Critically acclaimed author and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz will be one of the first speakers of this year's Lincoln Book Festival.

Mr Horowitz, who is best known for his series of children's spy books, will be kicking off the festival tomorrow afternoon, with a talk at Lincoln Drill Hall for local schools.

Other headline acts at this year's festival include English actor and director Simon Callow, lead singer of The Ordinary Boys and Celebrity Big Brother star Preston, and cult weatherman John Kettley.

Also taking centre stage will be comic book artist Dave Gibbons, best known for his collaborations with write Alan Moore, which include the mini-series Watchmen.

David Lambert, the joint artistic director for the Book Festival, said that this year's festival could be the best yet.

"The 2010 programme is one of the best we've ever organised," he said.

"Bringing together a festival of this size is a marathon effort, and it takes months to plan.

"But the best bit is now, when we finally get to see our audiences coming through the doors to enjoy the many and varied events we have taking place until Sunday.

"Culture is vitally important to a historic city like Lincoln. The book festival is now a firmly-established landmark on the city's cultural calendar and we start to get inquiries from publishes and visitors months before it takes place.

"It's a great event for the people of the city, and it also helps to put Lincolnshire on the map by attracting visitors who help boost our local economy."

The Echo can also announce that, unfortunately, four events have been cancelled from the festival's programme. These include appearances from Speech Debelle, Dotun Adebayo, Lana Citron, and founder of The Human League, Martyn Ware.