The Devon Anthology: Summer 2024 Edition

There's something about Devon that brings out the author in us. Or something about authors that are drawn to Devon. Either way, we are a county full of storytellers, writers & creators. Let's get to know a few of them.

Join five Devon-based authors as they read for five minutes each from one of their recent books. From science fiction to crime to memoir, you're bound to discover something new & unexpected. Mingle with the authors afterwards and pick up a book or two if inspired.

This event is organised in collaboration with Bovey Paradiso, a lively community arts and entertainment centre in Bovey Tracey. The Gallery will be hosting a show called "GREEN!" to coincide with The Big Green Week and ACT With the Arts. We hope you'll have a look around the latest exhibition while you're there. If you choose to make a donation as part of your ticket registration, it will go to support Bovey Paradiso's work in the community. Thank you!

is a novelist, anthologist, poet, and literary academic, who is drawn to dark and monstrous stories. Her debut anthology Being Ace (Page Street YA, 2023) was named a Lammy Award Finalist at the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards, commemorating “outstanding LGBTQ+ literature from 2023.” Her debut novel Untamed (Prizm Books, 2015) also won the 2015 SIBA award for Best Dystopian Novel. Madeline also writes romance and light-hearted contemporary fiction as Elin Annalise, and she publishes her academic works as Madeline Dyer Statham.

has been researching Devon's sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten
women of history. Her novel A Woman of Noble Wit tells the story of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother, and features many of the county’s well-loved places. The Dartington Bride, published March 2024, is the extraordinary tale of Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery who travelled from France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent and well-connected Champernowne family. Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, a passion which complements her love for bringing the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment. Her appearances and talks for museums and community groups all over the West Country draw on her extensive research into sixteenth-century Devon, Tudor life and Tudor dress, particularly Elizabethan. An audience with the Lady Katherine includes a full demonstration of the costume of a wealthy sixteenth century woman. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours of the gardens at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house and now a historic visitor destination, events venue and thriving community of businesses, colleges and more.

has a degree in Humanities with Literature and has always enjoyed reading, especially the great writers of the 19th Century. She is an only child of two only children and so has always felt a distinct lack of family. This inspired her to research her family history and has led her to write three full length novels so far: The Glass Bulldog, A Ha’penny Will Do’ and new novel Dance A Fearful Jig published January 2024. In September 2021 Alison set up the South Hams Authors Network – an organisation which aims to support and promote the work of Devon writers. This is a free, informal group which meets on a monthly basis and has a devoted and loyal following. This culminated in the much praised Dartmoor Edge Literary Fest in October 2022, which was a free weekend event featuring local authors at community arts hub The Clay Factory near Ivybridge. Since then, Alison has gone on to organise and appear at the acclaimed South Hams Literary Festival, based around the town of Ivybridge, Devon.

E.I. Parr's career was primarily spent working in a variety of roles with young people or
adults, during times when they were facing challenges in their lives and/or they were in need of empowerment. All positions required studying aspects of psychology. She has worked as a Counsellor, youth and adult trainer, youth worker, alcohol project worker, and advocate for adults with learning disabilities. She has always been a writer, for personal pleasure. She developed her style after attending a creative writing workshop. Thistle in the Long Grass was inspired by her knowledge and experience of emotionally wounded individuals. She moved to Bovey Tracey in 1993. After 20 years she moved to ‘middle ground’ between Bovey and Newton.

was born in Consett, Co. Durham in the UK. She has worked as a video rental person, a catalogue product-picker, a deli-sandwich-maker and an amazing barmaid. She eventually trained as an arts education consultant working across the North East of England, as well as a mindfulness teacher working with families and young people. She has sold her abstract paintings internationally and more recently worked on the frontline to support women and birthing people with perinatal mental health challenges. Abigail now works as an author and has unleashed the Life Is Yours & Berryport Mysteries series' on the world. The books are published by Soft Rebel Publishing.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bovey Paradiso, Bovey Paradiso, Bovey Tracey, United Kingdom