THE fifth annual Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival will kick-off this year with two major events on its opening day.

The Exmoor Society will be launching a new book on the late Hope Bourne, known as the ‘Lady of the Moor’.

And broadcaster, author, and political commentator Iain Dale will host a literary lunch in the Oak Room of Tarr Farm Inn.

Both events take place on Friday, November 13, the first of the four days of the festival, which runs until November 16.

The festival will feature author talks and reading and writing events in venues acoss the town, including the Town Hall, All Saints’ Church, Tarr Farm Inn, in nearby Tarr Steps, Dulverton Heritage Centre, the library, and the Bridge Inn.

The Exmoor Society book on Hope Bourne has been written by Sara Hudston and considers her life and legacy as one of the 20th century’s foremost nature writers.

‘A Life Outside: Hope Bourne on Exmoor’ tells how she spent nearly 60 years recording the landscape, wildlife, history, and changing rural traditions of the moor.

Fiercely creative and resolutely independent, she led a self-reliant life which gave her the freedom to write, draw, and paint.

Iain Dale is hosting a lunch as part of the Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival this autumn to take about his new book on American presidential elections.
Iain Dale is hosting a lunch as part of the Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival this autumn to talk about his new book on American presidential elections. (Contributed)

Hope Bourne died in 2010 and bequeathed her entire estate to the Exmoor Society, of which she was a founder member.

Ms Hudston will be in conversation with writer and philosopher Charles Foster, who attended the 2024 festival with his book ‘Cry of the Wild’.

Mr Dale is returning by popular demand and over a two-course meal he will take diners deep into his book ‘US Presidential Election Campaigns 1789-2024’, due to be published a month before the festival.

There is a chapter on each of the 60 presidential election campaigns from George Washington to Donald Trump, each written by a different contributor from the world of politics, academia, journalism, and history.