Monday 17th March 2025, 9:00am

Agatha Christie Festival seeks new young writing talent in Devon

The Agatha Christie Festival is joining forces with Libraries Unlimited, Literature Works and Torre Abbey to bring you The Agatha Christie Festival Young People’s Mystery Short Story Writing Competition. Together, we are inviting aspiring young writers aged between 8 and 18 years of age, who live or go to school or college in Devon or Torbay, to write a short story involving a mystery and enter it into our competition to discover the most talented mystery authors of the future. There are great prizes and recognition to be won.

It’s free to enter. There are two entry categories: Category One for young people aged 8 to 13 years of age; Category Two for those aged 14-18 years of age. Your challenge is to compose a short story of no more than 1,000 words involving a mystery of some kind and to submit your entry to us online. You can find the entry form and more details on the Agatha Christie Festival website at www.agathachristiefestival.com or by following this link: click here

Young writers are welcome to submit their stories individually or through supervised classwork.

The closing date for receipt of entries is Friday, 8th August 2025.

The First Placed Winner in either category will win an Apple iPad Mini™. There are exciting prizes to be won too for those placed second and third in each category from HarperCollins UK and Laurence King Publishing.

Winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony in person during the Agatha Christie Festival which takes place at venues across the English Riviera 13th - 21st September 2025

For further information contact us at info@iacf-uk.org

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NOTES TO EDITORS

The Agatha Christie Festival

www.agathachristiefestival.com

Agatha Christie Festival Limited is a registered charity. Our aim is to use the extraordinary power and reach of Agatha Christie’s global reputation to promote engagement and participation in literature and the arts, celebrating Torquay-born Christie’s life and legacy. We work to promote the English Riviera’s outstanding literary and geological heritage and we support literacy and a love of reading among the younger members of our community. Our Festival has received patronage from the UK National Commission of UNESCO in recognition of our educational goals.

We are an Associate Partner of the English Riviera UNESCO Global Geopark and a Project Partner of Exeter UNESCO City of Literature.

Libraries Unlimited

www.discover.librariesunlimited.org.uk

Created in 2016, Libraries Unlimited is the charity which runs the public library service in Devon and Torbay. Libraries Unlimited is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status, commissioned by Devon County Council and Torbay Council, and drawing extra support from a variety of funders, partners and collaborators. Since our inception we’ve proven to be a ground-breaking model for running libraries in the UK, bringing ideas, imagination, creativity and knowledge to enrich people’s lives and build thriving communities

Literature Works

www.literatureworks.org.uk

Literature Works’ aim is to open up the flexible literature artform of poetry and story, creative writing and reading as widely as we can to the benefit of all. Our vision is to cultivate high quality literary talent in the South West, developing the region as a culturally rich landscape, where barriers are removed, diversity is celebrated and opportunities are abundant; where the power of literature is applied to enrich lives, strengthen communities and enhance wellbeing.

Torre Abbey

www.torre-abbey.org.uk/learn/schools/

History where it actually happened… come and explore a building that has witnessed events spanning 800 years with a pivotal role in the history of Torbay.

Torre Abbey is Torbay's most historic building, an ancient scheduled monument dating back to 1196 and set within 18 acres of garden and parkland. It’s also a multi-award-winning visitor attraction housing an impressive art collection boasting over 600 incredible works of art from the 18th century to the present day