Members Spotlight: Exeter City of Literature

We caught up with Anna Cohn Orchard, Executive Director of Exeter City of Literature (ECoL), to talk about Penguin book vending machines, raising Devon and Exeter’s creative profile, and why the sector needs to get serious about skills and training.

Anna Cohn Orchard by Charlie Stanbrook 

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Anna Cohn Orchard, the Executive Director of Exeter City of Literature, part of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. We sit at the intersection of culture, community, and international exchange, using reading and storytelling to support wellbeing, talent, and place-shaping in Exeter and across Devon.

What are you currently working on?

We’re developing a new Strategic Plan, deepening partnerships with universities and cultural organisations across Devon, and growing our team. At the same time, we’re advocating for greater investment in Exeter’s cultural sector, while expanding our successful programmes like bibliotherapy and Silent Book Club.

What has been your organisation’s proudest achievement?

Coming up with the idea for the Penguin Book Vending Machine and installing it at Exeter St David’s station. It’s playful, rooted in local history, and has captured imaginations worldwide. It embodies our belief that books and stories should be accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Penguin Book Vending Machine – credit: Yudi Wu

How is your organisation working to champion EDI within your sector?

We prioritise free or low-cost events, make books free and accessible in underserved neighborhoods, and amplify underrepresented voices. From Book Nooks in Warm Spaces, National Book Tokens for Silent Book Club attendees, Book Fairies book drops, and our Barcelona x Exeter Writer’s Exchange, inclusion shapes not only what we deliver but also how and where we deliver it.

Silent Book Club – credit: Jorbein Photography

What are three things you’re loving in your sector right now?

1. More honest conversations about culture’s role in individual and community wellbeing.
2. The desire for high-quality, experiential, in-person events and the creative cultural producers who make them happen.
3. The power of international networks like UNESCO to share ideas and artists across borders.

And three things you’re not loving so much in your sector?

1. The stranglehold of private building owners on our high streets — keeping spaces empty instead of unlocking them for safer nightlife, culture, and local economic benefit.
2. A drift toward US-style philanthropy, but without the infrastructure or experience to make it work. Government spends less, foundations and individuals can’t yet fill the gap, and cultural organisations are left struggling.
3. Decision-makers often feel out of step with the public — especially younger generations. We need more diverse voices shaping local councils, boards, and funding decisions if culture is to stay relevant and exciting.

Who would be your dream collaborator/collaboration?

A partnership with the council, funders, and private developers to create Exeter’s own version of a Somerset House or a Storyhouse — a space that was once overlooked turned into a hub of creativity, imagination, community, and economic vitality. Storytelling (in all its forms) can inhabit real city spaces, serve as anchor institutions, and create a vibrant quality of life for residents, visitors, students, businesses, and community groups.

What does creativity mean to you?

It’s having the space, resource, and freedom to think in uninhibited and new ways; it brings fresh ideas to a community or lights up someone’s life. Creativity is both deeply personal and profoundly communal.

The Book Market, Exeter City of Literature Event, 2025 – credit: Jim Wileman

What’s next for your organisation?

We’re building sustainability and raising the level of aspiration and ambition across the region. We’re working with partners and stakeholders to amplify Devon’s cultural voice nationally and internationally. Our next five years are about growth, advocacy, and deeper community connection. Plus, more Silent Book Clubs, more bibliotherapy, and an exciting new author residency we’re announcing in the spring!

What do you think needs to change in the UK’s Cultural and Creative Industries?

We need to get serious about skills and training — opening up routes for young people, the unemployed, and career changers to find stable work in the creative sector. At the same time, we have to invest in cultural infrastructure beyond London and the big cities. Too many smaller cities — especially here in the South West — are overlooked simply because we’re not a combined authority. If the UK wants a truly thriving creative economy, it has to spread opportunity more evenly and invest where the talent already lives.