A HUGE festival will see visitors travelling to Bolton from as far afield as Australia to celebrate the town’s connections with a great American poet.

The unique event marks the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman, who had strong links with the town

Venues across the town will be hosting a variety of arts events, talks, walks, musical celebrations, plays and workshops.

Spokesman Chris Chilton said: “This festival about Walt Whitman and his followers is the broadest, biggest, most varied celebration of Whitman that’s ever been staged in Bolton.

In 1885, James W Wallace, a working-class man from Bolton, set up the Eagle Street ‘College’, a book group that celebrated his love for Walt Whitman’s poetry. Attracting a small group of like-minded men, Wallace and his followers wrote to Whitman, who to their amazement wrote back. This remarkable correspondence led to two members of the group visiting Whitman in his home in America, each returning with a detailed travelogue of their time with Whitman, inspired to spread the word of Whitman’s greatness throughout Britain.

Materials from the group are held in the Bolton Museum Walt Whitman Collection and are currently on display there as part of the British Museum co-exhibition “Desire, Love, Identity: Exploring LGBTQ Histories in Bolton”. The museum are bringing some of the people in the exhibition to life in a series of free in-gallery monologues, one of which is the leader of the group, Wallace, exploring his role as the keeper of Whitman’s legacy.

The festival will explore Whitman’s identity as a revolutionary poet, a champion of the environment, a queer icon, and as the soul to socialism and every aspect of his connections to Bolton.

It has been organised by Bolton Library & Museum Service, Bolton Socialist Club and the University of Bolton.

One of the festival highlights is Whitman 200: International Whitman Conference at the University of Bolton (May 23,24). Among those attending will be speakers and scholars from Australia and the United States.

Mr Chilton said: “The festival is destined to become a landmark in our understanding of Whitman.”

Other festival highlights include:

WHITMAN Alabama: a documentary film that records the ordinary people of Alabama reading Whitman’s “Song of Myself” (Bolton Socialist Club, May 16, 7.30pm, free).

Write Out Loud: Whitman Special: an open mic poetry performance night (Bolton Socialist Club, May 19, 8pm, £1).

I Sing The Body Electric: An Evening of Walt’s Legacy: a night of poetry performances featuring Whitman’s work and those who he influenced, like Jack Kerouac (Bolton Socialist Club, June 1, 7.30pm, free).

On Whitman’s 200th birthday itself, May 31, the celebrations with include:

The Adhesion of Love: a performance of a new full-length play by award-winning playwright Stephen M Hornby, about Wallace’s time in America with Whitman (Bolton Socialist Club, May 31, 7.30pm, £10).

Walt Whitman’s Bolton: a talk by Dr Paul Salveson and Don Lee on this history of the Eagle Street College and the buildings in and around Bolton associated with them. (Bolton Central Library & Museum, May 31, 1.30pm, free).