A CELEBRATION of Swindon authors and literature was held at the Platform this weekend.

The day-long celebration of town history writers, called a Swindon Affair was held at the former Swindon Railway Museum, Faringdon Road,

Organisations including Swindon Mechanics Institute, Viewpoint, Rodbourne Community History Group and the Swindon Civic Society came together for the celebration which also included performances of poetry and music from Swindon artistes, and featured local art.

Martha Parry, event organiser from Swindon Civic Voice, said she was delighted to be honouring town wordsmiths during the Festival of Literature.

“To me Swindon is all about family and community, it’s a place where families grow and develop and I know that having been here for 40 years,” she said.

“There are a surprising amount of books written about Swindon and not all are about the railways so there really is something for everyone here.

“There is such a community spirit about Swindon, people are really proud to live here and that shows in the depth of literature that is on display here today.”

The first part of the event saw authors display their books and discuss their work one-on-one with visitors. Later on a number of “pop-up” ten minute talks were given by authors.

Then town historian, writer and publisher John Chandler – who wrote 2005’s Swindon Decoded – spoke about the importance of writing local social history and the many forms it had taken in Swindon.

This was followed by a “parade of poetry” with Swindon poets reading their locally themed work.

The event wound up with live music including folk songs collected by Swindon’s Hammerman Poet Alfred Williams (1877-1930.)