THE 2017 Ageas Salisbury International Arts Festival celebrates local talent as well as international acts.

Author and playwright Barney Norris, international performer James Baker and pianist Cordelia Williams, who are from Salisbury, return to entertain a home crowd.

Barney’s debut novel Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain, a 2016 bestseller, painted a striking literary portrait of Salisbury and the intertwined lives of five people living there. He returns to this year’s festival between productions of his plays Echo’s End and While We’re Here.

In conversation with John Cox, he will introduce us to Turning For Home, his novel-in-progress, which is another emotional story of family, human frailty, and the marks love leaves on us.

He will be at Salisbury Arts Centre on June 10.

“What we were excited to do is give this city, a first glimpse of the novel I am going to be publishing in January 2018, which is called Turning for Home,” says Barney.

Cordelia Williams gives a piano recital on June 1 at St Thomas’s Church, Salisbury.

James Baker of Bootworks Theatre returns with music-inspired show Juke Boxes, which is part of the City Encounters line-up. The show delves into music history.

Last year they entertained festival audiences with their Terminator 2-inspired Now Listen To Me Very Carefully.

“We had such a fun time. It was a really good gig of the tour.

We’re really thrilled to be coming back with something equally ridiculous and out in the open this year.” says James.

“It is a seven-minute rambunctious history of pop.”