It has been 10 years since Aye Write! first emerged in Glasgow as a celebration of writing, ideas and opinions from both big-name international writers and emerging local talent.

Much has changed in that decade - back then, the Kindle was not even a thing, paper was still the preferred medium, there was no Twitter and no instant access to writers outside of such events.

So is there still a need to actually see a writer in person, to be able to listen to their spoken word rather than to simply take their thoughts from the page or Twitter feed? According to literary editor Rosemary Goring, one of the festival's advisers, the existence of social media does little to dent the appeal of exchanging views with a writer in person.

"There is a world of difference between reading someone on Twitter or Facebook and seeing them in person," she says. "The way they speak, talk, hesitate, or laugh. Nobody's better at hiding behind words than writers, so you can never know what they are really like until you see them on stage."

This feeling is echoed by festival programmer Bob McDevitt who adds: "People do genuinely seem to enjoy the shared experience of being in a room with other humans."

Among the themes highlighted at the tenth anniversary festival is Strong Women and almost half - 43 per cent - of the speakers, writers and chairs are female this year.

McDevitt, explains: "Any good book festival is reliant on good publishing and as I met with publishers, I was struck by the range of strong female voices publishing books - everything from psychologists (Tanya Byron), academics (Professor Mona Siddiqui) and doctors (Dr Ghada Karmi) to entrepreneurs (Michelle Mone), musicians (Tracey Thorn), and stand-up comedians (Helen Lederer).

"I think there are a larger number of women working in positions of power in the publishing industry but this has not necessarily led to a greater representation of women in the books marketplace - where they have often been reviewed less and also paid less in advances than their male counterparts."

Within the programme are six key events that Sunday Herald readers are invited to attend at a special rate.

Caroline Criado-Perez, who was catapulted into prominence through her campaign to gain representation of women on British banknotes - and the public reaction to it - has been one of the UK's most vocal and tenacious feminist campaigners in recent years.

Her new book, entitled with the pejorative term Do It Like A Woman... introduces readers to some of the most pioneering women in the world - the first female to cross the Antarctic alone, a female fighter pilot in Afghanistan and the Russian punks who rocked out against Putin (Monday, April 20).

SEXUALITY EXPLORED Looking at sex and sexuality, Julie Clarke explores her jour-ney from boyhood into womanhood through gender reassign-ment while Kirstin Innes and Helen Mathers are set to take A New Look at the Oldest Profession.

Born a boy and growing up in Scotland through the restrictions and liberations of the 1950s and 1960s, Julie Clarke knew she was different from other boys. But she had no terminology for her dilemma until many years later - Julie was transsexual. And it was many more years after that - after marriage, and jobs as a firefighter and boat skipper - that Julie took the steps to physically become a woman.

Her book, Becoming Julie is a funny, honest and poignant memoir of a quite remarkable life in Scotland and beyond (Saturday, April 18).

Examining very different aspects of the sexuality, freelance writer and journalist Kirstin Innes introduces her debut novel, Fishnet, a clear-eyed, meticulously researched and controversial look at the lives of women in the sex industry.

She is teamed up with Helen Mathers who, in Patron Saint of Prostitutes, reveals the story of Victorian feminist Josephine Butler, who challenged taboos to campaign against child prostitution, sex trafficking and the laws that abused prostitutes.

The evening (Saturday, April 25) is part of the Wellcome Trust's Sexology season.

Several of the discussions and readings this year tackle some of today's most pressing global issues and among them is Mona Siddiqui with a discussion of her book My Way: A Muslim Woman's Journey.

Siddiqui, a well-known academic, takes a deeply personal approach to faith and identity in her new book, and applies her uniquely probing intelligence to crucial issues of faith and identity (Monday April 20).

But for most Aye Write! festival goers, the event provides the opportunit to meet the people behind much-loved works of fiction that is the main attraction.

A novel, penned from the imagination and exploring the human condition, can influence, change or touch readers in ways NOVEL EXPERIENCE: The festival boasts a host of acclaimed female talent. Pictured clockwise from left are Lisa O'Donnell, Helen Lederer, Mona Siddiqui and Caroline Criado-Perez.

that perhaps non-fiction can't, no matter how revealing or revolutionary its content.

FAMILY SECRETS New works from Kate Hamer and Lisa O'Donnell are both united by a family secrets theme.

O'Donnell, who won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize with her last novel The Death of Bees introduces Closed Doors, a vivid and powerful tale of love, the loss of innocence and the importance of family in difficult times. Debut writer Kate Hamer, on the other hand, tackles child abduction in The Girl In The Red Coat, which takes the reader in an entirely unexpected direction (Friday, April 24).

Finally, funny woman Helen Lederer is Losing It.

Lederer has a long-standing place in British comedy - clocking up many TV appearances in Naked Video, the Young Ones and Ab-Fab amongst many others.

She has now discovered an impressive new voice as a novelist, bringing her comic touch to the written word.

Her debut Losing It has been shortlisted for the Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction (Saturday, April 18).

The Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival takes place from April 17 to 25 and is based at the Mitchell Library.