Lynton, Lynmouth and Exmoor Advertiser, March 2019

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44 MARCH 2019
Minehead’s first literary festival
to take place on 27 April 2019
Minehead Literary Festival will take place on Saturday April 27 at the Methodist Hall, Minehead,
featuring presentations by four leading writers with ties to the area who will explore the importance
of place in their writing.
Speaking at the festival will be one of the country’s foremost writers of novels and short stories Tessa Hadley,
winner of the 2018 Edge Hill Short Story Prize and author of critically-acclaimed novels Clever Girl, The London
Train and The Past. Tessa Hadley has just published her seventh novel Late in the Day to rave reviews hailing
her as ‘one of Britain’s finest writer of contemporary fiction’ (Thea Lenarduzzi, Vogue). She is joined by BBC radio
producer, writer and bird watcher Tim Dee, whose new book Landfill is about how rubbish tips sustain bird life,
and Pamela Holmes, best-selling author of first novel The Huntingfield Paintress and winner of the Jane Austen
Short Story Award in 2014. Popular local writer and ‘the best contemporary writer of pony stories around’ Victoria
Eveleigh will be giving a special illustrated presentation about her much-loved series of children’s books.
A writing competition, with separate classes for adults and children, is being organised in the run-up to the
festival, and an art exhibition will run from April 2 to May 6 at the Regal Theatre and Toucan Wholefoods to
celebrate Minehead Literary Festival, featuring work by local artists Jo Minoprio, Leo Davey and Pauline Clyde
and focusing on the theme of the importance of place.
Catering for Minehead Literary Festival will be provided by Toucan Wholefoods and tickets may be booked in
advance for the individual events or for the full one-day festival.
For more information and details about how to book visit the website www.mineheadliteraryfestival.org,
email mineheadliteraryfestival@gmail.com or telephone Janet Styles on 01643 822097.
As part of the Minehead Literary Festival a short story competition with separate classes for adults
and children is being organised in advance of the festival.
The children’s competition is organised by West Somerset Academies Trust and supported by the local creative
writing group Café Write.
Children aged between 5 and 9 years old are invited to write a short, illustrated story or poem of no more
than 250 words, entitled ‘The Magic Train’.
Children aged 10 to 15 years old are invited to compose a short story or poem of up to 500 words with the
theme ‘The Day all the Teachers Disappeared’.
The theme for adults (16+) is ‘Minehead: Gateway to Exmoor’ and this competition is run in collaboration
with the creative writing group, Minehead Writers. Type-written entries of no more than 500 words are invited
from those aged 16 and over, and may be either prose or poetry.
Only one entry for each competitor should be submitted, providing name, age (optional in the adult class) and
contact details on a separate sheet, to ensure judging anonymity.
All children’s entries should be sent either by email to mineheadliteraryfestival@gmail.com or by post to West
Somerset Academies Trust, Minehead Middle School, Ponsford Road, Minehead TA24 5RH (and marked ‘Literary
Competition’). Adult entries should be sent by email to mineheadliteraryfestival@gmail.com or by post to Literary
Festival Competition, 2 Hillview Road, Minehead TA24 8EG.
All entries must be received no later than March 31, 2019. The adult class will be judged by festival speaker and
‘one of Britain’s finest writer of contemporary fiction’ Tessa Hadley, and the judge for the two children’s classes will
be the author of much-loved children’s books Victoria Eveleigh.
Winners will be announced at Minehead Literary Festival on the April 27 and winning entries will be published in the
West Somerset Free Press and displayed in Minehead Library.
For more information about the Minehead Literary Festival visit the website www.mineheadliteraryfestival.org or
email mineheadliteraryfestival@gmail.com
advertise@lyntonadvertiser.com 01598 752788