Two intrepid travellers will launch Bridport Literary Festival's 18th year with a special talk.

Barnaby Rogerson and Jason Goodwin both publish and write about their adventures.

Rogerson is director of travel publisher Eland, and Goodwin is the author of a series of detective thrillers set in 19th century Istanbul.

Festival director Tanya Bruce-Lockhart said: "Having been confined through Covid for so long, this is just what we all need, to be enchanted by exciting tales of faraway places.

"It's a great precursor to this year's festival, which is almost completely planned and has some wonderful events in the mix."

Barnaby Rogerson's talk, Celebrating the World, at 2.30pm on Thursday, May 19 in the Bull Hotel, focuses on people, places and different ways of living. It's the 40th anniversary of Eland Publishing, one of the few remaining idiosyncratic small publishing houses.

Eland specialises in travel writing and to celebrate the anniversary, Barnaby will examine some of the lives of Eland's travel writers - Gavin Maxwell, Dervla Murphy, Norman Lewis, Martha Gelhorn, Nicholas Bouvier, Winston Churchill and Peter Mayne.

Jason Goodwin's Lords of the Horizons is a history of the Ottoman Empire, a book inspired long ago by a walk that he and his now wife, Kate, made from Gdansk to Istanbul to explore the borderlands of Europe.

Some years later, Jason embarked upon a series of historical detective thrillers, featuring the eunuch Yashim, set in the 1830s.

The first book in the series, The Janissary Tree, won the coveted Edgar Allen Poe Award for best novel. It was followed by four more enthralling adventures and a cookery book, Yashim Cooks Istanbul. Jason continues to explore all corners of the world but always returns to Dorset. His BridLit talk is at 4.30pm.

Tickets cost £25 and £20 for Friends of Bridport Literary Festival. The price includes the two talks and tea and cakes with the authors. Tickets are available from Bridport Tourist Information, either in person or calling 01308 424901.

The 18th Bridport Literary Festival is scheduled for Sunday, November 6 to Saturday, November 12. You can keep in touch with progress via bridlit.com and social media.

Tanya Bruce-Lockhart added: "We look forward to welcoming audiences of all interests and ages to BridLit 2022 - a true celebration for all those who read books and love literature."