It’s been a most enjoyable, busy, interesting and exciting weekend for me and my two writing chums, the poet Macaque, and prize-winning writer, Fenja Hill. We headed southwest and ended up further down the coast at the delightful little harbour town of Watchet for their third literary festival, “a festival of storytelling, literature talks, poetry and creative writing workshops.” This was our second year of visiting this friendly and very local festival, and as we did last year, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Watchet is a harbour town, civil parish and electoral ward in the county of Somerset, England, with a population in 2011 of 3,785. It is situated 15 miles west of Bridgwater, 15 miles north-west of Taunton, and 9 miles east of Minehead.
One of the many great things about attending this litfest, is that it’s not far from where we live, so we don’t have a long journey to get there. We stayed in delightful accommodation a first floor apartment in a very old cottage, with views across the harbour. I have no idea how old the building was, maybe a couple of hundred years but it was beautifully appointed inside, very comfortable (including the beds) and all conveniences (including an amazing shower) and a suite on the second floor to accommodate our driver, Macaque. All the venues are within easy walking distance so (apart from me getting lost – yes, unbelievable in such a tiny place) we could be at the talks and workshops we were attending very easily.
The first event was a talk and readings from the great-newphew of a writer I very much admirer:
Arthur Ransome is well known as the author of the ‘Swallows and Amazons’ books. What is less well known is that as a young man he went to Russia to collect folk-tales and was swept into the maelstrom of the Russian Revolution. During the six years he lived in Moscow he became the only British journalist trusted by the Bolsheviks. He played chess with Lenin and fell in love with Trotsky’s secretary Evgenia Shelepina. In England he was regarded with profound suspicion as a possible Soviet agent. In 1919 when Moscow was surrounded by counter-revolutionaries, he and Evgenia escaped. They travelled through Estonia with a horse and cart knowing they would be shot if recognised. In the Homing Stone master storyteller Hugh Lupton (who is also Ransome’s great-nephew) tells the epic tale of that perilous and extraordinary journey.
It was indeed a fascinating story, and has prompted me to find out more about Arthur Ransome. I confess I did get a little lost (yes, how is that possible in such a small place?) and was slightly late to the next talk – luckily only missing part of the introduction to a talk from Chris Ewart. I had not actually heard of Chris, nor read any of his books before seeing his performance advertised: the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of many mystery and thriller novels. Chris’s first standalone thriller, Safe House sold over 500,000 copies in the UK and was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of The Year Award. His other thrillers include the forthcoming Eye Spy, as well as Strangers in the Car, The House Hunt, The Interview, A Window Breaks, and the Good Thief’s Guide series of mystery novels.
I also attended a workshop delivered by none other than the poet Macaque himself, aka Hamish MacNeil:
Hamish has written poetry and short stories with writing groups for the last twenty years, gaining various shortlists and prizes with both formats. In the last two years he has won both the Burnham-on-Sea short story and poetry categories, as well as being thrice commended at Words in Watchet 2025. Having moved to Somerset in 2013, he has been part of the spoken word scene in Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare, sharing stages with Melanie Branton, Vanessa Kisuule, Tim King and Birdspeed. His goals are to make people more conscious of what poetry really is, the precision it takes, and the emotional weight it should carry. Using Hamish’s and other poets’ work as examples, this workshop will emphasise the importance of word choice, consistency and critical editing, plus the need for a strong connection with the reader.
Even though I know Hamish so well he is aka the poet Macaque, I always enjoy his workshops, feeling as if I’ve learned something new in my feeble attempts to write poetry. Sunday was an amazing day – Fenja and I had lunch with my favourite author, Damien Boyd (oh and about thirty other people!) As well as an excellent roast dinner at The White Horse Inn, we were treated to a splendid talk from Damien about his writing in general, his most recent book in his Bob Willis series, “Blast From The Past”:
It is 1986. Assigned to a new Cold Case Unit, retired Detective Inspector Mungo ‘Bob’ Willis has reopened the investigation into the 1962 disappearance of a nine-year-old boy. Paul Bromfield was snatched from one of the last steam trains from Evercreech Junction to Burnham-on-Sea and later found dead in an abandoned bunker. A day at the seaside turned to tragedy. And a child’s name everyone remembers. The killer has been watching—waiting for this moment. When another child vanishes and chilling messages begin to arrive, Bob finds himself caught in a dangerous game. With time running out, he must decipher clues that have been hidden in plain sight for decades; clues that point to the lasting fallout of a forgotten nightmare. The truth is still out there. And it’s not finished with him yet.
On Sunday evening, we all trotted along to the final session – unfortunately mistaking the start time of 6:00 for 7:30 (for once this was not my mistake!!!) but thankfully arriving time for the competition winners to be announced. Guess what – Fenja one the flash fiction competition!! Well done, and how proud we were of her.
We’re
Lois Elsden 