Words 2010, North Lanarkshire’s Festival of Books and Writing, kicked off this week with playwright and actor Tony Roper talking about his career on and off screen.

This year’s festival line-up also includes crime writers Denise Mina, GJ Moffat, Gillian Galbraith, Ron Ellis and criminologist Professor David Wilson on the evidence linking Peter Tobin to the Bible John murders.

Award-winning science fiction author Stephen Baxter will make an appearance, as will novelists Liz Jensen, Louise Welsh and Alan Warner.

Labour historian Rob Duncan, meanwhile, is running three workshops during the festival, sponsored by Unison. The workshops will focus on steel- making and mining history in the area. And Dr Bruce Durie investigates the language of heraldry.

There is also the North Lanarkshire Big Read Book Group, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird by hosting a discussion on the issues in the book. It is chaired by Richard Holloway, the writer, broadcaster and former Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh.

www.northlanarkshire.gov.ukindex.aspx?articleid=16384.