BESTSELLING novelist Matt Cain will soon be in the surreal position of seeing an actor portray a teenage version of himself in Bolton Museum.

“It’s going to be very strange but I’m looking forward to it,” said Bolton-raised Matt.

The unusual event is because of Matt’s best-selling novel, The Madonna of Bolton, which will be released in paperback on May 16, and the museum’s current Desire, love, identity: exploring LGBTQ histories in Bolton exhibition.

“The library commissioned me to adapt part of the novel into a theatrical monologue as part of the exhibition,” said Matt, who now lives in London.

Part of the exhibition is devoted to Matt who as a teenager experienced homophobic bullying. A cabinet chronicles the adolescent Matt’s obsession with Madonna and features his Madonna records and the pictures and posters that adorned his bedroom wall in the family home.

It is besides this display that the actor Tom Sturgess will perform Matt’s monologue which recounts the thoughts of Charlie, the central character of the novel, as he goes shopping in Bolton for the latest record by his heroine.

“It’s a big honour and I’m feeling pretty nervous, but I think it will be emotional too,” said Matt. “The novel mirrors my own experience of growing up and how I felt I had to leave my home town to be myself. Like me, Charlie - the central character of the novel - comes to realise how much he owes to his home town and has a reconciliation with it.

“As a 15-year-old I never imagined I’d be in Bolton being celebrated for the very thing that made me leave it in the first place. It’s a source of great pride and joy to me how far Bolton has come with its changing attitudes.”

At 7pm on the same day, Matt will be interviewed by Bolton Pride director, James Edgington, for the launch of the paperback version of the novel.

“The publishers wanted me to do the launch in London but I refused. Bolton is my home town and the book is set in Bolton so it is important to me that I launch it here."