SIR Michael Morpurgo, former Children’s Laureate and author of acclaimed children’s novel ‘War Horse’, will be returning among a number of top authors speaking at the fifth Dulverton Exmoor Literary Festival later this year.

The festival, from Friday to Monday, November 13 to 16, will also feature an interview with Sir Michael’s wife Clare, daughter of the founder of Penguin Books and who runs the charity Farms for City Children.

Other guest speakers include Emily Howes, the award-winning author of ‘The Painter's Daughters’.

She has worked as a storyteller, theatre maker, performer, writer, and director in stage, television, and radio.

Julia Samuel is a psychotherapist and paediatric counsellor, and Patrick Gale is author of the Emmy award-winning drama ‘Man in an Orange Shirt’.

Mary Keen is an internationally-known garden designer, and Paul Mason is a newspaper columnist and former BBC Newsnight economics editor.

Also appearing are Rachel Hore, best-selling author of romantic fiction, and Celia Brayfield, a distinguished novelist, non-fiction writer, and cultural commentator.

A successful writer of historical fiction, Kate Lord Brown, who lives on the edge of Exmoor, and Ian MacGregor, a leading publisher of historical authors, will also be taking part.

Topics covered at this year’s festival will include farming life, Charles Dickens, garden design, relationships, Communism, neurodiversity, creating a magazine, Black Beauty, and Tuscany.

Following the success of last year’s literary lunch in the Oak Room of Tarr Farm Inn, the event will be repeated on the Friday with a ‘big name speaker’ promised.

The Monday will also feature a ‘big name talk’, while events for schools, talks, and literary events in Dulverton’s All Saints Church, Town Hall, heritage centre, and library feature throughout the weekend.

An informal workshop/writing discussion will take place in the library on the Saturday, plus book readings in the children’s story corner in the Bridge Inn over the weekend.