- 31 May -30 June 2024
- In My Steps - Radical Walks in Essex
- In person
- Music
- ONLY A FEW TICKETS LEFT!
Mountaineers of Essex Expedition 001
Did you know Essex has 28 mountains? Join husband and wife artist team Hartle O’Hare on their first summit expedition of the Mountaineers of Essex: Canvey Heights, a man-made mountain with expansive views out towards the mouth of the Thames Estuary and across to Kent. Muse upon the marvellous vistas, discuss perception and the effect on the emotions of place, experience Canvey Island from its constructed giddy heights. Like life, it could be that the journey is more important than… Read more
- In Conversation
- In person
- Layer Marney Tower
- Non-fiction
Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 1): 1918-38
Born in Chicago in 1897, Henry 'Chips' Channon settled in England after the Great War, married into the immensely rich Guinness family, and served as Conservative MP for Southend-on-Sea from 1935 until his death in 1958. His political career was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite. Elegant, gossipy and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and knew everybody. Whether describing the antics of London society in the interwar years, or the… Read more
- In person
- Partner Event
- Spoken Word
Spoken Word at Hedingham Castle
One of the UK’s most feted spoken word artists, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, will be performing a range of poems from her forthcoming collection ‘The Inheritance’, to be published by Out-Spoken Press in 2022/23. Her poems have been cultivated from her ground-breaking technique, where she incorporates both dance and body language into her performance. She has been showered with numerous accolades, including the 2020 New Voice in Poetry Prize by Culture Recordings, the 2019 BBC Edinburgh Fringe Slam Championship and the… Read more
- Discussion
- In person
- Partner Event
“Let’s Talk About Sex”
1 Aug @ 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM Writers Rowan Pelling, Daisy Buchanan and Jonnie Bayfield compare notes on how behaviour and attitudes towards sex and relationships have changed because of mass media, technology, social media and economic forces. Each panelist brings their unique perspective on the subject, illuminating the dilemmas of dating and loving in today’s society. Pelling is well known for editing the Erotic Review and launching the Amorist, Buchanan is author of The Times’ best-selling novel Insatiable:… Read more
- In person
- Partner Event
Fens, Forests & Fields: stories from a unique Essex landscape
We invite you to join us as we celebrate the Land of the Fanns and Kinetika's Community Mapping Project. Hear from the team who made it all possible - how the stories were collected, how the flags were designed and painted during lockdown, members of the local community who filmed their stories, the costumes created and the walks which took place to explore this wonderful landscape we live in. All of this comes together in a fascinating new book; Fens,… Read more
- In person
- Partner Event
A Duty Toward the Land
Talk by Ken Worpole and Tour of Old Hall Community, East Bergholt, Suffolk, Saturday 14 Aug 2021 2 - 4 pm. In his 1953 memoir, Community Farm, the writer and social idealist John Middleton Murry, wrote that 'work on the land is necessary to the life of man in a way no other work can be.' He was associated with a number of 'back to the land' projects on the Essex/Suffolk border in the 1930s and 1940s. In this illustrated… Read more
- Festival Finale
- In person
- The Children's University
- Young Essex
Animalympics Workshop
The greatest sporting event of the century is happening at Cressing Temple Barns on 29 August. Join the Animalympics crew to get involved in creating sport/animal-inspired crafts with children’s author Josie Dom while listening to extracts of the story with badminton-playing peacocks, javelin-throwing octopus and hurdling gazelles amongst many others. Come dressed as your favourite animal to win a prize! Tickets : £4 per child Read more
- Discussion
- Festival Finale
- Fiction
- For Writers
- In Conversation
- In partnership
- In person
- Non-fiction
- Outside
- Storytelling
- The Children's University
- Workshop
- Young Essex
Essex Book Camp
Join in the fun at the Essex Book Camp With a huge range of events for all ages, from author events with the likes of Good Morning Britain’s Dr Hilary Jones through to our fabulous storytelling yurt; woodland crafts and meditation walks; drop-in family yoga sessions and more, Cressing Temple Barns is the place to be this August Bank Holiday Sunday. Free Drop-In Activities for all ages we just need one large image of Shane Ibbs telling stories for this… Read more
- Festival Finale
- In person
- Podcast Workshop
- The Children's University
- Workshop
- Young Essex
Make your own Podcast Workshop
CCR FM presenter Michelle Durant will be sharing insights into developing your own podcast for broadcast. Take part in an interview with a special guest. Contribute to Essex Book Festival and Chelmsford Community Radio’s special Eco-Cast Project to be launched in September at British Science Festival in Chelmsford. Read more
- Festival Finale
- In Conversation
- In person
- Residency
- Storytelling
Building Imaginary Worlds : Life Made Magic – Change of venue –
Following her week-long residency at Talliston House and Gardens, Britain’s most extraordinary house, writer and storyteller Glenys Newton chats to author John Tarrow about his own extraordinary twenty-five year journey transforming a semi- detached ex-council house in Great Dunmow into a wonderland of inspirational rooms and locations, each set in a different time and place. This event will now take place in the Storytelling Tent due to circumstances beyond our control! Read more
- Discussion
- FREE
- In partnership
- In person
- Manifesto For Essex
- Networking
- Workshop
- Young Essex
Hear My Voice – Manifesto For Essex: Climate Emergency Youth Summit
Are you 14-25 years old, living and/or studying in Essex, passionate about the environment and culture? Come along to our Hear My Voice - Youth Climate Summit at Firstsite, Colchester, part of EA Sustain Festival Read more