The life and work of the late Scottish poet and translator Alastair Reid, who died this week, will be celebrated at the Wigtown Book Festival.

Reid, from Galloway, known for poems such as 'Scotland', as well as his essays for the New Yorker and many translations, was 88 when he died at his home in New York this week.

Now in its 16th year, Wigtown Book Festival is a 10-day event in the small Galloway town, which is officially Scotland's Book Town.

It has more than 200 events and activities, with the 2014 festival, which began last night, being the biggest yet staged.

Born in 1926 in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Reid was the son of the local minister and the doctor.

His career took him abroad for much of his life.

A spell in the Royal Navy during the second world war, was followed by time in America, France, Spain, Switzerland and the Dominican Republic.

Despite living in Manhattan, Reid returned regularly to Wigtownshire with his wife Leslie, often spending the spring and summer near his birthplace.

He was a strong supporter of the project to make Wigtown Scotland's 'National Book Town and of the Wigtown Book Festival from its inception. Red was a festival trustee and, more recently, as patron.

This year's Wigtown Book Festival programme, which features a series of events for adults and children, will have an additional event on Friday 3 October, which will celebrate Alastair's life and work.

Among those taking part will be the writer's friend and fellow festival patron, BBC special correspondent Allan Little.

There will be readings of Reid's poems throughout the festival.

The festival's line-up includes novelist Margaret Drabble, comedians Robin Ince and Francesca Martinez, Jonathan Miller, broadcaster Clare Balding, and 'Flying Scotsman' cyclist Graeme Obree.

Adrian Turpin, director of the festival, said: "Alastair brought irreverent inspiration to all of us."