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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240617T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240617T160000
DTSTAMP:20240417T122930Z
CREATED:20240404T090017Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240417T122930Z
UID:9060-1718632800-1718640000@essexbookfestival.org.uk
SUMMARY:A Walk in J.A. Baker Country - Sold Out
DESCRIPTION:A Walk in J.A. Baker Country with David Simmonds\nJoin us for a walk through ‘Baker Country’ visiting sites listed in J.A. Baker’s diaries and identified in his seminal work The Peregrine (1967). Starting in Little Baddow\, this approx. 7 km/ 4.5 mile walk will guide you along country lanes and – possibly muddy – fields taking in the Essex landscapes that Baker describes as being ‘as profuse and glorious as Africa’.\nPlease wear comfortable footwear and clothing appropriate for the weather. \nLed by David Simmonds\, organised by Chelmsford Museum as part of the exhibition Restless Brilliance: The story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine\, on until 3 November 2024. \nVisit David’s website about J.A. Baker at jabaker.co.uk \n  \nMonday 17 June\, 2.00-4.00pm \nMeeting point: Little Baddow History Centre\, Chapel Lane\, Little Baddow\, Chelmsford\, CM3 4BE\nTickets: Free\, booking essential\nBox Office: chelmsford.gov.uk/museums/whats-on \n  \n  \nThis walk is also taking place on 24 May 2024 at 2pm. Find out about this and other events at chelmsford.gov.uk/museums/whats-on \n  \n  \n  \n \n  \n  \n \n 
URL:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/a-walk-in-j-a-baker-country/
LOCATION:Little Baddow History Centre\, Chapel Lane\, Little Baddow\, Chelmsford\, Essex\, CM3 4BE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:FREE,Guided Walk,In My Steps - Radical Walks in Essex,Partner Event,Restless Brilliance,SOLD OUT!
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T160000
DTSTAMP:20240404T155307Z
CREATED:20240404T090010Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T155307Z
UID:8854-1718550000-1718553600@essexbookfestival.org.uk
SUMMARY:Maybe\, Perhaps\, Possibly
DESCRIPTION:Joanna Glen\, Maybe\, Perhaps\, Possibly\nJoanna Glen\, author of the Costa Prize shortlisted debut\, The Other Half of Augusta Hope\, explores her latest novel. \nTwo introverts with turbulent pasts and wary hearts take individual comfort in swimming in the ocean\, birdwatching\, books and the sounds of the sea. Sol and Addie are both drawn to nature far more than to people – until they catch sight of one another in the wild. Maybe\, Perhaps\, Possibly is a beautifully observed and life-affirming story about finding yourself\, and then allowing someone else to find you. \nThis event will include an audience Q&A. After the event there will be an opportunity to get your book signed by the author. \nPart of our special day of events at Hylands Estate\, Chelmsford\, under the banner of Restless Brilliance. Linking up with the J.A. Baker exhibition of the same name\, (Chelmsford Museum: 23 Mar-3 Nov) we will be focussing on all things nature and ornithology. \nSunday 16 June\, 3.00pm \nVenue: Hylands Estate\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, CM2 8WQ\nTickets: £10 / £8 concessions (Students\, Under 27s and Unwaged)\nBox Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948 \n  \n\n  \nMaybe\, Perhaps\, Possibly by Joanna Glen\nPublished 20 June 2024 (Borough Press) \n \nOrder a copy of Maybe\, Perhaps\, Possibly at bookshop.org \nThe new novel from the author of the Costa Prize shortlisted debut\, The Other Half of Augusta Hope and All My Mothers. \nOn the tiny island of Rokesby\, Addie helps her mother run a women’s retreat. Dreaming daily of escape\, she consoles herself by swimming in the ocean that surrounds them. On the neighbouring island\, joined to Rokesby by a bridge at low tide\, Sol has sought refuge at a wind-swept prayer house\, grieving both his mother’s death and his father’s devastating betrayal. Alone and anxious\, he takes comfort in birdwatching\, books and the sounds of the sea. \nIntroverts with turbulent pasts and wary hearts\, Sol and Addie are both drawn to nature far more than to people – until they catch sight of one another in the wild. Can they break free from past lessons in love to risk a better future together? \nA beautifully observed and life-affirming novel about finding yourself\, and then allowing someone else to find you. \n  \n‘I loved it… a love story for realists… This is a book that knows that life’s biggest questions are answered in its smallest moments and – if we are lucky – life doesn’t always take our first answer’ – Gráinne Murphy \n  \nAbout the Author\nJoanna Glen read Spanish at the University of London\, with a stint at the Faculty of Arts at Córdoba University in the south of Spain. She went on to teach Spanish and English to all ages\, and\, latterly\, was a School Principal in London. She has edited a variety of non-fiction books\, is a visiting lecturer\, a communications coach and an adviser and trainer for schools. Joanna’s short fiction has appeared in the Bath Flash Fiction Anthology. She lives with her husband in Hove\, returning to Andalusia whenever it gets too grey. \n#MaybePerhapsPossibly \n@BoroughPress @JoannaGlenBooks \n \n  \nPhoto of Joanna Glen © Eva Tarnok\n  \n \n  \n \n 
URL:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/maybe-perhaps-possibly/
LOCATION:Hylands House\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, Essex\, CM2 8WQ\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Fiction,Restless Brilliance
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T133000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T143000
DTSTAMP:20240417T200107Z
CREATED:20240416T075754Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240417T200107Z
UID:9295-1718544600-1718548200@essexbookfestival.org.uk
SUMMARY:Restless Brilliance: Singing Like Larks
DESCRIPTION:Restless Brilliance: Singing Like Larks with Andrew Millham and David Simmonds\nJoin local nature and folk history writer\, Andrew Millham\, for a joyous celebration of song\, the seasons\, and our love of birds. Andrew will be in conversation with David Simmonds and they will be discussing Andrew’s book\, Singing Like Larks\, and also the legacy of J.A. Baker’s The Peregrine and what it means to Essex. \nSinging Like Larks by Andrew Millham is an important repository and treasury of bird-related folk songs. It opens a rare window onto the ancient song traditions of the British Isles\, interweaving mesmerising lyrics\, folklore and colourful nature writing to uncover the remarkable relationship between birds and traditional folk music. \nThe Peregrine by J.A. Baker was first published in 1967. The book was an immediate success. Reviews called it a masterpiece of nature writing and it won several awards. Since then\, Baker’s unique poetic writing has continued to inspire a new generation of nature writers and naturalists\, and The Peregrine was recently voted one of the UK’s top 10 favourite nature books. \n  \nPart of our special day of events at Hylands Estate\, Chelmsford\, under the banner of Restless Brilliance. Linking up with the J.A. Baker exhibition of the same name\, (Chelmsford Museum: 23 Mar-3 Nov) we will be focussing on all things nature and ornithology. \n  \nSunday 16 June\, 1.30pm \nVenue: Hylands Estate\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, CM2 8WQ\nTickets: £10 / £8 concessions (Students\, Under 27s and Unwaged)\nBox Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948 \n  \n\nSinging Like Larks: A Celebration of Birds in Folk Songs by Andrew Millham\nRSPB Book of the Month \n \nOrder a copy of Singing Like Larks at bookshop.org \nBirds are beloved for their song and have featured in our own music for centuries. This charming volume takes us on a journey of discovery to explore why birds appear in so many folk songs. \nToday\, folk songs featuring our feathered friends are themselves something of a threatened species: their melodies are fading with the passage of time\, and their lyrics are often tucked away in archives. It is more important than ever that we promote awareness of these precious songs and continue to pass them down the generations. Lifetimes of wisdom are etched into the words and music\, preserving the natural rhythms of nature and our connection to times past. \n  \nAndrew Millham\nAndrew Millham is a nature and folk history writer\, with features and columns published in a wide range of national publications including BBC Wildlife\, Coast and The Countryman. He graduated with a first class honours degree in environmental science\, has received a Field Studies Council ‘Young Darwin Scholarship’ and – after completing his training with Essex Wildlife Trust – is now a Forest School leader\, teaching outdoor skills to primary school children. \n  \nDavid Simmonds\nAn Essex Man through and through\, David was born at Rochford and grew up at Leigh-on-Sea\, with Belfairs Woods his first experience of nature. Apart from studying Economics at the University of Nottingham\, David Simmonds has lived in Essex throughout his life and resides in Chelmsford. \nAs well as volunteering for the National Trust at Hatfield Forest\, he is a member of the Essex Birdwatching Society and the RSPB. He is a keen birdwatcher and walker and\, with his wife\, visits the countryside and coast whenever he can. After discovering the writing of J A Baker\, especially The Peregrine\, he set up a website at jabaker.co.uk . He is delighted that the tradition of great nature writers from Essex continues with Andrew Millham and is very pleased to be chairing the event on 16 June. \n  \n  \nThe Peregrine by J.A. Baker\n \nOrder a copy of The Peregrine at bookshop.org \nThe Peregrine by J.A. Baker was first published in 1967. The book was an immediate success. Reviews called it a masterpiece of nature writing and it won several awards. Since then\, Baker’s unique poetic writing has continued to inspire a new generation of nature writers and naturalists\, and The Peregrine was recently voted one of the UK’s top 10 favourite nature books. \n  \n \n 
URL:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/singing-like-larks/
LOCATION:Hylands House\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, Essex\, CM2 8WQ\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Nature Writing,Restless Brilliance
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Andrew-Millham-Singing-Like-Larks-and-The-Peregrine-event-3x2-1.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240616T123000
DTSTAMP:20240404T154936Z
CREATED:20240404T090051Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240404T154936Z
UID:8846-1718537400-1718541000@essexbookfestival.org.uk
SUMMARY:One Midsummer's Day
DESCRIPTION:Mark Cocker\, One Midsummer’s Day\nJoin Mark Cocker\, one of our greatest nature writers\, as he discusses his most ambitious and wide-ranging book to date. Drawing deeply on science\, history\, literature and a lifetime of close observation\, One Midsummer’s Day: Swifts and The Story of Life on Earth\, is a dazzling celebration of the natural world and how we are all inextricably connected. \nThis event will include an audience Q&A. After the event there will be an opportunity to get your book signed by the author. \nPart of our special day of events at Hylands Estate\, Chelmsford\, under the banner of Restless Brilliance. Linking up with the J.A. Baker exhibition of the same name\, (Chelmsford Museum: 23 Mar-3 Nov) we will be focussing on all things nature and ornithology. \nSunday 16 June\, 11.30am \nVenue: Hylands Estate\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, CM2 8WQ\nTickets: £10 / £8 concessions (Students\, Under 27s and Unwaged)\nBox Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948 \n  \n  \n\n  \nOne Midsummer’s Day: Swifts and The Story of Life on Earth by Mark Cocker\nPublished 13 June 2023 (Vintage Publishing) \n \nOrder a copy of One Midsummer’s Day at bookshop.org \nDrawing on a lifetime’s close observation\, Mark Cocker explores swifts\, the natural world and our place in it\, in his most ambitious and wide-ranging book to date. \nIt takes a whole universe to make one small black bird… \nSwifts are among the most extraordinary of all birds. Their migrations span continents and their twelve-week stopover\, when they pause to breed in European rooftops\, is the very definition of summer. They may nest in our homes but much about their lives passes over our heads. No birds are more wreathed in mystery. \nCompelled by swifts throughout his fifty years as a naturalist\, Mark Cocker sets out to capture their essence. Over the course of one day in midsummer he devotes himself to his beloved black birds as they spiral overhead. Yet this is also a book about so much more. Swifts are a prism through which Cocker explores the deep interconnections of the whole biosphere. From the deep-sea thermal vents where life was born to the 15 million degrees at the core of our Sun\, he shows that life is a singular and glorious continuum. These birds without borders are a perfect metaphor to express the unity of the living planet. But they also illuminate how no creature\, least of all ourselves\, can truly be said to be alive in isolation. We are all inextricably connected. \nDrawing deeply on science\, history\, literature and a lifetime of close observation\, One Midsummer’s Day is a dazzling and wide-ranging celebration of all life on Earth by one of our greatest nature writers. \n  \n‘Magnificent. There’s no other writer who could keep his balance when wandering vertiginously through the cosmos and the aeons as Mark Cocker does here. One Midsummer’s Day … couldn’t be more important and timely’ – Charles Foster\, author of Being A Beast and Being A Human \n‘Lyrical and startling by turn\, [Cocker] reveals the extraordinary in the apparently ordinary – read it\, and it is impossible to see the world around us in the same way again. A jewel of a book.’ – Caroline Lucas\, MP \n  \n  \nAbout the Author\nMark Cocker is an author and naturalist whose thirteen books include works of biography\, history\, literary criticism and memoir. His book Crow Country was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2008 and won the New Angle Prize for Literature in 2009. With the photographer David Tipling he published Birds and People in 2013\, a massive survey described by the Times Literary Supplement as ‘a major literary event as well as an ornithological one’. Our Place: Can We Save Britain’s Wildlife Before It Is Too Late? was described by the Sunday Times as ‘impassioned\, expert and always beautifully written… a sobering and magnificent work’. His book\, A Claxton Diary\, won the East Anglia Book Award in 2019. \n  \n \nPhoto of Mark Cocker © Rachael Cocker\n \n  \n \n  \n 
URL:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/one-midsummers-day/
LOCATION:Hylands House\, London Road\, Writtle\, Chelmsford\, Essex\, CM2 8WQ\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Nature Writing,Restless Brilliance
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Mark-Cocker-credit-Rachael-Cocker-One-Midsummers-Day-3x2-1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20240323
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241104
DTSTAMP:20240710T151000Z
CREATED:20240404T090023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240710T151000Z
UID:9054-1711152000-1730678399@essexbookfestival.org.uk
SUMMARY:Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine
DESCRIPTION:Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine\n23 March – 3 November 2024\nThe Peregrine by J.A. Baker was first published in 1967. The book was an immediate success. Reviews called it a masterpiece of nature writing and it won several awards. Since then\, Baker’s unique poetic writing has continued to inspire a new generation of nature writers and naturalists\, and The Peregrine was recently voted one of the UK’s top 10 favourite nature books. But despite all this success\, very little was known about Baker himself. \nJohn Alec Baker (1926–1987) was born\, and lived almost his whole life\, in Chelmsford. His writing is based on walks and cycle rides around the Blackwater estuary\, Danbury Hill and the Chelmsford area. Here he followed and studied peregrine falcons\, condensing all his observations into the book The Peregrine. \n“For ten years I spent all my winters searching for that restless brilliance\, for the sudden passion and violence that peregrines flush from the sky.” \nThe exhibition explores J.A. Baker’s life\, his love of nature and writing\, through the archive of his work held by the Albert Sloman Library\, University of Essex. It is the first time that this archive has been on public display. For more information on the exhibition and related events programme\, please visit the website\nwww.chelmsford.gov.uk/museums \n  \nVenue: Chelmsford Museum\, Oaklands Park\, Moulsham Street\, Chelmsford CM2 9AQ\nTickets: Free\, no booking required \n  \n  \n \n  \n \n  \n 
URL:https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/restless-brilliance-the-story-of-j-a-baker-and-the-peregrine/
LOCATION:Chelmsford Museum\, Oaklands Park\, Moulsham Street\, Chelmsford\, Essex\, CM2 9AQ\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Exhibition,FREE,Partner Event,Restless Brilliance
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