SPOTLIGHT A literary festival line-up revealed and a big photography project for the city

Dancing Darcey is coming to Devon

Festival

LITERARY LINE-UP

Budleigh Salterton will be buzzing with book lovers once again as the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival makes a welcome return from 15 – 19 September this year.

Headlining the programme will be former principal ballerina and Strictly judge Dame Darcey Bussell talking about her life of dance; comedy actress and bestselling novelist Celia Imrie will be chatting about her latest novel; and leading scientist evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins will be discussing science writing.

Leading fiction writers appearing this year include Vera and Shetland creator Ann Cleeves, Best Marigold Hotel novelist Deborah Moggach, Women’s Prize founder Kate Mosse, and Apple Tree Yard psychological thriller writer Louise Doughty.

Other guests include Dame Joan Bakewell, FT columnist Tim Harford, modern historian Sir Anthony Seldon, Theresa May’s former Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell, Richard Ovenden of the Bodleian Library, author and journalist Mary Ann Sieghart.

Xxxxx Head to page 12 to see the children author line-up; wwwbudlitfest.org.uk

Celia Imrie will be chatting at the festival

Photography

LIVING PICTURE

RAMM has launched Frame of Mind, a photography project which reaches out to young people living with mental health challenges and empowers them to use their smartphone or camera to capture the world in new ways.

The project is being shaped by young people with their own experiences of mental health issues, who want to create a kind, supportive space on social media as an antidote to the unattainable perfection seen in much of the digital world.

Young people will be examining objects mindfully and taking inspiration for their own photography. It is part of a series of community wellbeing projects developed by the museum to support people who have been affected by the impact of the Covid pandemic over the last 18 months.

“All too often museums can be thought of as places where you simply look,” says Amal Ghusain, Exeter City Council’s lead for Communities and Culture.

“While that can be very fulfilling, these projects are about active engagement with the objects, thoughts and ideas. They encourage people to see things in a new way, explore feelings and find time to pause. The projects have been created to bring calm following the chaos of the last year, which has affected us all and

The photography project will run for the rest of the year

particularly young people and children. This is not therapy, but it can help them feel better and less alone.” The Frame of Mind Instagram account can be found at: @RAMMFrameofMind); rammuseum.org.uk