The third annual Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival took place over the weekend of 16 and 17 November and was hailed as a great success. One author even described the event as “a jewel in Somerset’s crown.”
Amongst the many author talks taking place over the weekend – including well-known writers such as Jonathan Dimbleby, Caroline Quentin, Deborah Meaden and Plum Sykes – there was the annual ‘Book Club’ talk hosted by historical novelist Kate Lord Brown.
A lively panel discussion on the theme of 20th Century Historical Fiction with three multi-award winning, bestselling authors sharing their writing and inspiration with the packed audience – Jennie Godfrey, Vanessa de Haan and Jessica Moor. The session concluded with Kate Lord Brown (also the Festival Children’s Writing Competition Judge) reading out the winning competition entry and the four authors handing out the prizes to the winner and runners up.
The competition, open to children aged under 13, had this year been on the theme of ‘Magical Exmoor’ and received a record 65 entries from Somerset, Devon and event Kent! It was won by Toby Vigurs (Year 5/6 at Bampton School) with runners up Jack Richards (age 7 from Wiveliscombe) and Isla Elliott-Boyle (age 6 from Cullompton). Toby’s winning entry can be found on the Festival website at visitdulverton.com.
Toby’s mother said that he was stunned to hear his story being read out – and was an emotional moment.
Runner-up Isla’s mother wrote “Isla was blown away to receive her prize and absolutely loved meeting the incredible authors. She has always adored books and has always loved telling stories. It was very special for her to win this award and we are really proud of her and grateful to the Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival organisers.”
This post was originally published on here
