A three-day course for writers of fiction Do you have a big idea that you are looking for time and support to nurture? Have you started writing your novel but are looking for inspiration to take the next steps? This selected, intensive weekend of workshopping is designed for you. Join award-winning novelist Andrew Miller over…

Join us and Quay Words writer-in-residence Davina Quinlivan at Exeter Custom House for an unique literary salon event with Noreen Masud and William Henry Searle on stories of place and finding profound narrative ‘threads’ through objects, puppetry and the everyday. During our Threads season this March and April we’ll be delving into text and the textile, pulling…

You’re invited to bring along a piece of fabric or clothing that has personal significance to you for this workshop. Davina will then use this as a jumping-off point to inspire participants to try out creative writing techniques, and then lead the group to create a long form piece of poetry written in collaboration. We…

We’re thrilled to welcome Claire Wilcox to Quay Words to discuss her book Patch Work for our Threads season. Throughout March and April we’ll be delving into text and the textile, pulling at the threads of Exeter Custom House’s history of fabric trade and its relevance today. Claire Wilcox has been a curator of fashion at the Victoria…

Join us at Quay Words to welcome acclaimed poet Roger Robinson and award-winning author and photographer Johny Pitts as they ask: What is it like to be black in Britain today, particularly if you live outside of the urban, metropolitan centres? Roger and Johny joined forces to explore this issue in their stunning new book, Home Is…

Join acclaimed poet Elizabeth-Jane Burnett for an eco-poetry workshop at Exeter Custom House. Expect a nourishing take on writing in the rhythms of nature ahead of the Sunday full moon. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett is an author and academic whose creative and critical work has a largely environmental focus. Publications include poetry collections Of Sea (2021) and…

In association with Artemis Storytelling The White Bear King is the perfect wintery romance. Storyteller and writer Sally Pomme Clayton and singer and composer Helen Chadwick weave together words and songs, images and sounds, to conjure the eternal quest for love.  They take you on a snowy journey through a dark, Scandinavian fairytale with a…

Autumn writer-in-residence Alice Albinia will teach this workshop on narrative non-fiction. Drawing on the season theme of ‘heritage’, Alice will explore with participants how the writing of memoir, life writing or history can become expansive and novelistic. About Alice  Alice Albinia is the award-winning author of twinned works of fiction and non-fiction. Her non-fiction book Empires of…

Our current writer-in-residence Alice Albinia will read from her recent novel Cwen and her upcoming non-fiction work The Britannias, followed by a conversation and Q&A  chaired by Beth Howell, Collections & Research Assistant at the Devon and Exeter Institution and PhD Candidate at University of Exeter. You can also save a seat here to watch…

The Islands of Women Collective — writer-in-residence Alice, artists Rose Gibbs and Léonie Hampton — collaborated with musician Piers Lewin (Full of Noises) on a short art film, Zenae, edited by Martin Hampton with sound editing by Sam Britton. The film winds together, among other things, Piers’ music, with quotations and research from Alice’s books. Here they screen Zenae, the fruit of…