Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival celebrates 10 year anniversary

The festival, labeled as one of the best literary festivals in the UK, will take place in September 2018.

In 2017, the Devon based festival celebrated their 9th and largest event on scale. 

David Marston, Budleigh Salterton Liteary Festival Director, is looking forward to this years event: "It's the 10th anniversary and we're very excited about that. Over the decades we've featured an incredible number of writers.

"One of the things we do is fund a bursary, a competition for 18-25 year olds. We send them on a highly regarded residential course worth about £1,000. They will work with trained and experienced writers which can lead on to big things. There is a lot of people who find a real sense of direction on this course, we are delighted to be funding it."

The festival also attracts thousands of people across across the country, and David believes it boosts the local economy and puts the town of Budleigh on the map. "I think it's taken a very good name of Budleigh Salterton far and wide," he added. "The authors coming attract crowds, we've had a growing audience over the past ten years. We have several thousand additional people coming during a 5-6 day period. Business booms.

World renown writer Micheal Morpurgo, who has appeared at the festival three times during the past 10 years, pulled out of the 2017 festival due to illness. However, David is hoping he makes a return in 2018. 

"We've got our fingers crossed that Michael Morpurgo will be rejoining us this year, it will be his fourth appearance at the festival."

More information about the festival can be found here: https://budlitfest.org.uk