Quay Words at the historic Exeter Custom House has begun moving back into the building for the Autumn ‘Wellbeing’ season, with a blended programme of online and in-person activity.

Quay Words at the historic Exeter Custom House has begun moving back into the building for the Autumn ‘Wellbeing’ season, with a blended programme of online and in-person activity. We continue to monitor Government guidance closely, with social distancing in place to ensure that our invited speakers, audiences and participants are safe.

Over the summer, we developed a Quay Words digital strand, offering virtual residencies and a range of broadcast and online opportunities to get involved. The new blended programme picks up on these approaches.
Full details here –

Poetry for all - online short course and masterclass, for you to feel good about your poems and think about how to get them published

Quay Words has two amazing poetry propositions, open to all.

How to write good poems and get them published – short writing course with Jonathan Davidson
Over five Saturdays from 11am – 1pm.Give yourself permission to take your poetry seriously, learning about writing, publishing and a range of opportunities from poet and sector expert, Jonathan Davidson, who is also CEO of Writing West Midlands. We have moved this five-week short course online, delivered to the original time scale on Zoom:

11 am – 1 pm on consecutive Saturdays between 7th November and 5th December, via Zoom.

Book your place HERE. Open to all.

Online masterclass with Anthony Anaxagorou –see Anthony’s recent Guardian article about best poetry books here. 2-5pm on a Saturday via Zoom. For anyone who would like to delve into the craft and get their poetry out there. This masterclass with poet and publisher Anthony Anaxagorou will offer you advice on how to get your poetry heard and seen. It will now be delivered online to the same timescale:
Saturday 7th November, 2 pm – 5 pm, via Zoom.

Book your place HERE. Open to all.

Discounted access to the masterclass is available for anyone attending the short writing course. To access the offer, please choose the ‘Poetry course discount’ ticket type HERE.

Patrick Gale’s Autumn residency events

Upcoming residency events with Patrick Gale will livestream from Exeter Custom House to your living room, meaning you can watch them live, FREE OF CHARGE from the comfort of your own home. A limited number of tickets are also available for a small, socially-distanced live audience in the building. Please be aware there will be live-filming at the event and you will be required to wear a face-covering. We continue to monitor Government guidance closely, with social distancing in place to ensure that our invited speakers, audiences and participants are safe.

The events are:
Wednesday 21st October, 6.30 – 8 pm: ‘Reading and wellbeing’ with Ella Berthoud, hosted by Patrick Gale. BOOK HERE

Wednesday 11th November, 6.30 -7.30 pm: Author event with Patrick Gale. BOOK HERE

Wednesday 18th November, 6.30 -8 pm: ‘Writing, creativity and therapy’ with Salley Vickers, hosted by Patrick Gale. BOOK HERE

 Tickets are £4/ £3 concession for all events. We are monitoring Covid-19 guidelines carefully. If circumstances change and we can no longer host a live audience a full refund will be available.

You can book your FREE ticket to livestream the events HERE.

Over the next few months we will continue to offer access to our programme in a blended way, using digital technology to complement safe, socially distanced in-person activity where possible.