Literature

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
The Booklet Club, Infusion Art Cafe, Exmouth. Check details at its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/infusionexmouth/
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

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.

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 Libby, which you can download to your device (tablet or phone) via your app store. Also, you can download ebooks free from Devon Libraries OverDrive to a laptop and then transfer to a non-Kindle ebook reader (such as a Kobo). More details are at https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/ebooks and https://devon.overdrive.com/. You can have up to five 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 9,700 ebooks you can borrow. There are over 30 categories of fiction (including modern and classic literature, historical fiction, humour, romance, suspense, thriller, science fiction and short stories), and over 40 categories of non-fiction (including reference, biography, history, art, military, and study aids and workbooks). You can also refine your search (e.g. available now, new additions and most popular). See https://devon.overdrive.com/collections/featured/1.

A recent innovation has been the development of the excellent Libby app which works really well on any tablet or smartphone. You can download this free from your usual app supplier (Google Play or the Apple Store). Then once you have keyed in your library number and registered yourself on this, all of Devon Libraries' ebooks can be borrowed and downloaded and read offline through this app. Further details are at https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/.

Devon Libraries audiobook service

You can also borrow a wide selection of audiobooks through the free Libby app. From there you can choose from over 2,200 audiobooks in over 40 categories (the most popular of which are fiction, mystery, literature, thriller. historical fiction, romance and suspense, as well as non-fiction). The same rules apply as with ebooks, and you can download then to your device and listen to them from there offline at any time within your 21 days. See https://devon.overdrive.com/search?mediaType=audiobook&sortBy=newlyadded.

There are also additional audio titles via another free app called BorrowBox, which you can also download from your app store. There are over 1,000 audiobooks grouped under Bestsellers, Crime & Detective stories, Romance and Saga, and Non-fiction - see https://fe.bolindadigital.com/wldcs_bol_fo/b2i/mainPage.html?b2bSite=6345

Devon Libraries ejournal service

You can also see and download a large range of magazines and journals through a free app called RBdigital - see https://www.devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/emagazines. These are easy to read on mobile devices such as a tablet (iPad or Android) or even a phone, via the RBdigital digital app. The link for this is http://www.rbdigital.com/devon/service/magazines/landing or search for the RB Digital app on your usual app provider (iTunes or Google Play).

Once downloaded to your device, you can keep these publications as long as you wish. There is a really good selection now, and if you take advantage of any of these it will could save you hundreds of pounds compared to the commercial subscription rates. There are currently nearly 50 titles which you can see at https://devon.rbdigitalglobal.com/search/emagazine?page-index=0&page-size=60. They cover subjects as diverse as art, boats, cars, computers, cycling, family history, film, food, gardening, geography, health, history, knitting, lifestyle, music, photography, science, trains, travel, walking, wildlife, and more besides.

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.