Tim Burrows
The Invention of Essex: The Making of an English County

In partnership with EA Festival

Essex. A county both famous and infamous: the stuff of tabloid headlines and reality television, consumer culture and right-wing politicians.

Join Tim Burrows as he discusses his deeply researched and thoroughly engaging new book, The Invention of Essex with Essex Book Festival Director, Ros Green. Together they’ll show that there is more to our fabled English county than meets the eye.

Hedingham Castle, Halstead, CO9 3DJ
Tickets: £15 + £2 service charge
Box Office: eafestival.com

Please note, the ticket price listed in the festival brochure for this event is incorrect. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.

About the book

Essex. A county both famous and infamous: the stuff of tabloid headlines and reality television, consumer culture and right-wing politicians. England’s dark id.

But beyond the sensationalist headlines lies a strange and secret place with a rich history: of smugglers and private islands, artists and radicals, myths and legends. It’s where the Peasants’ Revolt began and the Empire Windrush docked. And – from political movements like Brexit to cultural events like TOWIE – where Essex leads, the rest of us often follow.

Deeply researched and thoroughly engaging, The Invention of Essex shows that there is more to this fabled English county than meets the eye.

‘Burrows digs beneath the sensationalism and red-top headlines to paint a deeply sensitive and engaging portrait of a misunderstood county and its people’
The Books to Read in 2023, Financial Times

‘A lively tour of a place everyone thinks they know, but seldom understand – and a great book about a built landscape of social mobility, both collective and individualistic – and how quickly one can curdle into the other before anyone has noticed’
Owen Hatherley, author of Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London

About the author
Tim Burrows is a journalist, who has written about society, culture and place for the Guardian, New Statesman, Vice, the Daily Telegraph, Dazed & Confused, the Quietus and Somesuch Stories, among others. A recurring subject in his work is Essex and the Thames Estuary. His Guardian longread ‘The Invention of Essex’ was published to widespread acclaim. He lives in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.