Passengers arriving at Exeter Airport are now being greeted by a colourful new mural celebrating the writers, stories and landscapes that have helped put Devon on the literary map.
The striking artwork has been installed in the UK arrivals area at Exeter Airport and celebrates Exeter’s status as one of just 63 UNESCO Cities of Literature worldwide.
Created by local artist Rosetta Westbrook, the large-scale mural brings together some of the people and places associated with Devon’s rich literary history.
Among the writers featured are Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker and Charles Dickens, alongside Devon authors including Agatha Christie, Michael Morpurgo and Sarah Pearse.
Westbrook’s mural also highlights the landscapes and locations that have inspired generations of writers, giving visitors a colourful introduction to the county’s literary connections as soon as they arrive.
The mural measures 9m by 3m and is Westbrook’s biggest commission to date.
A literary welcome to Devon
The new artwork is part of Exeter UNESCO City of Literature’s ambition to make literature more visible across the region and encourage visitors to discover the places and landscapes behind Devon’s stories.
It follows the success of the Literary Map of Exeter and Devon, also designed by Westbrook and launched in 2023.
More than 30,000 copies of the map have since been distributed through libraries, community centres, independent bookshops, festivals and visitor destinations around Devon.
The airport mural is expected to be seen by hundreds of thousands of passengers each year, providing a particularly prominent showcase for the county’s literary heritage.
Anna Cohn Orchard, Executive Director of Exeter City of Literature, said the organisation wanted visitors to experience Exeter’s storytelling culture from the moment they arrived.
“Exeter has always been a place where stories begin, grow, and are shared, and we wanted visitors to feel that from the moment they arrive,” she said.
“Devon’s landscapes have inspired world-renowned writers for generations, and our region continues to welcome readers, writers, and storytellers with new voices and big ideas.”
She added that Westbrook had captured the region’s literary character “with incredible creativity”.
Connecting Devon with the world
The mural arrives as Exeter Airport continues to grow.
The airport welcomed more than 582,000 passengers between March 2025 and March 2026, representing a 32% increase on the previous year.
Its expanding network also creates new connections between Exeter and other UNESCO Cities of Literature, including Edinburgh and Dublin, while the daily Amsterdam service provides onward connections to literary cities across Europe and beyond.
For Exeter Airport Managing Director Stephen Wiltshire, the mural is a fitting addition to the arrivals terminal.
“The artwork is a fantastic addition to our arrivals terminal and reflects our shared ambition to celebrate everything that makes Devon such a distinctive place to live, work and visit,” he said.
The project is part of a wider programme linking literature, tourism and place, including the recently launched Explore UNESCO South West Trails, developed with Great Western Railway.
For visitors arriving by air, the new mural offers a colourful reminder that Devon’s story is not simply one to be read in books — it can be found in its towns, villages, coastlines and countryside too.
And for those arriving at Exeter Airport this summer, their first glimpse of the region may now come with a literary twist.
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