A LOVE of sharing pictures of books on social media attracted visitors from all over the world to Hay-on-Wye.

#bookstagram is a new trend on Instagram where users share pictures of their favourite novels with like-minded people.

Addyman Books in Hay is one of many book shops sharing images of their products and in the past year have gained 10,000 worldwide followers.

This led Anne Brichto and Ruth Holloway organising the world's first ever #bookstagram event last month as part of the town's celebrations 40th year anniversary of independence.

Derek Addyman hosted the event and acted as Prince Regent throughout the weekend when a host of workshops and talks were held

Anne was left stunned when visitors from Vancouver, Canada; Seattle and Utah, America; and all over Europe arrived in the small border town for the event.

"We were originally just thinking of things to do to mark the 40th year anniversary and one thing we have been doing recently is sharing images on Instagram for book lovers," said Anne.

"The #bookstagram community is very tight and uplifting. It is quite a young community who are passionate about books and in a small town like Hay not many people feel that way. So I decided to make an event for the people from the community to meet up in Hay-on-Wye.

"I put it out there and all of a sudden people were booking tickets from all over the world for the event. It became a really magnificent event and the visitors didn't want to leave. "They loved the old book shops and now can't wait to return saying that their heart is in Hay.

"Everybody in the town worked together on the event and there was no egos involved so it was a real community event.

"People came from Seattle which is full of chain shops, so to come to Hay where there is not a chain shop and everything is individual was special for them."

Due to the event's success the #boookstagram event will be held over 10 days next year between March 30 and April 8.

The event is due to be expanded with trips to Hereford Cathedral to visit the Mappa Mundi and Bangor University to learn about Welsh poetry.

"These 10 days will celebrate all that Hay has to offer including words, music, bicycles, canoes and above all books," added Anne.

"We are having #welshpoetrywednesday, #thrillerthursday, #murdermonday and #scifisaturday."

Anne is also planning on providing transport for visitors from abroad with a coach collecting people from West London.