Agatha Christie’s iconic Devon holiday home will welcome writers from across the globe this autumn as part of an exciting new residency programme from Exeter UNESCO City of Literature.
Celebrating Devon’s deep literary roots, the residency highlights Exeter’s place within UNESCO’s Creative Cities of Literature network, a designation the city has proudly held since 2019.
Greenway House, now owned by National Trust South Devon, was once the summer home of the highly acclaimed author Agatha Christie, which she once described as ‘the loveliest place in the world.’
Three esteemed international writers were selected for this residency, chosen from 49 applicants across 22 UNESCO Cities of Literature from across the world.
Dr. Manjiri Prabhu, from Kozhikode, India is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of 24 books and the first female mystery author from India to be published internationally. She said: “It is a huge honour, a privilege, and an incredible opportunity to stay at the holiday home of Agatha Christie.
“I am looking forward to a very enriching experience at the beautiful Greenway and in the culturally vibrant Exeter. I am positive that living in the midst of nature, writing, exploring, and soaking in the spirit of the place would bring out the best in the writer in me.”
Judith Rossell from Melbourne, Australia is an award-winning author-illustrator of the bestselling Stella Montgomery trilogy, the middle-grade novel, The Midwatch, and the new, junior fiction series, Spud and Snowball. She has written eighteen books and illustrated more than eighty, and her books have been translated into twenty languages.
The third and final honouree, Aining Wen of Nanjing, China is a children’s book author and illustrator, who graduated from the Cambridge School of Art and since 2014 has published over 30 picture books. In 2021, she was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list.
The judging panel was made up of Exeter UNESCO City of Literature’s Executive Director Anna Cohn Orchard, author & Raw Writing’s founder Carla Jenkins, author & UNESCO residency alum Fiona Williams, and Greenway’s General Manager Gary Calland.
Executive Director Anna Cohn Orchard said: “This residency is what the UNESCO Cities of Literature Network does best: connects extraordinary writers across borders and gives people space to create. Greenway is such a special place to spend time as a writer, and we’re excited to welcome Manjiri, Judith, and Aining into Devon’s literary community.”
The residencies will run simultaneously from 25 September to 16 October 2026, encouraging collaboration and creative exchange between the writers.
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