It's hard to think back to a time when book festivals were as unheard of as mobile phones or laptops.

How did we cope? What did we do with our time? And how could we bear reading books by writers we had never seen in the flesh?

The answer is simple. In bygone days, libraries invited authors to read and talk, and readers flocked to meet them. Indeed, it was as a direct result of the popularity of such free and informal sessions in Edinburgh Central Library, which attracted writers such as Gore Vidal, Maya Angelou and Joseph Heller, that the idea for the Edinburgh Book Festival came about. As the capital's literary festival gathered momentum, it was gradually followed by a trickle and then a flood of imitators across the country.

There are now so many in Scotland, it would be impossible to comment on them all. See, for instance, the advert on page 13, for details of the Boswell Book Festival, one of the recent fine additions to the list which, like the best of these events, has a distinctive raison d'etre and an imaginative programme director.

However, there is one festival that I'd like to single out. Like many, it offers an excellent mix of speakers. Unlike almost every festival, however, it is free. Not surprisingly, this is a library-based venture, now in its 11th year, run under the aegis of West Dunbartonshire Council. From May 12 to June 1, events will be held across the region's libraries, such as Clydebank, Dalmuir, Alexandria and Balloch.

A not-so-small programme of writers, experts, exhibitions and even film screenings, the Booked Festival cleverly combines first-class authors – William McIlvanney, Alasdair Gray, Kerry Hudson and Tom Devine – with specialists in various fields whose subjects cannot fail to draw a crowd: Sir Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, The Steamie Reunion in which Dorothy Paul and Eileen McCallum reminisce about their parts in this unforgettable stage and TV drama, and many others (including, I must confess, myself). For details of the brilliant pre-historic concept of a vibrant but entirely gratis book festival, visit www.bookedfestival.info.

A welcome new arrival on the scene is the YES arts festival, set up to honour Yarrow, Ettrick & Selkirk. I've had a fondness for this area since childhood, when my family spent several holidays in a chintzy B&B in the Ettrick valley, run by the wonderfully hospitable Mrs Potts, whose ginger tomcat Sammy would lead me through the garden between the raspberry canes to the tempting strawberry patch.

YES is not strictly a book festival, but has a strong literary bent. It has set an open poetry challenge to commemorate the Battle of Flodden in 1513, in which countless men from the Selkirk area died. The festival invites poems in English or Scots on this emotive subject. As the rules state: "Five hundred years after Flodden, what do those five words mean today? Your poem should reflect your own response to the phrase, The Flowers of the Forest." Poems should be no longer than 24 lines, previously unpublished, not currently accepted for publication, and not already entered in another competition. One poem per entrant (who must be 16 years or older), and the name of the entrant must not be on the manuscript.

One £500 prize will be awarded by poet Aonghas MacNeacail, novelist Allan Massie and myself. A second £500 prize will be put to the public vote in Yarrow, Ettrick and Selkirk, and there will be £100 prizes for the best poem from the festival area (postcode TD7), and the best by an unpublished poet. The prize money has been sponsored by the Duke of Buccleuch. There is no entry fee, and the closing date is June 30, 2013. The winners will be announced at the YES arts festival on September 12, three days after the melancholy anniversary. For full details of the competition rules, write to Poetry Competition, The YES arts festival, c/o County Hotel, 3-4 High Street, Selkirk, Scottish Borders, TD7 4LE. That's also the address for submissions.