Welcome to imprint 2011.

This year we celebrate our 5th birthday and we have a fantastic line-up of author events and workshops to mark the occasion.

We kick off the festival week with actress, author and all-round entertainer Elaine C Smith. We also welcome cook, writer and deli owner Mary Contini who will be bringing a taste of Italy to Imprint. Author James Robertson will be discussing his latest novel, and we are delighted to be closing this year's festival with author and artist Alasdair Gray. Zoë Strachan, author and Imprint patron will be discussing her latest novel, Ever Fallen in Love and will again host the awards ceremony for our writing competition. We are honoured to be showcasing Zoë's work The Key which was written specifically for Imprint.

For children we have a teddy bears picnic, storytellers Mac-a-Story and much-loved author Cathy Cassidy. For the first time we also team up with Glow to deliver live author events to schools across East Ayrshire.