We’re looking forward to another busy season of activity at Exeter Custom House and this time our theme is Heritage.

We’re delighted to be welcoming back Louisa Adjoa Parker as our writer-in-residence. Louisa was our first writer-in-residence at the Custom House in 2019 and she’ll be returning to continue her research and writing on Exeter’s past.

We’ll be ushering in National Poetry Day a day early this year, on Wednesday 6th October, with the help of Bristol City Poet, Caleb Parkin. He’ll be playing with this year’s National Poetry Day them ‘Choice’ in his workshop ‘Choice, Lack of‘ from 3.30 -5.30 pm. This will be followed by an open mic cabaret in the evening from 6.30 – 7.30 pm. Caleb will share poems around the theme of ‘Choice’, and there will be an opportunity to share your own. On National Poetry Day (7th October) itself, Quay Words and our partners at Libraries Unlimited are excited to be releasing the results of our commissioned piece by Tolu Agbelusi, watch this space and get ready to learn more about Exeter’s remarkable women.

We also have exciting talks across the season. On October 13th we will be joined by Katherine Findlay and actor Edward Rowe to discuss their Pike Ward project, exploring the life of a Devon fisherman who went on to impact the development of modern Iceland. On October 20th, we will be celebrating the work of summer writer-in-residence Naomi Westerman by showcasing emerging writers that have taken part in her workshops and call out at our Quay Voices event. Nikesh will also be running a masterclass for any writers interested in exploring personal heritage through memoir on Saturday 13th November – book here.

We’ll kick off December with a night of poetry and song with the launch of the collaborative collection The Tin Lodes from Andy Brown and Marc Woodward on 1st December, and we are following that with our book fair extravaganza on Saturday 4th December, where you be able to buy books, illustration and enjoy fun free craft activities. Watch this space for more information.