THE organiser of this year's Bournemouth Literary Festival has said that the town's "stuffy" reputation is a thing of the past - and has created an erotic fiction workshop this weekend to prove it.

Lillian Avon, a playwright from Boscombe, has called in erotica guru Mitzi Szereto to help run the writing masterclass and party as part of the festival.

The workshop has captured the imagination of dozens of amateur writers from across the country, as well as the commissioning editor of Channel 4 Talent, Catherine Bray, who will be attending.

And Lillian said that those who had already signed up for a place on the workshop, to be held at Bournemouth University this Saturday, included a handful of pensioners.

"Bournemouth has had a stuffy reputation. When I was at school in the 1970s, perhaps it was like that," she said.

"But now the town has changed. There is a whole mix of people here."

Lillian, 42, said she has received only positive feedback from people who have already attended the four-month-long festival, which centres on love, romance and erotica.

The staging of the festival is a far cry from 1996 when Bournemouth Borough Council's licensing committee banned the town's cinemas from screening Crash, a film noted for its sexual deviance.

"There is a lot of hoo-ha and misinformation on what it (erotica) is about," Lillian added.

"Erotica is not porn, it is a style of writing that has been about for years. Not everything to do with sex is taboo.

"I have only had positive feedback. Some people said they have always been curious about it."

Mitzi Szereto, who is described as "erotica's spiciest personality", will host the workshop, which runs from 10am until 4pm at the university.

The American author has long denied the suggestion that erotica is the acceptable face of pornography.

Lillian agreed, adding: "A lot of porn does not have a good story. Erotica is different.

"It has all the components of a great novel, with a bit of spice. We live in a democracy - why be a writer if you suppress yourself?

"This is not about being a woolly literary festival where you see the author, have a book signed and go off again. It is a festival with so much more."

l For more information, visit bournemouthliteraryfestival.co.uk.