THE second annual literary festival held in Watchet at the weekend proved another huge success and the organising committee has already committed to putting it on again in 2026.

Words in Watchet saw the town busier than usual for the time of year as visitors were drawn in from other parts of the country.

There was a packed weekend of events for all types of audiences with talks covering crime, science, nature, and family history, workshops on Dungeons and Dragons, horror writing, and crime thrillers, and a lunch in the Spice Merchant restaurant with crime writer Damien Boyd.

For hungry visitors there was also a supper in the East Quay Kitchen during which conversations were held with authors Tessa Hadley and Fiona Williams.

A local authors book fair was held in the Phoenix Centre under the guidance of Lionel Ward, of Brendon Books.

Journalist and author David Chadwick said: “One of the main impressions I picked up from talking to visitors was that we were the merely the tip of the iceberg who were lucky enough to get our books to market.

“They also had ambitions to tell their stories, explore their thoughts and ideas in print and share their enthusiasms with other people.

“You can hardly blame mainstream publishers who piggy-back on the celebrity status of many of their authors to keep them in business.

“But, in doing so, they stifle the creative efforts of young or up-and-coming authors and weed out the variety and expertise displayed by the local authors in Watchet.”

Mr Chadwick said Words in Watchet was important for local authors as much as for established and better-known writers.

Among the local authors displaying their work were Justin Adams ‘The Unexpected Mourner’, Chris Crockford ‘Stones in Gunjai’, Karina Heard ‘Shrouds of the Somme’, Nick Gooding ‘A Raking Tide’, Sarah Hemmings and Vanessa Clegg ‘All That Remains’, Christine Human ‘Dark Secret’, Kevin Johnson ‘Helen’s Normal’, Janet Jones ‘Time and Tide’, Lena Lewis ‘In at the Deep End’, and Chip Tolson ‘Puffball Paradox’.

A poetry day was held in the town’s Salvation Army Hall to celebrate ‘all things poetic’, including the Quantock Poetry Trails, inspired by the wanderings of the Romantic poets Coleridge and Wordsworth.

Spoken word performances were given by storyteller Alex Simson, poets Ralph Hoyte, Annie Fisher, and Graeme Ryan, and author Fiona Williams.

Visitors and locals were invited to explore the town on a ‘Watchet Trail’ to see what could be found in various windows with prizes for each completed trail.

Storytelling sessions were held for children in The Sanctuary and Gallery 13 and Andrew Homer’s latest animation ‘Spanners on the Mineral Line’ was shown in his gallery, in Swain Street.

The festival closed with prize-giving with special guest Michael Loader in Watchet Boat Museum for winners of a children’s poetry competition, and a concert by Watchet Town Band.

Feedback is now being requested by the committee on what people thought worked and did not work, and what they would like to see in future festivals, by emailing to [email protected].