MARLBOROUGH is buzzing as the weekend of the tenth annual LitFest kicked off earlier today.

The town is jam-packed, full of literary fans who are excited to see their favourite writers give talks in various venues across Marlborough.

Poetry fans flocked to Marlborough College on Thursday to see former Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, give recitals of her poems to a 'completely packed out' audience.

Kay Newman, on LitFest committee, said: "She absolutely commanded the stage, she was so absorbing.

"There was no better way to kick off the tenth LitFest."

Carol Ann Duffy was a hard act to follow for Friday's evening slot, which was filled by Booker Prize winner Ben Okri.

Ellen, a LitFest volunteer, said: "It was absolutely packed out and he challenged the audience with philosophical ideas.

"At times it was hard to keep track of what was being said but you came out of the hall feeling buoyant."

Janet, another volunteer, added: "You really felt the audience connected with it, and the applause at the end was like nothing I had ever seen at LitFest before."

Saturday was kicked off with historian, Adam Zamoyski, giving an interesting talk on the history of Napoleon at the Town Hall.

The Town Hall was also busy at 12pm as two authors, Elizabeth Macneal and Stacey Halls, discussed their debut novels, spoke about the empowerment of women, and gave an insight into the process of writing their first books.