The festival, a shire-wide celebration of words in all their form, will run throughout August, with performances, workshops, games and entertainment on offer.

"There's a whole gamut of activities," Mr Heyne said.

The festival kicked off with a celebration launch at Daylesford Library last Friday night.

Special guest journalist, travel writer and author Patrick O'Neill recounted his many hair-raising journeys across seven continents.

The celebration launch was followed with a series of events during the weekend, including the Book Ball, "Scrabblefest" and the Clever Town Challenge where, using only their library, citizens in each town competed to solve a tricky trivia crossword puzzle.

After a challenging contest, Creswick was declared winner, taking out the honour of Clever Town of the Year.

During the festival launch, chair of the Cental Highlands Regional Library Corporation, Tim Hayes, commended the ntsacelebration's ntefounder David Hall on his foresight in creating a celebration that is now not only Hepburn's only shirewide event, but has been a catalyst for the introduction of other local literary occasions such as Booktown.

Mr Hayes congratulated the committee on the breadth and diversity of this year's program.

Mr Heyne said that, for the first time in 2010, a family day would be staged.

Held at the Daylesford Town Hall this Saturday, it will feature activities for the whole family with performances, story telling, workshops, displays, bookstalls and more.