Two of Axminster's great community institutions - the Archway Bookshop and the Community Waffle House - have joined forces to launch a series of literary events designed to bring enjoyment to book lovers at all levels.

The partnership between the two businesses gets underway at the end of this month with two events.

On Wednesday, October 26 at 6.30pm, first-time author Sophie Pavelle comes to the Community Waffle House to talk about her book 'Forget Me Not'.

Three days later, at 10.30am on Saturday, October 29, children's author Jenny Pearson will run a lively 45-minute Saturday morning session around her hilarious book 'Operation Nativity'.

Sophie Pavelle's book delivers an inspiring piece of climate change writing in charming, funny and thought provoking prose via a tour around Britain during which she met ten rare native species that are at risk of extinction in the next few decades.

Her book is a clarion call that we all need to play our part in tackling the huge threat faced by our natural world. Sophie will be in conversation with Archway's Tim Pritchard.

Jenny Pearson's 'Operation Nativity' is written for the nine to 14-year age group and is based on a story about a race to save Christmas. Oscar and Molly find themselves needing to track down a missing shepherd, wise man, donkey and the actual Mary and Joseph, who have have all crashed landed in Chipping Bottom. If they fail, Christmas will cease to exist.

Jenny will read from her book and will also run an hilarious series of activities during her session. Numbers will be limited to around 25 for the event, which will be held in the Waffle Work area.

Matt Smith, from the Community Waffle House, said: "We've been plotting together with Archway Bookshop for a while now, so it's very exciting to be officially partnering up to put on high-quality literary events for the whole community; bringing together books community and waffling. What a combination!"

Archway Bookshop owner Simon Holmes sees the new joint initiative as a significant contribution to the book world in Axminster.

"It's a well-known fact that books and coffee go well together," he said. "We enjoy a really good relationship with the Wafflers, and the brilliant environment they've created in Trinity House is an absolutely ideal one in which to meet some really exciting authors and learn about their books.

"We are very excited by the potential for the future."

Tickets for both events will cost £2 and can be bought from the Archway Bookshop or its website. The cost is redeemable for those who choose to buy the book.