A free short stories dispenser has been brought to Harrogate to mark today's start of the Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival.

The four-day festival, which ends on Sunday, takes place at the Crown Hotel. The line-up includes Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Andy McNab, Gaby Roslin, Carrie and David Grant and Sir Vince Cable.

As part of the celebration of books, local residents are being encouraged to head to the Crown Hotel until Sunday to collect a free bite sized piece of literature from the dispenser.

The stories are selected from a range of over 10,000 short works of literature and cover a range of genres, including romance, drama, crime fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, children’s stories and the classics.

At the touch of a button, visitors will receive a short story that will take one, three or five minutes to read. The story is printed on eco-friendly paper to read straight away or take away and read in a spare moment.

Authors range from Emily Dickinson to Lewis Carrol, Ernest Hemingway and William Shakespeare to contemporary stories by lesser-known authors and aspiring new writers.

The annual festival is curated and produced by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by Raworths Solicitors.

Rachel Tunnicliffe, senior partner at Raworths, said:

The photo shows Ms Tunnicliffe and Dan Siddle, general manager of the Crown Hotel, with the short story dispenser.

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