MANY events may have been held back by the restrictions of the last 14 months, but Crediton Literary Festival is growing from strength-to-strength.

Following on from the success of last year’s event, this year’s online festival will also take place via Zoom with the number of free tickets available extended from 100 to 300.

Crediton Literary Festival, again run by Crediton Library, will be held on Saturday, June 5, with speakers and panels running all day from 10am until 8pm.

This year’s headline speaker at 3pm is popular crime novelist Kate Ellis, whose million-selling Wesley Peterson series is set in South Devon.

Joining Kate are 16 other authors who write in a variety of genres including historical fiction, suspense and romantic comedy. Devon author Victoria Dowd, who was recently awarded the People’s Book Prize, will be speaking on Agatha Christie.

Many of the other participating authors this year are prize-winners and nominees, who between them have such accolades as "Guardian" Book of the Year, "Sunday Times" Top 5 Bestseller, Royal Society for Literature shortlisted titles and Crime Writers’ Association awards.

Children are catered for thanks to Usborne Books, whose author Tim Tilley will be running a workshop on the environment and how to make a forest journal, as well as talking about his book "Harklights".

A ticket for the Literary Festival will give access to come and go all day to any speaker or panel, completely free. Donations will be invited to support the work of the library. All of the authors are giving their time free-of-charge in recognition of the valuable role that libraries play in our community.

To see the full line-up and to book a free place while tickets are still available, please visit: bit.ly/CredLit21 .

Crediton Library is managed by Libraries Unlimited, the charity responsible for running Devon and Torbay Libraries. The Crediton Literary Festival is just one of the activities in the wide Libraries Unlimited cultural offering.

For further information and full contact details, please visit the web page: devonlibraries.org.uk/web/arena/creditonlibrary . Also visit Facebook at: facebook.com/CreditonLibrary/ .