We�ve had Fairtrade food and drink, Fairtrade towns, Fairtrade universities and Fairtrade footballs. Now, Wigtown, in southwest Scotland, is to launch what it believes will be the UK�s first Fairtrade book festival.

Scotland�s National Book Town, Wigtown is a small market town on the Galloway coast. It is home to 900 people, a malt whisky distillery, two-dozen bookshops and two book festivals a year. As part of the Wigtown Festival Company�s new Fairtrade policy, official cafes and bars at the book festivals will serve Fairtrade produce and visiting authors will each receive a Fairtrade goody bag.

For those who want to find out more about the concept, the line-up of events at the spring festival includes �The Co-operative Fairtrade Experience�, a free talk on the experience of returning a fair price to primary food producers, by the Co-operative Society, sponsor of this year�s festivals.

Other events at this year�s Spring Festival (5 and 6 May) include an interview with best-selling novelist Iain Banks, lectures on everything from the Auld Alliance to the Abolition of Slavery courtesy of Glasgow University�s Crichton Campus and the announcement of the Wigtown Poetry Prize by acclaimed poet and short-story writer Jackie Kay. There will also be a special gathering of Scots, Anglo-Scots and expat Scots to mark the 300th Anniversary of the Anglo-Scottish Union. Entitled �British or Bust�, the evening will take a similar form to Question Time, with the BBC Scotland correspondent Andrew Cassell in the chair.

The Wigtown Spring Festival takes place on 5 and 6 May (Bank Holiday weekend), with the Co-operative Fairtrade Experience talk taking place at 1pm on 6 May in the County Buildings, Wigtown. For more information, or full programme information, please call 01988 403222, or visit www.wigtownbookfestival.com.

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Press Enquiries: For further information, please contact: Rhiannon Batten rhiannonbatten@hotmail.com 07976 729113