Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival- Words by the SeaStarted up in 2008 and has gone from strength to strength. Multi-award winner Hilary Mantel (left) is the Festival President .
Three days and four nights of talks, readings and in conversations with talented authors, poets, playwrights, historians, broadcasters, nature writers, an astronomer, a gardener, an award-winning travel writer and rising stars.
Lovely part of the country for an autumn break.
When? 15 – 18 September 2016
Where? In various venues around the town including the Public Hall, the Temple Church and St Peters Church as well as the Budleigh Playhouse. Budleigh Salterton is in Devon.
Who? 2016 - see press release below
The line-up for this year’s Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, taking place from 15th-1..
How much? Check site but in past years most sessions £7.50+
Festival Website: www.budlitfest.org.uk
Email [email protected]
Twitter: @BudleighLitFest
Founded? 2008
Previous Festivals?
Thursday 17th – Sunday 20th September 2015 This year’s festival reveals a..
In 2014 - Paddy Ashdown, Mark Watson, Kate Mosse, Claudia Renton, Louise Doughty, Charles Spencer, Daljit Nagra, James Lovelock, Kate Atkinson, Michael Morpurgo,Linda Grant & Sadie Jones, Kate Adie, Hilary Mantel +
Previously: Melvyn Bragg • PD James • Martin Sorrell • Dr Sam Willis • Peter Snow • Sir Peter Stothard • Jackie Kay • Hilary Mantel • Erica Wagner • Christopher Hill • Rachel Cooke • Edna O’Brien • Callum Roberts • Alex Wade • Toby Buckland • Ed Hogan • Katie Ward • Julia Copus • Kaddy Benyon • Lavinia Greenlaw • Lynne Truss • James Fleet • Ferdinand Mount • Martin Rees • Miriam Darlington • Sarah Moss • Jan Morris • Sarah Churchwell Lucy Adlington - Joan Bakewell - Jeremy Black - John Carey - Babette Cole - Wendy Cope - Michael Frayn - Peter Hennessy - Michael Holroyd - Meredith Hooper - Lord Douglas Hurd - Kathy Lette- Alison Light - Penelope Lively - Hilary Mantel - John O’Farrell - Lawrence Sail - Lemn Sissay - Claire Tomalin - Ginette Vincendeau - Caroline Taggart, Terence Frisby, Carol Ann Duffy, Sir Christopher Meyer, Simon Brett, Susan Hill, Mal Peet - 2011 Sir Timothy Ackroyd | Jeremy Black | John Carey | Mavis Cheek | Gillian Clarke | Peter Conradi | Josceline Dimbleby | Carol Ann Duffy | Sarah Dunant | Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall |Simon Hall | Robin Hanbury-Tenison | A.L.Kennedy | Mark Logue | Sue MacGregor | Hilary Mantel | Michael Morpurgo | Sir Roy Strong | Caroline Taggart | Jack Thomas | Chris Waters | Richard Willis -
Info below courtesy Wiki
About the town
The town lies at the mouth of the River Otter, where the estuary forms an area of reed bed and grazing marsh, an important haven for migratory birds and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The pebble beach and cliffs are part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site, although this is an arrangement of geographical convenience, rather than being correct from the geological time point of view. Much of the geology is Triassic, represented by bunter sandstone (Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds) and the area is also famous for the radioactive nodules containing vanadium and uranium in red marl at Littleham Cove.
The town is almost entirely residential, with most businesses being situated in the High Street, Fore Street and Station Road (at the High Street end). It is also famed for its elderly population. It came bottom in a 2003 survey of towns giving value for money to homebuyers. Near the town centre is a park, known as The Green.
Fairlynch Museum in the town is a small local museum housed in a listed thatched building. It covers the history and geology of the region, and offers a programme of exhibitions and a local archive.
Festivals and events
* Gala Week – a series of fundraising events, organised by the Lions, held during the last week in May.
* Festival of Music and Drama – the inaugural festival took place in August 2005, and is now an annual event.
* Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival - held annually in September. First festival 18th-20th September 2009
* Budstock - an annual one-day festival featuring local bands, usually at the beginning of August.
* Sundown - an annual 3 day computer arts demoparty, held every September since 2005.
* Imperial College Operatic Society visits Budleigh Salterton for two weeks in late July / early August (every year since 1966) to perform a musical. This year's show will be Sweet Charity. There are usually ten performances including at least one matinee.
* Christmas day swim, where mad local residents rush into the sea on Christmas morning
* Boxing day raft race down the River Otter, local reidents and groups make their own rafts and launch them down the river from Otterton to Budleigh.
If you are involved in this festival you can update or change details via the organisers page . Authors can list here.