CULT author Philip Pullman is to head the bill at a new literary festival to celebrate Capital of Culture year.
The writer of His Dark Materials is the first big name to be signed up to the Liverpool University event.
The festival is expected to take place over several days in November 2008 and will include local and national names taking part in readings, discussions and debates.
Dinah Birch, head of the university's School of English, says it is the first time in many years if ever that the department has held anything similar.
The festival, likely to be titled Shipping Lines in homage to Liverpool's history as one of the world's greatest ports, is one of a number of ideas the department has to mark Capital of Culture year.
But Prof Birch has emphasised it is still in the early stages of development and the final programme will be dictated by funding available.
She said: "November may seem late in Culture year, but it will be good to spread events out a little.
"We're planning a diverse programme because we want to celebrate the diversity of Liverpool's identity. We'll be looking at specific local voices but also facing outwards in the way the city has always done.
"When you think of Liverpool as an English city, what is it that gives it it's very individual, specific feeling, and it's that more than anything, a sense not of being on the edge of things, but of looking to other cultures and values."
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