Quay Words in Film

As a final commission for her Quay Words Summer residency on the theme of 'Vessels', Sarah Acton developed the spoken word piece 'Book of the Exe'.

During her summer residency, Sarah engaged with the theme through embodied writing and research practice, walking repeated circular routes, together with research at the archives and collecting conversations and memories on route and also chatting to visitors in the Wharfinger’s office at the Exeter Custom House about the Ship’s Canal, Exe River waters and stories of Quayside ships, goods and workers.

Sarah's original spoken word piece weaves fragments; voices and conversations real and imagined, and explores memory as relationship to this place and the past - alive in the present. What if the River remembers everything it has witnessed and experienced and speaks, what does it sound like when we listen for timeslips as we walk the Quay today, their emotional resonance storying the waters, tow paths and rooms of Custom House?

Book of the Exe was first broadcast in collaboration with musician Emma Welton as a podcast on River Radio in September, produced by Art Work Exeter. Thank you to everyone involved in bringing this piece together.

About Sarah Acton

Sarah is a writer and poet passionate about place, nature, and people through collective memory, oral storytelling culture and working landscapes. Sarah’s recent work includes spoken word and performance, poetry and outdoor events including poetry walks, community theatre, creating educational resources and designing and delivering socially engaged arts projects. She has worked with Dorset, Blackdown Hills and East Devon National Landscapes and has had frequent commissions from Stepping into Nature, with long-standing partnerships with regional museums, libraries, and memory cafes. Her recent book, Seining Along Chesil (Little Toller, 2022) captures memories, voices and stories of Dorset Seine fishing traditions. Sarah founded the ongoing Heart of Stone oral history project about the stone industry and quarrying on Portland, and Caught in the Net community project and plays. Sarah recently returned from a rural tour of the South West with a spoken word piece Seiners, commissioned by Sound UK with film by Common Ground and live musical accompaniment from musicians Becki Driscoll, Julie Macara and Emily Burridge. Much of Sarah’s work is about the relationship between natural environment, human culture and the other-than-human world, exploring how physical landscape holds memory and shapes ours, and the communal and individual construction of identity and memory, connections between landscape, myth-making and the stories communities remember and tell about the past, their world, and their place in it. Sarah lives in Devon, swims in the sea and is a gig rower. She has sailed around the world (not solo!) and loves reinvented maritime and folk traditions.

Photo credit: Robin Mills

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A video about Literature Works' first years of creating Quay Words, a live-literature programme and hub for words and stories at Exeter Custom House. We're excited to be running Quay Words for a further three years and providing a space to explore creative writing in the heart of Exeter. With grateful thanks to Arts Council England and the Exeter Canal and Quay Trust whose support has made the programme possible.

Our Quay Words 'Maritime' season writer-in-residence shares her final residency commission created during her time at Exeter Custom House in summer 2022.

We are lucky to have spoken to lots of excellent writers in our digital Quay Words’ events over 2020-21 and in this video we’ve collected some of their top reading recommendations. These are books from their literary heroes, books on particular themes and books with the power to inspire your own writing.

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In Spring 2021 Libraries Unlimited and Quay Words invited Tolu Agbelusi to be their shared writer-in-residence at Exeter Library and Exeter Custom House, with the aim of exploring the stories of Exeter’s remarkable women. This film is the result of that residency.

Throughout our Quay Words programme, we've asked the writers who have taken part in our events for their top tips on being a writer. Watch this film to discover some great advice for writers of all stages.

Quay Words is funded by Arts Council National Lottery Projects funding and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

With thanks to Paul Burton Media in Plymouth for their work on this film.

During the final event of Quay Words Autumn 2020, we were joined by sports writer David Goldblatt and Exeter City Football Club Supporters Trust's Doug Gillard for a discussion on why football is good for Exeter. The event also featured readings by Bard of Exeter FC, Rob Casey.

Quay Words is funded by Arts Council National Lottery Projects funding and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

In his final Quay Words Autumn 2020 residency event, Patrick Gale introduces us to six talented writers he's been working with over the past two months. They read their beginnings and first chapters and Patrick treats us to an exclusive preview of his new novel, Mother's Boy ( excerpt copyright of Patrick Gale).

Quay Words is funded by Arts Council National Lottery Projects funding and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

In this Quay Words event, our Autumn 2020 writer-in-residence, Patrick Gale is in conversation with novelist and psychoanalyst, Salley Vickers. Quay Words is funded by Arts Council National Lottery Projects funding and Exeter Canal and Quay Trust. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

Patrick Gale talks to us about representations of mental illness in fiction by exploring the portrayal of various mental health issues and illnesses in his own work in a combination of readings and conversation. This is a Quay Words event. All excerpts are copyright of Patrick Gale. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

Well-known bibliotherapist and writer, Ella Berthoud, in conversation with Quay Words Autumn writer-in-residence, Patrick Gale about our reading lives and why reading is good for us. Expect tips, examples and sheer reading bliss. Ella is reading from 30 Second Literature; The 50 most important forms, genres and styles, each explained in half a minute by Ella Berthoud. You can purchase a copy of the book here: https://www.creditoncommunitybookshop.co.uk/product/30-second-literature-the-50-most-important-forms-genres-and-styles-each-explained-in-half-a-minute/.

Find the latest information about the programme at www.exetercustomhouse.org.uk

Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

Storytelling Synchronicity. Those moments when what's happening around you seems to uncannily or joyfully reflect what's happening in the traditional story you're telling. Five performance storytellers talk about some of their experiences. You are warmly invited to share yours (as listener or teller) in the comments section below. Katy Cawkwell in conversation with Rebecca Smart, Sally-Pomme Clayton, Emily Hennessey and Hugh Lupton. Part of the Quay Words storytelling commission 2020, hosted by Literature Works. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

In our final Quay Words digital commission for Heritage Open Days Grimm's Brave Little Tailor meets the Lady and the Unicorn.  Storyteller Katy Cawkwell mixes folktale with mythology in a joyful tale that celebrates those who dare venture into the forest: a cheeky tailor chancing his luck, a couple of foolish giants, a moonlit huntress with a secret and the most elusive of magical creatures.  Accompanied by musician Rebecca Willson and inspired by the unicorn in the heraldic shield on the wall of Exeter Custom House. Film by Quack Productions. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

In our second Quay Words digital commission for Heritage Open Days storyteller Katy Cawkwell tells the Zuni legend of a Boy and his Eagle, accompanied by musician Rebecca Willson and inspired by the eagle carved into the tillet block on display in the Exeter Custom House. Film by Quack Productions. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!

Our first Quay Words digital commission for Heritage Open Days sees storyteller Katy Cawkwell spin the natural history and folklore of the eel into a performance piece, accompanied by musician Rebecca Willson and inspired by the eels wriggling across the plaster ceiling of the Custom House on Exeter Quayside. Film by Quack Productions. Let us know what you thought of this video by completing this short survey here: https://uk.culturecounts.cc/s/rmzUP - thank you!