In our corner of south Devon, there are loads of amazing people. One of these is Leah Varnell, who for years ran the Ways With Words festival at Dartington. Since that ended a couple of years ago, we’ve been talking about putting together something similar in Ashburton. The result, West Street Words was originally planned for October this year, but serious illness got in the way. While recovering, Leah has produced this amazing mini-festival line up. The national names here are Natalie Haynes, Ian Shaw, Matt Harvey and Marie-Elsa Bragg; alongside them there’s a host of more local literary stars – plus some great music. It’s all happening between Wednesday 11 and Sunday 15 December. Three prices for everything – mix and match as you like, and come to as many as you can.
T Orr Munro and Richard Handy
The Sharp End of Forensics and How TV Shows Get it Wrong
Wednesday 11 December 7.30pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
Professor Richard Handy has written historical fiction and non-fiction and is a leading expert on poisons and their pathologies. Joining him is Tina Munro, former Crime Scene Investigator and police and crime journalist to explore how their professional lives informed their fiction writing and why we can’t always believe TV show forensics.
Richard Handy The Reich Device (Resilient Books UK)
T Orr Munro Liars Island (HQ)
Stephanie Austin and T.P TP Fielden
Devon – A Hotbed of Murder
Thursday 12 December 5.30pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
TP TP Fielden, the fiction-writing name of acclaimed royal biographer and commentator Christopher Wilson, has penned biographies of Queen Camilla, Princess Diana, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, as well as his crime fiction Devon-based Riviera Express series. He joins Stephanie Austin author of many novels set in Ashburton to discuss their works and why Devon is the perfect setting for murder.
TP TP Fielden Died And Gone To Devon (HQ ltd)
Stephanie Austin Dead in Devon (Allison & Busby ltd)
Ian Shaw
Thursday 12 December 7.30pm £15 or £10 or £7 Book here
Twice voted Best Jazz Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards, Ian is among the world’s top male jazz singers. He’s also a great entertainer! His collaborators have included Quincy Jones, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Cleo Laine, Kenny Wheeler, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Nigel Kennedy, Kurt Elling and The Who’s Pete Townsend and has toured with Abdullah Ibrahim, The Boston Pops and Cedar Walton.
“a brilliant vocal chameleon . . . there’s actually more heart in Ian Shaw’s cleverness than in many singers who wear their hearts conspicuously on their sleeves” The Telegraph
“One of the giants of British jazz… not only a wonderful singer and songwriter but an ambassador for jazz… an essential part of the scene.” Jamie Cullum
Natalie Haynes Why do Goddesses Matter?
Friday 13 December 7.30pm £15 or £12 or £10 Book here
Comedian and Radio 4 regular who ‘Stands Up for the Classics’, Natalie Haynes, introduces us to Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his infidelities leads her to wreak vicious revenge on those who have wronged her: Artemis, goddess of hunting and protector of young girls (apart from those she decides she wants as a sacrifice) and Aphrodite, goddess of sex and desire (no deity is more determined and able to make you miserable if you annoy her). Be prepared to learn and laugh at the same time.
Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth (Picador)
Sonic Therapy
Friday 13 December 9pm Admission free / donations Book here
Ambient-dub-techno grooves created live, with Mandelbrotian visuals by this antipodean sound designer who now lives in Ashburton. It’ll be loud enough to dance to, but not so loud that you can’t sit and enjoy it with a drink and friends, to unwind at the end of the week. The Arts Centre bar has a wide selection including an extensive list of grown up no/low alcohol options.
Marie-Elsa Bragg Unsent Letters – A Daughter’s Love
Saturday 14 December 5pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
When priest, teacher and writer, Marie-Elsa Bragg, was just six years old her mother took her own life. Many years later Marie-Elsa returns to that night. Going back to that moment, inhabiting this defining tragedy during a retreat resulted in her book Sleeping Letters. She explains how spirituality and space allowed her to explore grief, healing and creativity.
Sleeping Letters (Chatto & Windus)
Matt Harvey
Saturday 14 December 7pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
Writer, poet, enemy of all that’s difficult and upsetting, Matt’s way with words have taken him from Totnes to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships via Radio 4, the Edinburgh Festival and the Work section of the Guardian. Matt is also the creator of Empath Man, who had his own mini-series on Radio 4. He is the author of The Hole in the Sum of my Parts, Where Earwigs Dare, Mindless Body Spineless Mind, Shopping With Dad, and much more.
“not only funny but tender and true” The Guardian
Linney Magic
Saturday 14 December 8.30pm £10 or £8 or £5 Book here
Join us for a musical party on Saturday with this local six-piece band whose style blends dancy rock’n’roll, spiky pop, smouldering soul and Irish folk, with original songs by front man Mick Avis and great covers that will keep you dancing all night.
Rosemary Griggs: Devon’s Daughters
Sunday 15 December 5.30pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
Rosemary presents a unique blend of history, theatre and re-enactment. She has researched Devon’s 16th century history for years. She tells the stories of the forgotten women beyond the royal court: wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played a significant part during the tumultuous Tudor years focussing on the story of Katherine Champernowne, mother of Sir Walter Raleigh (notoriously arrested in Ashburton at the Exeter Inn).
A Woman of Noble Wit (Matador)
West Street Words Spoken Word Special
Sunday 15 December 7.30pm £12 or £10 or £8 Book here
Ceri Baker, Poppy Jayne Jones, Harula Ladd and Tim King
Ceri Baker
Ceri Baker the current Bard of Exeter. She is a spoken word performance poet also experimenting with music, sound, a shruti box, a drum machine, ‘titting about’ and trying to handle the big stuff with humour. Ceri is a regular part of Spork poetry Exeter and a multi slam winning Poet.
Ceri pulls people in on the funny sides of serious life stuff, exploring themes of woman, change, death, grief, mother, neurodiversity, sex, cycles and creativity.
“Ceri Baker is a bold and beautiful poet.” Salena Godden
“Ceri’s work is an artistic exploration of pain, perseverance, and humour. Making her voice important and necessary.” Kat Francois
Poppy Jayne Jones
Poppy is a South-West a capella singer-songwriter, poet and facilitator who has supported the Plymouth Poetry Festival, worked with the National Poetry Society, runs Pyre Events, a mixed marginalized genders arts showcase and published Between Reeds with Jawbone Collective in 2023.
Harula Ladd
A slam-winning, home-made-cargidgan-wearing, nature-loving, narnia-believing, creativity-worshipping, word-smithing deep-diving, heart-touching, tear-inducing Totnes based poet!
Tim King
Seasoned poet, performer, event organiser and former Bard of Exeter Tim King is also, “a full on boffin under that check shirt poetry community connector exterior” (according to Ceri Baker).