The 2011 Vogel Award-winner will host the workshop  Big, Bad, Ugly: Making Your Characters Stick , aimed at fledgling writers, and places are filling fast.

``I'm hoping (attendees) are people who are at the early stages of their career, who are still searching their way out and figuring out their `voice','' he said.

``(Characterisation) is something that inexperienced writers find challenging.''

Wilson's second novel,  Toosey,  is due to be released mid-year, following his debut  The Roving Party .

Australian Writers Network director Irina Dunn will also be offering group and one-on-one sessions with writers on how to improve their manuscripts and get them published, from March 14 to 17.

Wilson's day-long workshop will be held on Friday, March 14, at the Beaconsfield Council Chambers in West Street.

Wilson said Northern Tasmanian readers and writers had been denied the opportunity of a writers  festival for too long. ``(Festivals) feed the mind and get you thinking about things in new ways,'' he said.

``You can hear how other writers solved certain problems in their work, or how they developed ideas, or why they write the way they do.''

The festival's full program - which will include more than 70 authors - will be officially unveiled next Friday.

For bookings and more information, visit www.festivalofgoldenwords. com.au.