Literature

Latest literature news and highlights

The very latest news is posted on our Exmouth Arts Facebook Group. If you would like your event publicised here, please email me, John Hunt, at contact@exmoutharts.co.uk.

Local author Leonora Wilson has just published a novel A Dozen Words for Sixpence. Her story is based on an event in her grandparent’s lives in South Wales, when in 1923, in the great depression, her grandfather tried (unsuccessfully) to find work in London – and decided to emigrate to Canada without telling her family. Further details are at https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/24634988.exmouths-leonora-wilson-new-book-dozen-words-sixpence/ and on the Amazon website - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dozen-Words-Sixpence-historical-separation/dp/1068762209
This year's Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival was held from 18 to 22 September: : Celebrating books by the sea. It featured inspiring talks, readings and conversations and promotes the art of writing and the enjoyment of reading in our East Devon community and local schools. See https://budlitfest.org.uk/

Former head of Woodbury School turns her hand to publishing novelsA retired headteacher has given herself thousands of lines to write - 9966 to be precise. That is the extent author Leonora Wilson will go for her…

Further news about literature locally

Are you aware of any local events or news about literature? Please let me know by emailing contact@exmoutharts.co.uk

Please check with the organisers about these events:

Monthly story time for pre-school children: 'Crafty Tales', including a short accompanying craft activity, Exmouth Library. See https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/exmouthlibrary
Comedy writing and speaking with Dr Maggie Irving. Details at http://drmaggieirving.blogspot.com/p/maggies-blog.html

Is there anything that we have left out that you would like to see included? Please let us know by emailing us - contact@exmoutharts.co.uk.

We now have put poetry in a category of its own - tap or click on the Poetry section in the Category tab - or tap or click here: Poetry

Older news about literature locally

Author collaborates with Exmouth in Bloom to launch a sunflower competitionExmouth Author Debra Wellington has joined forces with Exmouth in Bloom to launch a sunflower competition.

Poet laureate Simon Armitage set to inspire Devon students at literary festivalBudleigh Salterton Literary Festival’s Spring Weekend is set to inspire hundreds of students from across Devon.

Be part of Budleigh’s biggest book groupBudleigh Salterton Literary Festival has selected The Queen of Dirt Island, the latest novel by the award-winning writer Donal Ryan, as this…

Book swap beach hut opens to Budleigh Salterton residentsBoth the book swap, which will be open from 9am until 5pm every day, and the storytelling will take place at the first beach hut on Marine Parade,…

Budleigh author to launch her latest book this weekJulia Vaughan Smith's latest book explores difficult relationships between mothers and daughters

Local author to sign copies of her first published book at new Exmouth storeMarianna's new book, Unlocking the Willow is a young adult book which is Marianne's first published book.

Exmouth Library

If you have not already done so, please register for a free library card (which gives you your unique number and you are also given your own PIN number. You can do this by calling into Exmouth library (or any other library in Devon, or online). This entitles you to borrow books, CDs and DVDs from any library in Devon free, to use the computers in each library free for a limited time and also access free WiFi, and many other things such as the use of the free ebook, audiobook, ejournal and music services (see Library services section below).

Libraries Unlimited is the charity responsible for running Devon libraries (50 libraries in total). It has the vision "to make a positive difference to people's lives and communities through a shared love of reading and access to high quality information and facilities". The main website is https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena.

Details of opening hours and events organised at Exmouth Library are at https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/exmouthlibrary.

More about our extensive library resources is on a separate Connect & Learn website - https://sites.google.com/view/connectandlearn/topics/library-resources

Devon Library services

Devon Libraries ebook service

You can borrow a wide selection of ebooks and the best way to do this is via a free app called BorrowBox, which you can download to your device (computer, tablet or phone) via your app store. More details are at https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/ebooks. You can have up to seven ebooks at any time and keep them for 21 days (just like print books), and then they automatically expire (unless you apply to renew). If your book is in use by someone else, you can reserve it free of charge, and then you get an email when it is ready for you to borrow.

There's an excellent range, with currently over 13,000 ebooks you can borrow, many of which you can borrow straightaway and several of which you can borrow with no queue. You can reserve any that are currently booked out, and this is also free to do. There are many different categories of fiction and non-fiction, and you can also refine your search (e.g. featured, explore, genres, available now, new additions and most popular). You can also search for individual books by title, author, genre, etc. You can then read them on your computer, tablet or mobile phone once you have downloaded them (which means that you can do this offline). To do all of this just go to https://devon.borrowbox.com/ebooks/featured

Devon Libraries audiobook service

You can also borrow a wide selection of audiobooks through the free Borrowbox app. From there you can choose from nearly 8,000 audiobooks currently which you can borrow, and just like the ebooks many of these you can borrow straightaway and several of them you can borrow with no queue. You can have up to seven audiobooks at any time and keep them for 21 days (just like print books), and then they automatically expire (unless you apply to renew). You can reserve any that are currently booked out, and this is also free to do. There are many different categories of fiction and non-fiction. And as with ebooks you can also refine your search (e.g. featured, explore, genres, available now, new additions and most popular). You can also search for individual books by title, author, genre, etc. You can then listen to them on your computer, tablet or mobile phone once you have downloaded them (which means that you can do this offline). To do all of this just go to https://devon.borrowbox.com/eaudiobooks/featured

Devon Libraries ejournal service

You can also borrow a wide selection of magazines and journals through the free BorrowBox app. These are easy to read on computers, mobile devices such as a tablet (iPad or Android) or even a phone, via the BorrowBox app. You can have up to seven magazines or journals at any time and keep them for 21 days (just like print books), and then they automatically expire (unless you renew).

There is a really good selection now, and if you take advantage of any of these it could save you hundreds of pounds against the commercial subscription rate. There are currently nearly 300 titles. They are all available immediately with no waiting time or reservation required. There are many different categories. And as with ebooks and audiobooks you can also refine your search (e.g. featured, eMagazines, eNews and genres, or you can search for individual title). This covers over 30 genres with subjects as diverse as art, boats, cars, computers, cycling, entertainment, family history, film, food, gardening, geography, health, history, knitting, lifestyle, music, photography, science, trains, travel, walking, wildlife, and more besides. In addition it includes many daily papers. You can also subscribe to any that you particularly like so that you receive the next edition automatically. You can also look at back-copies. You can then read them on your computer, tablet or mobile phone once you have downloaded them (which means that you can do this offline).To do all of this just go to https://devon.borrowbox.com/epress/featured

Other Devon Libraries resources - including free music

This link - https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/referenceonline - tells you about all of the other free reference services offered by Devon Libraries (including a number of Oxford Reference resources).

Amazingly this also includes free access to the whole of the Naxos Music catalogue, and you can listen to all the albums (more than 143,000 discs, which is over 2 million tracks!) by keying in your own library number from your library card. The music is then streamed to you, so you do need to be online to listen to it. See https://devonlibrary.naxosmusiclibrary.com/recentadditions.asp.

The Naxos Music Library is also available as an downloadable app for your tablet or smartphone from your usual app provider (and you will need to register to use this - and it's free - and once done, it's excellent). From the app, music is streamed, and some music can be downloaded so that you can listen to this at any time offline.

National Resources

There are some outstanding resources available free from national libraries. For instance, take a look at the home page of the National Library at https://www.bl.uk/learning. This website also features some really interesting online resources, which you can browse free at https://www.bl.uk/learning/online-resources.

Nearby in Exeter....

Exeter - only UK city to have been awarded UNESCO City of Literature status. More details at https://news.exeter.gov.uk/exeter-only-uk-city-to-be-awarded-unesco-city-of-literature-status/ and https://literatureworks.org.uk/exeter-announced-as-a-unesco-city-of-literature/

Comedy

Comedy writing and speaking with Dr Maggie Irving. Details at http://drmaggieirving.blogspot.com/p/maggies-blog.html . She is organises comedy writing courses, concentrating on developing material and learning how to maximise its comic potential.