Chef Olia Hercules will let you into the secrets of Ukrainian food in her new book Summer Kitchens, where she shares some of her favourite recipes.

In conversation with Caroline Waldergrave, at the Wells Festival of Literature Olia will transport you to summers spent with parents, grandparents and friends in the Ukraine.

After this mouthwatering session why not take advantage of the festival's dining offer? The festival fortunate to have the support of restaurants in Wells.

You will be able to get 10 per cent off your total bill in participating restaurants, having booked beforehand to avoid disappointment and showing your festival tickets on arrival.

The restaurants supporting the offer are: The Crown, Ensemble, Goodfellows, Nosh-Stalgia, Rugantino's and The Swan.

Please look at their websites to view their menus and make your visit to Wells Festival of Literature an event to remember.

Tickets are selling fast and some events have already sold out. Here is a flavour of some of the authors who will be attending.

One of these is Rachel Clarke who has recently been short-listed for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for her book Dear Life: A Doctor's Story of Love and Loss.

This moving book is a love letter to a father, a profession and to life itself from a specialist in palliative care.

For local interest the festival has a joint event with Somerset Wildlife Trust, with Stephen Moss, Alice Vincent and Mya-Rose Craig in conversation.

Stephen, the president of Somerset Wildlife Trust, explores the oases of nature all around us in The Accidental Countryside.

He will also give a sneak preview of his "biography" of the year in the life of a swallow, which will be available in October.

Alice Vincent's memory of her grandfather's garden inspired her passion for planting. Rootbound examines the benefits of bringing the outside in.

May-Rose Craig's blog Birdgirl is hugely popular and at 18 she is the youngest person ever to hold an honorary doctorate in science.

If the human condition interests you then there is Professor David Nutt's book Drink which explores how alcohol is by far the most harmful drug we have and explains how a proper understanding of it will help us make more informed choices.

While Michael Bond's Wayfaring warns how GPS devices might threaten our brain's ability to make cognitive maps and looks at whether men really are better than women at finding their way.

Helen Taylor's thought-provoking book Why Women Read Fiction examines how precious fiction is and how female readers are key to its future.

We can maybe test this theory with the fiction there is on offer - from Jeremy Vine's first novel The Diver and the Lover, an evocative tale of love, sacrifice and Salvador Dali set against a backdrop of post-civil war Catalonia, to Janice Hadlow's life-affirming, witty story reclaiming the insignificant middle sister Mary, from Pride and Prejudice, as a heroine in her own right.

Elly Griffiths and Lucy Atkins In Conversation: Dangerous Women in Crime offers a fascinating discussion between two of today's leading crime writers.

If you are a history buff then there is Paul Lay's Providence Lost, the fascinating story of the rise and fall of Cromwell's Protectorate.

Or maybe the thrilling tale of how raucous partying aboard sank the fastest ship of its time, The White Ship, and lost the only legitimate heir to King Henry I.

If the First World War is your passion, Alexander Watson details the longest siege of this war, the siege of Przemysl, which was also one of the great turning points of the war, in his book The Fortress.

For the politically-minded Robert Winder has an interesting insight into how states are asserting themselves through alternative means including business, culture, education, even food. His book is Soft Power: The New Great Game.

Please go to the website to view the full programme and purchase tickets. Remember £2.93 of every £10 ticket bought goes to support the festival's educational work and to provide books in schools in the wider community.