‘SALT Path’ author Raynor Winn has confirmed she will be talking at this year’s Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival.

Raynor’s appearance will come shortly after publication of her fourth book, due in October, the details of which are currently being kept secret.

Her bestselling book ‘The Salt Path’ has been made into a cinema film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs which is due to be released in the UK at the end of next month.

It tells how she and husband Moth walked the 630 miles of the South West Coast Path from Minehead to Poole after they became homeless and jobless when Moth was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The movie is expected to generate increased tourism for the West Somerset and North Devon areas as filmgoers look to visit some of its locations, which include Minehead, Porlock Weir, the Valley of the Rocks, Heddon’s Mouth, and Hartland Quay.

The literary festival, which is in its fourth year, is being extended by a day for school activities and will be held across November 15 to 17.

This year, it will also be preceded by a literary lunch on the Friday, November 14, with writer, restaurant critic, and MasterChef judge William Sitwell in the Tarr Farm Inn, next to Exmoor’s historic Tarr Steps, just outside Dulverton.

Festival director Ali Pegrum said it was well known Dulverton was also keen to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Jane Austen.

Lifelong Jane Austen fan and author Jessica Bull is attending this year's Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival.
Lifelong Jane Austen fan and author Jessica Bull is attending this year's Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival. ( )

Ms Pegrum said: “Thus, we have two remarkable writers joining us here in November.

“Jessica Bull is a lifelong Austen fan and her debut novel ‘Miss Austen Investigates’ was an immediate bestseller, casting Jane as a literary sleuth searching for the answers to a murder mystery and using all the appropriate 18th century historical detail.

“Jessica will be in conversation with Dr Helena Kelly, an expert on Jane Austen and her work, teaching the subject in Oxford.

“She launches her new title ‘The Worlds of Jane Austen: The Influences and Inspiration behind the Novels’ to coincide with the anniversary celebrations.”

Ms Pegrum said other topics already ‘inked into the programme’ included nature and conservation, Formula One, Cornwall, true crime, Lady Thatcher, Provence, Exmoor Ponies, farming, the Duke and Duchess of York, and the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima.

Oxford University professor and Jane Austen expert Dr Helena Kelly will be appearing in the Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival to mark the 250th anniversary of Ms Austen's birth.
Oxford University lecturer and Jane Austen expert Dr Helena Kelly will be appearing in the Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival to mark the 250th anniversary of Ms Austen's birth. ( )

She anticipated the 2025 programme would see events sell out as they had in previous festival years.

Ms Pegrum said ‘Festival Friends’, who paid £20 to support the occasion, would benefit from priority online booking for a week before the box office is opened to the public.

Priority booking would also apply to the William Sitwell literary lunch.

Ms Pegrum said: “It is thanks to our ‘Festival Friends’ that we have been able to extend our outreach programme to local schools, not only through the annual festival children’s writing competition, but also now by being able to offer the dedicated ‘schools day’ with former Children’s Laureate Lauren Child.”

Anybody who wants to become a ‘Festival Friend 2025’ can do so online.