'Wolf Hall' writer's desk raises £4,200

Budleigh Salterton's Hilary Mantel is leaving

The desk on which Dame Hilary Mantel wrote her twice Booker Prize winning Wolf Hall trilogy and other novels has sold for £4,200 – raising funds for Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival.
 
Dame Hilary, who is president of the Festival and who lives in the East Devon town, offered the proceeds of the auction to support the festival’s charitable work, which is focused on encouraging children and young people to develop a lifelong love of reading and includes taking authors into schools and donating free books.
 
She has Witten all her novels since A Change of Climate in 1994, including Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light on the specially made pine desk. 

In Dame Hilary’s own words: “It has served me well and has a great record of turning out prize winners”.

She is parting with the desk because she and her husband Gerald McEwen are moving to Ireland and she no longer needs a desk this size in her new property.
 
Sue Briggs, chair of Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, said: “We’re very grateful to Dame Hilary for donating the proceeds of the desk sale to the Festival. Our charitable aims include promoting a love of books and reading to young people and this donation will go a long way to helping us develop this work further.
 
“This year the festival is also providing as many children as it can in the region with a free book, in response to the National Literacy Trust’s findings that in some areas of the UK one in 11 children has not a single book at home.

"Covid restrictions and the loss of school days will only have made engagement in reading more challenging, so the proceeds from this auction will enable us to make a huge difference to children’s lives and their futures.”
 
The Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival runs from 14-18 September.

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