What: A poet on the peninsula - a former Poet Laureate, no less - is the centrepiece for this year’s sprightly Wirral Bookfest. The refreshingly unstuffy Motion has always been on a mission to bring poetry to the great unwashed. So let’s see how he does in Bebington.

Motion will be introducing his latest collection of poems, “The Cinder Path”, a moving account of his father’s death.

Also at this year’s Bookfest, Birkenhead’s Pyramid mall will be holding a Book Swap, on October 14, between 10am and 3pm. Take a book you no longer need and exchange it for another - Wirral libraries will be offloading plenty of their stock, too, so it mightn’t just be a pile of old Joan Jonkers.

When: Andrew Motion, Bromborough Civic Centre on Wednesday, October 12, at 7pm. Tickets cost £8.

For the full programme, check out Wirral Bookfest: 0151 606 2665.