The Golden Book: Fifty Years of Arvon

Arvon in its 50th year is the lifeblood of contemporary writing in the UK and beyond, offering community, creative support, and freedom to write.This landmark anniversary publication brings together stories, poems and memories from just a few of the thousands who have come through Arvon’s doors.The voices gathered here reach back from the present to the earliest days of Arvon, when Ted Hughes would come to perform his poems in the evening after dinner, and students would be collected from the station in a rattling old van. They stand at windows, looking out at the deep Colden Valley or the Devon fields. They make discoveries — a mouse, a fallen statue, the confidence they needed to begin a novel; they gather together to cook and read and write and to be inspired. They make strong connections that last and that have lasted.These stories stand testament to the transformative power of Arvon, and to the vital gift of the last half a century. May there be many more years to come.