LUCY Betts, owner of East Town Cafe in East Street, Crediton, is starting 2017 with some new literary offerings in the cafe.

Starting on Wednesday, January 11, East Town Cafe will be the home of two writers in residence, one or both of whom will be found writing in the cafe on a Wednesday.

The two authors are husband and wife team, Tracey and Mark Norman and everyone is welcome to drop by, have a cup of delicious coffee and enjoy the warm, friendly atmosphere.

Tracey Norman has written fiction for as long as she can remember, covering a variety of genres and subjects. She is currently enjoying success with her first stage play "WITCH", a historical drama based on original English witch trial transcripts, which is touring in 2017 and will be coming to Crediton later this year.

In 2015, Tracey was invited to take part in a charity horror anthology to raise money for MIND.

"Secret Invasions", a collection of West Country-based, Lovecraftian-style short stories, features her first short story “Dark Words”, written under her pen name Anna Norman.

As well as the dramatic and scary, Tracey has also written a story about a dragon for young children and is currently developing a book for older children about a secret agent who just happens to be a squirrel. Ongoing projects include two adult fiction books – a vampire novel set in a dystopian future and the first in a projected series of six fantasy novels following the adventures of a young elf as she sets off on an epic voyage of discovery. Dragons feature quite heavily in that one, too…

Whilst at the East Town Café, Tracey will be expanding the research she undertook in order to write "WITCH".

Having decided that she wanted to write a book about the creation of the play and using theatre to preserve folklore and tradition, she successfully pitched her proposal to Troy Books in Cornwall. She is now looking forward to being able to bring "WITCH" to a much wider audience and make its fascinating background more accessible.

Mark Norman is a folklore writer and researcher and although he does write in other genres, this is his main field. He is a committee member of The Folklore Society and also the creator and host of a large internet podcast, The Folklore Podcast. This is free to listen to online at: www.thefolklorepodcast.com .

Holding the country’s largest archive of sightings and traditions of ghostly black dog apparitions, Mark’s book "Black Dog Folklore" was published in 2016 by Troy Books. Copies of this title are available in East Town Café and it is the only full length study on the subject by a single author.

Mark has written and continues to write for a number of magazines and websites, including "The Curious Fortean", "Mythology Magazine" and the popular "Folklore Thursday" website with whom he has just been given a regular monthly slot. He has just contributed a chapter on the traditions of fairies in Devon to a new book which is being published in Summer 2017.

Although Mark does not write fiction often, he contributed a story to the charity anthology "Secret Invasion", which was published in 2016 to raise money for the charity MIND.

Mark is currently working on making much of his research available electronically and is also developing further folklore books including one on phantom coaches in the United Kingdom. Mark is a member of the Exeter Authors’ Association.

When not writing, you will find Mark in his other work, at Crediton Library.

CREATIVE WRITERS GROUP

Tracey and Mark will also be running a new Creative Writing group in the cafe on the second Wednesday of each month between 7pm and 9pm. This is free and open to anyone with an interest in writing and furthering their own work in whatever form it may take.

The group is equally open to those who write to publish, those who are enthusiastic amateurs and those who would like to try their hand at writing anything.

One or two local authors have already indicated their intentions to attend the sessions and so there will be plenty of good advice on-hand as well as a good social event and chance to share your own writing or talk with others.

Please do drop into the cafe on a Wednesday and meet the writers in residence, have a chat about their current work and look at their previous projects.

To find out more about the writers in residence or the Creative Writing group, please email: [email protected] .

Alan Quick