Efemia Chela, an award-winning writer of short stories based in Johannesburg, South Africa, was the Quay Words/ English PEN digital writer-in-residence for February 2021. We were delighted to be partnering with English PEN on Efemia Chela’s residency. English PEN campaigns to protect freedom of expression whenever it is under attack, and supports writers and their…

Patrick Gale was the Quay Words Autumn 2020 writer-in- residence. The theme of the Quay Words Autumn season was ‘Wellbeing’, which is at the heart of Exeter’s programme as a UNESCO City of Literature and Quay Words is a pillar of that programme. Patrick hosted a series of events and opportunities exploring the pleasure and…

During lockdown, the Quay Words programme moved online and we were delighted to recruit Bristol-based Tjawangwa Dema as our digital writer-in-residence for July/August. During her residency Tjawangwa pursuied her established interest in nature writing. TJ blogged run meet the writer sessions for a number of writers, was put of public reading broadcast online and blogged…

Award winning crime writer Martyn Waites was our first ever Quay Words digital writer-in-residence in June and July. In residence over lockdown, Martyn’s aim was to bring people together and inspire them to share their love and reading and writer in digital spaces. This was achieved in his History of Crime Writing talk, which you…

In partnership with the Met Office Informatics LabFor four weeks in February/March, we were delighted to host Natasha Carthew as Quay Words second ever writer-in-residence at Exeter Custom House, where she ran free Wild Writing workshops out on the Quay and ‘meet the writer’ sessions inside. The focus of her residency, which was supported by…

Quay Words’ first ever writer-in-residence.Over the course of her six week residency in the summer of 2019, Louisa immersed herself into the atmosphere of the historic Exeter Custom House and the surrounding quayside. Whether meeting other writers, inspiring the next generation or hearing from the voices of the Custom House’s past, Louisa spent the summer…