Authors look back over 10 years of Aye Write!

"I've looked for engaging and thought-provoking stories in both fiction and non-fiction.

"Aye Write! is a people's festival, delivered by Glasgow Libraries and Glasgow Life. There's something for everyone, from real life memoirs to crime and sport. It's an exciting, accessible festival with big literary names as well as emerging talents."

Here, writers who have regularly appeared at Aye Write! look back over their favourite moments.

Crime writer Denise Mina was at the inaugural Aye Write! festival. Her latest novel is The Red Road, published by Orion.

"Aye Write! feels international but it's also owned by people from Glasgow who come with their friends and book groups. The first one was brilliant: I wrote a serialised story for the Evening Times over five days, called Ida Tamson about a granny who was looking after her grandson. A gangster wanted his son after her daughter had died from a heroin overdose, and it was about how she was going to stop him. It became a play starring Elaine C Smith.

"The best part has been chairing other people, such as Sara Paretsky. That was a real privilege. It was in front of a crowd of Glasgow feminists. She was the first mainstream contemporary crime writer to have a female protagonist, V I Warshawski. I told her we were all there to honour her and she said nobody had ever said that to her before. Women writers rarely get credit for innovation.

"Aye Write! is friendly and collegiate. Writers can be quite competitive and I've been to some festivals where you're ignored unless you've been in the newspapers that day. But it is different because the organisers are careful not to have any prima donnas. Also, Glasgow writers are quite kind to each, which is pretty unusual."

Tartan noir novelist Christopher Brookmyre's latest book is Dead Girl Walking, published by Little, Brown Book Group.

"The first time I appeared at Aye Write! I was programmed quite late and ended up having to be dragged off the stage because the audience kept asking questions and I lost track of time. That experience is in keeping with the audiences - they are forthcoming and love to ask questions. You get a Glasgow audience, so there's a great buzz.

"One of my most memorable appearances was with Raymond Tallis and Julian Baggini, both eminent philosophers. The subject was atheism and I was feeling out of my depth. At the same time my team, St Mirren, were playing Celtic in the Scottish Cup and St Mirren won 1-0. It was a shame I hadn't had my phone on during the event and been able to say: 'There is a God: St Mirren beat Celtic.'

"I enjoy going to book festivals because I spend so much time in front of a computer. When you write, you're not there at the point when the reader experiences it except when you're doing a talk. Festivals are a chance for people to take a punt on new writers. A couple of ladies had been to see Ming Campbell one year and came to see me. I told an off colour joke and one of them had to be helped from the room."

Louise Welsh's second novel in her Plagues Times Trilogy, Death is a Welcome Guest will be published by John Murray in June.

"Aye Write! is based around libraries and not all about selling books. There is a bookshop there, but if you can only afford to go to an event that's not a problem, you can borrow the book from the library. The people of Glasgow are completely up for it; they like this festival and want to go to it. It wouldn't exist without them. It's Glasgow's book festival but you could equally say it's a festival of reading.

"One of my highlights was the launch of my novel, Naming the Bones. It was a celebration of the book and came at the end of a lot of hard work. It was wonderful to have a launch at Aye Write!

"Another other standout moment was the launch of Willy Maley's 100 Best Scottish Books of All Time. It was a brave thing to do as people are always going to disagree, but it got people talking about books, looking backwards to James Hogg and Robert Louis Stevenson as well as what was out that year.

"I also enjoyed an event I took part in about Muriel Spark. I had to go back and re-read all her books, which was a lovely re-education."

Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy aimed at the general audience. His latest book is Freedom Regained, published by Granta.

"Aye Write! is a particularly friendly festival, and that comes from the organisers: they make the festival relaxed and convivial. The organisers are book people but as they are from the library service they are grounded book people, real enthusiasts. It's a proper festival rather than a parade of speakers.

"The audiences are warm and the Mitchell is a wonderful building - a real home of books.

"I did a talk on The Simpsons and philosophy one year with clips from the show. I'd had a long journey and I was thirsty and tired so drank a double espresso and a glass of water before I went on stage. Very soon I realised I'd made a mistake. After a while I was so uncomfortable I put on one of my clips that lasted four and a half minutes dashed back stage and ran to find a loo. I did manage to find it and get back to stage on time. I brought it into my talk to make a point about satirical comedy bringing people down to earth. Writers often present themselves as a disembodied mind but they need to go to the bathroom too and that is suitably humbling.

"I've been coming to Aye Write! for years. It's nice to know that some people at least read your books and to meet them."

Novelist and Glasgow University tutor Zoe Strachan has edited Out There, an anthology of LGBT writing published by Freight.

"When Aye Write! started it was so exciting to have a book festival of that scale in Glasgow, which embraced the local vibrant writing community and also brought high profile names from overseas.

"This year I'm looking forward an event with Caroline Criado-Perez, the feminist and activist who campaigned for women to get better representation in the British media and to be depicted on bank notes, which led to Twitter threats.

"Aye Write! is about literature but it also has events that are socially and politically important. It ties in with Glasgow's history of political activism and debate. The audiences come ready to talk and to challenge you. You can be assured of a lively and sometimes unpredictable debate.

"I took part in a Muriel Spark discussion two years in a row. She's an amazing writer who, on the one hand, is really well known, but on the other hands is neglected in Scotland. It was fantastic to have her work debated with such passion.

"This year I'm chairing a debate about LGBT writing with Jackie Kay, Alan Radcliffe and Kerry Hudson. Equal marriage has only recently been implemented in Scotland so it's a really interesting time to talk about that."

Alan Bissett's Collected Plays is published by Freight

"I feel twinned with Aye Write! as I was on the steering committee the first year and have been in with the bricks ever since. That first year, I performed my play, Moira Monologues, in the Mitchell Theatre. It was a risk as I wrote it, performed it and played a woman.

"It's important for writers to put on a performance. We've all been to events where the author is nervous and not a particularly good reader. I'm sympathetic, because authors are not performers and are suddenly thrust in front of an audience and told to tap dance. But if you are on a stage in front of an audience it is theatre. Authors should get good at it or let an actor read for them. I make sure no one is bored at my events.

"I did an event two years ago and at the end of it I took off all my clothes and walked through audience in just my pants. On the way out of the theatre, I passed James Naughtie, the Today presenter, coming up the stairs. I'll never forget the look on his face. He's never going to take me seriously as a political voice again."

Aye Write! will return for its tenth year at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow from 17-25 April, www.ayewrite.com