The Ilkley Literature Festival, which last year featured VS Naipaul, Will Self, Melvyn Bragg and Germaine Greer, has received a grant of £26,300 from Yorkshire Arts.

Festival director Dominic Gregory said the grant would allow a similar high-calibre turnout this autumn.

But the list of authors attending the festival from October 4 to 20 would not be drawn up until around April or May, he said.

Announcing the grant Yorkshire Arts chief executive Andy Carver said: "The arts are fundamental to the well-being of all of us living and working in the region and we are pleased to be able to confirm our support for such a wide range of arts organisations."

One of the other theatre groups to benefit in Ilkley is Blaise, the rural touring theatre which used to be known as Charivary, which will benefit to the tune of £30,000 - £5,000 more than was donated last year.

Mr Carver added: "Yorkshire contains three of the largest cities in the country outside London and all of them have theatres at the heart of their cultural identities."

Principal beneficiaries this year will be theatres and theatre companies in Yorkshire which will receive a total of more than £2.5 million in new investment through a national theatre review announced during 2001.

As a result, many will be financially secure for the first time in years.