It was another year of success at one of the region’s most prestigious annual festivals after thousands of book lovers descended on Chester following two weeks of events and talent.

Produced by Chester Performs, organisers confirmed almost 5,000 readers turned up to the 2015 Chester Literature Festival which ended at the city’s Town Hall last Sunday, October 25.

The festival also had the highest audience rating ever this year.

The line up boasted 50 events including a number of famous faces such as Nick Frost, Dom Joly, Brian Blessed and David Starkey.

Related: Chester Literature Festival to welcome Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre favourite

In its most diverse programme to date, the festival included a poetry pub crawl, author talks, poetry masterclasses, how to crowd-fund a book and performances by stand-up comedians and musicians across six of the borough libraries.

Alex Clifton, artistic director for Chester Performs, said: “It’s been a thrill – the festival has earned itself a great reputation attracting big names and even bigger audiences to our city.

“With scores of stories shared through poetry, song, prose and speech, we’ve had so much fun over the last two weeks and we can’t wait to start planning the next festival.”

Related: Chester Literature Festival gets under way this week

The festival opened on Saturday, October 10, with stand-up poet Tim Clare and Costa prize winning poet Jonathan Edwards at Chester Library writing poetry inspired by festival goers’ memories.

More than 40 personal poems formed part of a region wide project – in partnership with local charity Snow Angels and their Cheshire Memories Project – adding to a series of memory boxes that will form a lasting legacy.

The festival continued its partnership with the University of Chester to offer free lecture series presented by the institution’s senior teaching and research staff on a wide variety of topics, from North African French literature to Flash Fiction.

Related: Chester Literature Festival reaches its closing weekend