The traditional Hakon Hakonsson Lecture, run by Largs and District Historical Society, looks into 'The People behind the Runes' this year.
The festival event has been running annually since 1980 when it was launched by the late Magnus Magnusson, who was the original patron of the festival.
This year's lecture is provided by Prof Judith Jesch, BA, Ph.D Scandinavian Studies: Professor of Viking Studies, University of Nottingham, and centres on 'The People behind the Runes: Scandinavians on the British Isles'.
The event takes place at 8pm on Thursday September 7 at the Valhalladrome, Viking Experience Theatre, Greenock Road, Largs. Admission by donation.
Judith's area of expertise includes old Norse language and literature, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
Her published works include Women in the Viking Age, Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse, and Viking Poetry of Love and War.
Judith's research has always focused on the relationships of language, texts and contexts in the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, with a particular focus on runic inscriptions, and historical sagas, as well as literacy, geography, migration and diaspora, and Scandinavian contacts with the British Isles.