About Us…

Sidmouth Literary Festival (Sun, Sea and Books) was established in 2015.

The festival was the brainchild of Wayne Winstone, owner of Winstone's Books, Di Bowerman, Jane Corry and many others. The first festival featured well known authors  such as Terry Waite and Helen Lederer visiting Sidmouth to take part in lectures, seminars and workshops. Book lovers wanted more and in 2016 we extended the programme to offer guidance on writing, as well as a range of authors talking about their work.

We have been growing year on and year out, with the support of our local community, and we are pleased with the success of our previous festivals. Today, we are a volunteer-based organisation and we work together to bring the world of literature to Sidmouth.

Our 2019 line-up featured a range of literary speakers covering a variety of topics embodying the spirit of East Devon. Headlining last year’s edition was the acclaimed Ann Cleeves, whose books have always been popular amongst local residents. Her novels have been adapted into the popular television series Vera and Shetland.

Tim Pears revisited Sidmouth as his West Country Trilogy drew to a conclusion with The Redeemed. His knowledge of Devon shines through these novels, and we were very excited to hear him talk about the local inspirations behind this series.

International bestselling author Lesley Pearse and thriller writer Ruth Ware were joined by Sidmouth’s own literary star, Jane Corry, to talk about the crossover between thriller and family drama that drives their writing.

For readers of non-fiction, we had bestselling historian Giles Milton and craftsman Alex Woodcock. Giles’ new book, D-Day: The Soldiers Story, was particularly timely as we commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings on 6th June. Alex talked about his work and wanderings across the South West. We were thrilled to hear him discuss his time as resident stonemason at Exeter Cathedral at an especially timely moment for thinking about the conservation of great buildings such as Notre Dame.

We would like to thank Sidmouth Town Council and the Keith Owen Fund for their support and to express our gratitude to the volunteers whose hard work made this event possible in 2019. Sadly, the 2020 Festival had to be cancelled due to lockdown restrictions.

The Festival Committee took the decision to try and offer some events online in 2021 with a view to staging in person events later in the year, with a full Festival planned for 2022.

If you would like to join us in future years, please do get in touch. Email Liz Gordon, Festival Director at sidmouthlitfest1@gmail.com