Tickets! Schedule! Books! Litfest book bags! Come and see us at The Strand...

If you're in or around Douglas tomorrow (Saturday), please feel free to stop by The Strand, where we'll have a stall - in the usual exhibitor spot in front of the escalator.

The team will be on hand to talk all things Manx Litfest, and we'll have tickets on sale, along with books by some of our Litfest authors. We'll also have the full schedule for you to devour - but if you really can't wait, check it out on our website. We'll also have the positively cool and funky Litfest bags, ideal for carryng a skutch of books over your shoulder.

But it's tickets that you book lovers seem most keen on - which is understandable. Some of our events are on sale on the Villa Gaiety website, but we'll have tickets to all our events with us at The Strand.

What's more, we'll be selling raffle tickets tomorrow, with the top prize being a book by every author/poet appearing at Manx Litfest - you might need to check you've got some spare room on your bookshelf for that little lot - and other prizes of tickets to various events.

Our sincere thanks to John Shakespeare and the team at The Strand for accommodating us tomorrow - come on down, say hello and have a chat. Providing you buy at least one ticket. Okay, that last bit was a joke. You need to buy at least two tickets.

Enjoy your weekend, folks!

Name that ale...!

We may have mentioned this way back when, but now that the first ever Manx Litfest is just around the corner (September 27-30) it's time to officially announce it - and give you fine people the chance to win a prize.

We have teamed up with Bushy's boss Martin Brunnschweiler to create a special ale for Litfest. The only problem is, we don't have a name for it. And that's where you come in.

This week we're asking our friends and followers to suggest a name for the Litfest ale. This being a literature festival, we're thinking that names that have some kind of literary link or theme might be best. But who's to say what kind of ideas we're going to receive from you lot...

Suggestions can be made in the comments section below this blog post, by tweeting us over on Twitter, or on Facebook - either post a comment to our FB page, or reply to one of the FB posts about this competition. You can also email your nominated ale names to manxlitfest@gmail.com

The deadline for suggestions is midnight (IOM time) on Friday, September 24. We'll then gather them all together, pool our collective wisdom (won't take long) and announce the winner a couple of days later. The winner will receive two tickets to the (invite only) official Litfest launch reception at the Villa Marina on Thursday, September 27 (5.30pm-7.30pm) and two tickets to a Litfest event of your choice (subject to availability).

So, ladies and gents, start your engines... and get those suggestions rolling in!