IN TODAY's Liverpool Post we mark 10 years since the day Liverpool won the European Capital of Culture title. Here is the piece I wrote to go with the main article...

IT IS impossible to separate Liverpool's identity from culture today yet 10 years and a few days ago that wasn't so.
Not in terms of its reputation in Britain anyway and the city's representation in the national media and on comedy sketch shows.

Sure, we'd been pretty hot for music in the 1960s, and with bands like Echo and the Bunnymen the '80s hadn't been a total dirge, but by 2003 we were all too busy stealing car wheels and picking out shellsuits to be bothered about culture, weren't we?

In the interminable pause that separated the words "European Capital of Culture is" and "Liverpool" in Tessa Jowell's announcement on that white knuckle ride of a morning, our city's fate shifted.

BEST-selling horror writer Joe Hill will be hosting An Evening With Joe Hill, discussing his new book N0S4R2 and taking questions from the audience in an evening event at Waterstones Liverpool One this week.

The US-based writer has a slew of awards for his books and short fiction, which include the Locke and Key series of graphic novels. His 2010 book Horns is being turned into a film, starring Harry Potter's Daniel Radclife in the lead role. Hill also happens to be the son of horror writer Stephen King, but chose not to use his surname so his success would be based on his own merits.

N0S4R2, published by Gollancz on May 30, is an old-fashioned novel brought up to date.
It's a terrifying tale of Charlie Manz who kidnaps children and takes them to a place he calls "Christmasland". He has been caught once and dies in custody but then his body disappears after the autopsy. Only Vic has a secret gift that may stop him - if she can control her own fears.

TAKE part in our Light Night treasure hunt and you could win a behind the scenes tour of Liverpool Central Library.

For a chance to win, visit the Light Night venues below and send as many answers as you can find to laura.davis@liverpool.com or Laura Davis, Light Night Competition, Liverpool Post, PO Box 48, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L69 3EB by Thursday, May 23.

The person with the most correct answers will be given a tour of the repository and conservation studio and can take up to three friends along with them too. Best of luck!

1. Walker Art Gallery: How many bails of plastic waste are contained within Robyn Woolston's installation Strangers in a Strange Land?

2. Open Eye Gallery: What is the figure in Eva Stenram's photograph Drape Centrefold 2 being hidden by?

3. Liverpool Central Library: Which species of bird is on the currently open page of the book Birds of American by John James Audubon, which you can find on display in the Oak Room?

4. Leaf, Bold Street: What symbol is on the tattoo on the neck of the man wearing a leather jacket in Pete Carr's photography exhibition Leaves?

AMERICAN film-maker, author, actor and cult icon John Waters, whose films include Hairspray and Crybaby, will appear at Liverpool's Homotopia Festival in November.

He will perform his one man show This Filthy World at the Philharmonic Hall on November 8 as part of the city's queer arts and culture festival.

The "joyously devious monologue" focusses on his early negative artistic influences and fascination with true crime, exploitation films, fashion lunacy and the extremes of the contemporary art world.

Waters, who has been exhibiting his photo-based artwork and installations internationally since the 1990s, said: "I can't wait to see Liverpool, the town I've always wanted to come to but never have. I bet it's as extreme as Baltimore!"

Festival director Gary Everett added: "From modest beginnings in 2004 Homotopia has grown into an international flag-bearer for high quality queer culture consistently punching above our weight. We are very excited to bring an international star like John Waters to Liverpool for our big tenth birthday celebrations."

I CREATED this literary walk to celebrate Liverpool's In other Words festival. Hope you enjoy it:

View Literary tour of Liverpool in a larger map

1. OUR walk begins in Derby Square, where Redburn, a young sailor, has arrived by tracing the path his father took through the city many years before. Herman Melville, who is best known as the author of Moby Dick, based his 1849 novel Redburn: His First Voyage on his own experiences of life at sea. Redburn has made his way down Old Hall Street to Exchange Flags:

"There, leaning against the colonnade, I took out my map, and traced my father right across Chapel-streetcor, and actually through the very arch at my back, into the paved square where I stood.

"So vivid was now the impression of his having been here, and so narrow the passage from which he had emerged, that I felt like running on, and overtaking him around the Town Hall adjoining, at the head of Castle-streetcor. But I soon checked myself, when remembering that he had gone whither no son's search could find him in this world."

Now, walk to the front of the Town Hall, cross the road and head down Castle Street to Derby Square.

LiVERPOOL artist Nicola Taggart has brightened up the busy underpass linking both sides of Aigburth Road from Jericho Lane to Ashfield Road with scenes and memories of the local area.

Nicola, who was also recently responsible for a community artwork project in Speke to celebrate Jack Jones' centenary, carried out a number of workshops, working alongside local residents groups and Sudley School to gather ideas and personal memories.

The project was initiated by neighbourhood officer Gary Steele with the backing of Cllr Patrick Hurley. The area's three ward councillors committed through their Neighbourhood Fund and additional financial contributions came from Your Housing Group and Pier Head Housing Association. The installation of the artwork was carried out by social enterprise Jigsaw.

RALF LITTLE may have just completed his run in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg at the Liverpool Playhouse (see my interview and review) but his links with the theatre will remain strong.

It has just been announced he will join the new cast of Graham Linehan's award-winning adaptation of The Ladykillers, presented in association with the Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, when it returns to the West End in June.

The cast will also include Liverpool-born actor Con O'Neill (Blood Brothers and Dead Heavy Fantastic), Simon Day (The Fast Show), Angela Thorne (To the Manor Born) and Olivier Award winning actor John Gordon Sinclair (She Loves Me and classic film Gregory's Girl). Chris McCalphy will reprise his role as One Round following the show's recent UK tour.

The Ladykillers broke all box office records at the Gielgud Theatre during its debut season. The production won the 2013 WhatsOnStage.com Award for Best New Comedy and was nominated for five Olivier Awards in 2012.

The Ladykillers is presented by Edward Snape for Fiery Angel in association with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse.

NEWS of an interesting project from dot-art - an interactive, online, inter-school art competition for Year 6 and Year 9 students, supported by Arts Council England.

Twenty schools are taking part in the scheme, which gives them a public platform to display their art work outside the school environment .

Each participating school selects 25 pieces of work which are put on display via the dot-art Schools website, where students, family and friends, as well as the public, are able to vote for their favourite piece. An exhibition will then be held showcasing the top works from each participating school in the Domino Gallery, Liverpool, a scholarship awarded to the top student in the program, and certificates awarded to the top students at each school.

THE Dinner Party by pop artist Sam Walsh has gone on display at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery next to its 19th century inspiration - Isabella by the Pre-Raphaelite John Everett Millais.

The complex painting shows 24 figures sat around a dinner table, who are all real people from different periods of Walsh's life. It features famous friends such as the artists Maurice Cockrill and Adrian Henri and the poet Roger McGough, as well as Walsh's neighbour, solicitor, ex-wife, partner and bank manager.

Irish-born Walsh settled in Liverpool in 1960 and established himself at the heart of the city's creative crowd. The Walker's collection and Walsh's circle of artist, poet and musician friends were an important source of inspiration and often the subjects of his work.

He appears twice in the painting, sitting on opposite sides of the table. The Walsh on the right-hand side is shown wagging his finger at his opposing self, a mannerism he particularly disliked.

A QUICK notice from the team behind the Lift-Off film festival taking place in Liverpool this week:

Lift-Off International is an exciting new film festival whose objective is to "look beyond the gloss" in order to promote raw talent and artistic flair in filmmakers from Liverpool and around the world.

Founded in 2011, by up and coming independent filmmakers Ben Pohlman and James Alexander, Lift-Off is a place where small budgets and big dreams combine to give a powerful boost to budding film careers.

After two successful first years in London, Lift-Off is expanding and coming up North, with the aim of providing Liverpool with an annual, truly independent film festival to showcase local and international talent alike. Known worldwide for its influential music and arts scene, which helped the city win European Capital of Culture 2008, Liverpool is the obvious choice to host the Northern branch of Lift-Off International.