13-22 September 2024
Celebrating Literature & The Arts by the Sea
About Us
The Appledore Book Festival is a charity founded in 2006 by Nick Arnold, author of Horrible Science, in a bid to raise money to save Appledore Library. His campaign brought our community together and was an overwhelming success.
Today, the Appledore Book Festival continues to thrive and grow - becoming one of the biggest cultural festivals in Devon, attracting world-class authors, speakers, and performers. Run almost exclusively by a team of volunteers, who do everything from stewarding the events to adorning the village with bunting, our Festival is a unique experience.
Our beautiful maritime village location and historic venues encourage authors and visitors to soak up village life which means you can often see your favourite authors out and about enjoying a Hocking’s ice cream or hanging out in one of our fabulous cafés and bars.
As a charity, our aim is a simple one: to increase the enjoyment of reading and encourage creative writing by providing access to inspirational events.
Our Location
The Appledore Book Festival takes place in the beautiful, historic fishing village of Appledore, situated on the North Devon coast approximately three miles from Bideford. The picturesque quayside is an attractive maze of quaint narrow streets lined with pretty,
pastel-coloured fishermen’s cottages, a host of independent shops, plus delightful hotels and guest houses, making Appledore a popular holiday destination. Full of maritime history, and its own Maritime Museum, Appledore sits at the confluence of the Taw and Torridge rivers with lovely views across the water to the village of Instow. Visitors love taking the seasonal ferry over for a day trip, then back to Appledore before indulging in some fine local produce, including sensational seafood at one of the many delightful cafes, restaurants and village pubs.
Visit North Devon:
https://www.visitdevon.co.uk/northdevon/
Discover App:
https://www.discoverapp.co.uk/
North Devon Maritime Museum:
http://northdevonmaritimemuseum.co.uk/
Appledore & Instow Ferry:
Who We Support
As a charity and non-profit making organisation, the profits from the Festival go towards helping our local community and running the Appledore Book Festival’s Schools Week Programme.
This Schools Week aims to inspire the readers and writers of the future by providing a fleet of exciting and renowned children’s authors, poets and illustrators to visit schools and libraries across North Devon and Torridge. Please visit our Schools’ page for more information.
In the past, the Festival has also helped the community of Appledore by supporting various projects such as saving Appledore's fabulous library, providing chairs for the Community Hall, donating money to the Appledore Pirates and blackout curtains for the Church Hall. It has also made a donation towards a new van for Barnstaple’s Multi Story Theatre Company.
This year we plan to support local organisations in and around Appledore, as well as subsidising our amazing Schools Week Programme.