Winchester was again a world stage for writers at the weekend.

First arrivals for the city's 24th annual Writers' Conference came from New York, Nairobi, Connecticut, Italy, Tenerife, the Netherlands and Paris.

The numbers swelled with writers from all over the UK Ireland and the Channel Islands as workshops and mini-courses opened the week-long event.

Saturday was the "big day" with more than 500 people gathering on the King Alfred campus of University College, Winchester, for lectures and one-to-one discussions with 63 professional writers, poets, playwrights, publishers, producers and agents.

Principal, Professor Paul Light, referring to the college's new status, said Barbara Large, founder and organiser of the conference, had accepted its first Fellowship.

Barbara herself welcomed the "huge family" of writers present, all striving to harness creative ideas and learning how to put them into marketable and satisfying publications-some 70 books had been published mainstream since the last conference.

Cathy Woodman, Gill James and David Howe who had all had books published for the first time as a direct result of attending the Writers' Conference, spoke of how it had been achieved. Another first time published book writer was 33-year-old Nick Charrett of Winchester.

The plenary speaker was Kevin Crossley-Holland, who, since his first attendance at the conference in 1981, had become an acclaimed international poet and prize-winning author for children.

In his talk, "Laying Yourself on the Line", he said: "Winchester is so rich in history that it vibrates with its layers".

He added that originality was seeing exactly what you yourself thought but he warned that some would have to wait to discover this.

Mr Crossley-Holland, whose book, The Seeing Stone, the first of a trilogy, won the Guardian Children's Fiction prize and the Tir nan-Og Award, told his audience that they were "the custodians" of the English language which contained 60,000 words-twice as many as any other language.

For all its frustrations, he said, writing could bring true joy while planning, drafting, writing and revising was fulfilling.

The day of 60 lectures concluded with a reception when the winners of 15 competitions were announced. The winning entries will appear in an anthology, "The Best of 2004".

The Writers' Dinner, in the King Alfred's dining hall, concluded Saturday's events when Barbara paid tribute to those who had assisted her in organising the conference.

After dinner, author, Peter Guttridge, provided the perfect ending to a long and inspiring day with a succinct and amusing view of writing.