresh as ever, attracting lovers of books of all genres.

"It really brings a bright buzz to a dismal and grey week in early November."

READ: Everything you need to know about Bridport Literary Festival

During the festival, The Book Shop, Bridport, is busy selling books at each event for authors to sign.

Some events are sold out but there are still great talks to be heard. Tickets are available from Bridport Literary Festival on 01308 424901.

These include, on Saturday at Bridport Electric Palace, historian Damien Lewis bringing us up to speed on his series covering the wartime exploits of the SAS; journalist Andrew Pierce telling the moving search for his birth mother, and writer Daisy Goodwin revealing the woman behind the legend that is Maria Callas.

Although the festival ends on Saturday, there is a special event on Wednesday November, 20 at 2.30pm when legendary dancer and entertainer Wayne Sleep takes to the Electric Palace stage to talk about his memoir, Just Different.