2010 Festival Writers

Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for both children and adults, and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal... [Read more...]

Susan Hill is a prolific writer: the author of numerous novels, collections of short stories, non-fiction and children’s fiction as well as a respected reviewer, critic, broadcaster and editor. Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival Appearance N.B.... [Read more...]

Hilary Mantel is one of our most important living writers. She is the author of eleven books, including Wolf Hall, A Place of Greater Safety, Giving Up the Ghost, and Beyond Black, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize. Budleigh Salterton Literary... [Read more...]

Simon Brett worked as a producer in radio and television before taking up writing full time. He is the much-loved author of the Fethering series, the Mrs Pargeter novels and the Charles Paris detective series. Married with three grown-up children, he... [Read more...]

Alex Wade is a writer, freelance journalist and occasional media lawyer. He is the author of Surf Nation: In Search of the Fast Rights and Hollow Lefts of Britain and Ireland and Wrecking Machine: A Tale of Real Fights and White Collars. Budleigh Salterton... [Read more...]

Hugh Williams held a number of senior editorial and management posts in the BBC before moving to the development of television over broadband more than ten years ago. He is currently Director of Programmes for the Internet Company, Talk Talk. His “Fifty... [Read more...]

Christopher Meyer served as Ambassador to the United Kingdom to the United States from 1997 until 2003. He was a vital link in the important relationship between America and Britain, one of the closest periods since the Second World War. He had previously... [Read more...]

Anna Beer is a biographer with a particular interest in the relationship between literature, politics and history. She is a University Lecturer in English Literature and has published an academic study of Sir Walter Ralegh’s life and works and a... [Read more...]

Ian Mortimer is well known for challenging conservative views about history and making readers look at subjects in fresh and radical ways. His vibrant best-seller, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, redefined our responses to the past as... [Read more...]

Jeremy Musson is a writer, broadcaster, architectural historian, and a former National Trust curator. From 1998-2007 he was the Architectural Editor of Country Life; he was also the presenter of the BBC 2 series The Curious House Guest screened in 2005... [Read more...]

ACTOR, SOLDIER, PLAYWRIGHT, FATHER; A personal portrait of Dad’s Army’s Private Godfrey As a young man, Arnold Ridley was best known as the author of the classic comedy thriller, The Ghost Train. In old age, he played the much-loved Private Godfrey... [Read more...]