A Norfolk library was the focal point for writers and musicians at the weekend as part of this year's Breckland Book Festival, which celebrates local literary talent.

Thetford Library played host to a series of events on Saturday, including a celebration of women's poetry and a visit from the Norwich-born author Alex Scarrow, who wrote the TimeRiders series of fictional books.

The Words and Women poetry event was inspired by the International Women's Day event on March 8 and featured a mix of poetry and prose from a number of female writers, including Megan Bradbury, who was appointed as the 2012 Charles Pick Fellow at UEA, Clare Jarrett, who won a Mother Goose Award in 1997 and Helen Ivory, an Eric Gregory Award winner.

There was also music from Zimbabwean singer-songwriter Anna Mudeka and fellow singer Kimberley Moore.

Following this, there was a performance from novelists Sarah Ridgard and Natasha Soobramanien, who read passages from her book Genie and Paul, which is a retelling of the French 18th century book Paul et Virginie by Bernardin de Saint Pierre, which tells the story of two very good friends since birth who fall in love and is set on the island of Mauritius.

Sarah also read from her novel Seldom Seen, a tale set in the countryside about a teenager who discovers the mutilated body of a baby and goes on to chronicle how life in the small town goes on to break down in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Mr Scarrow read from his new book The Pirate Kings from his TimeRiders series about a group known as The Agency, responsible for preserving the established set of events throughout history.

Claire Sharland, an organiser of the Breckland Festival, said between 10 and 20 people attended the sessions, adding: 'We were very happy with how it went. It went very well. We were a bit nervous because of the weather and I think that probably kept a few people away, but the people who came were glad they did.'