October 2021 might feel distant to most of us, but to the volunteers on the committee of the Wells Festival of Literature, it's imminent.

Speakers for the October festival are being approached and signed up, judges for the International Competitions have been selected and a new look for the website is being finalised.

The competitions, all four of them, will open on Thursday April 1, running until June 30. They are open both to poets and writers of prose, and there are four categories: Open Poetry will be judged by Owen Sheers, Short Story by Sally Bayley, Book for Children by Joanna Nadin and the Young Poets by Phoebe Stuckes.

Full details of how to enter, plus all the rules and regulations, will be on the festival website HERE, and the prize money once again this year is generous.

First prize in the Open Poetry category is £1,000. The competitions attract a larger number of entrants every year with hopefuls sending in their offerings from all around the globe.

The festival itself is also becoming increasingly international, with the organisers yet again planning a hybrid nine days of live events, streamed events and live-streamed events.

Wells Festival of Literature 2021 is scheduled to be taking place from October 15 to 23.

It's not just the audiences who enjoy a successful festival - Somerset schools and colleges also reap the benefits with the festival continuing to support a huge range of educational projects, many of them especially tailored to classrooms in lockdown and the challenges of home-schooling and virtual lessons.

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Support in this field is always needed and the festival remains grateful to all the friends and sponsors who make its charitable giving possible.