The first Porlock Literary Festival was held in 2003. The idea came from poet Karen Eberhardt-Shelton who was living in the village at the time. She was inspired by the many famous literary figures with associations with the area, including Coleridge, Shelley, Southey and Wordsworth. She wanted to create an event to celebrate both its rich literary history, and all writers who have been, and continue to be, inspired by the area.
The idea was taken up by Denise Sage and with the help of her team at Porlock Visitor Centre, and several other enthusiastic locals, the Festival was born.
That year events at the Festival included a literary walk through the
By 2004 Margaret Drabble had become Patron of the Festival and continues to be an avid supporter as well as several-times guest speaker. In 2005 it became Porlock Arts Festival to reflect the increase in the number of different arts participating.
From those tentative beginnings has grown an interesting and well-supported Festival. Events over the years have included writing and poetry workshops, theatre performances, musical evenings, book fairs, literary walks and tours, radio drama, and art and craft exhibitions, as well as the many and varied guest speakers.
Amongst these the Festival can boast, as well as Margaret Drabble, Michael Holroyd, Matt Harvey, Sam Smith, David Kennard, Nell Dunn, Kate Adie, Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Valerie Grove, Rose Tremain, Tony James, Sir Andrew Motion, Stanley Johnson, and Rachel Johnson, as well as many local authors.
An active and enthusiastic committee works tirelessly to maintain the high standards set in those early years, and the success of the Festival is now being proved in well-known speakers approaching them with offers to participate!
As time goes on we plan to archive all the Festivals so please visit this page again to look back at just what has been achieved by this village from that initial idea.
