Exeter Writers

 Meet the Winners! We close out this years' competition with an interview with our Devon prize winner, Rebecca Shapland. We hope you've enjoyed reading this years' winning stories and our peek behind the scenes into what inspired them. Maybe it'll be you next year? Rebecca Shapland is a teacher of A Level English Literature and can either be found in North Devon’s middle-of-nowhere, where she grew up, or traipsing the streets of her beloved Exeter. How would you sum up your story in a sentence or two? Slightly dislocated from reality, a small town in Kernow is excited by the arrival of the Minerva, a ship headed for the Americas. Young Jeremiah is focussed on looking after his father’s shop which sells miniature animals, but his friend Morven has bigger aspirations… How long have you been writing? Is this your first win? My mum is a Librarian and books have always been a huge part of my life. I studied English for my BA and MA, and at uni I had an embarrassing online po...

  Trevithick's Miniature Menagerie  by  Rebecca Shapland Jeremiah took pride in making sure his father's shop was smart and presentable. The mahogany countertop was always polished, the brass doorknobs shining, the glass buffed into transparency, and the animal enclosures regularly cleaned. No one knew the shop as well as Jeremiah, and although he was barely in long trousers, the townspeople knew him as a respectable salesman. His father infrequently ventured from his workshop to check on the animals, and offer a nod of approval, but mostly he let Jeremiah organise things how he pleased.   The sign in front of the shop read ‘Trevithick Miniature Menagerie’ in gold lettering that was crusting over with salt. If someone were to walk down the cobbled path opposite the shop, between the bakers and the butchers, they would find themselves at the water’s edge, with the harbour curving to their right, and the sea which bubbled and broiled in bad weather sprawled out in fron...