After a hectic few days’ launching the festival with the wonderful Sir Ben Okri, who took the time to write lengthy messages in everyone’s books following his event at the Electric Palace Cinema in Harwich, followed by the launch of our Radical Islands Project in the old oyster packing shed off Mersea Island with the equally wonderful Jules Pretty and Ken Worpole, we are now gearing up for an exciting week ahead.
One event very much in our sights is ‘How to Approach an Island: Walking the Broomway‘, which is taking place next Sunday and marks the second in our series of Radical Islands events this June.
Led by artist Helen Galliano of The Arbonauts, a site-specific performance company, and local farmer John Burroughs, ‘How to Approach an Island’ will involve a one-of-a-kind guided walk along Essex’s most legendary coastal route, the Broomway, to Foulness Island. This will be followed by a creative island-focussed brain-storming dinner at Chalkwell Hall in Southend. In the words of our hosts – prepare to get your feet wet!
Heading Indoors
Heading indoors, there are still a few tickets left for our two University events: Shami Chakrabarti at Anglia Ruskin University on Thursday night and Diane Abbott at University of Essex on Friday.
And likewise, for our Criminally Good Day at Maldon Town Hall on Sunday, which includes debut crime-writer Sarah Hornsley talking about her bone-chillingly good thriller Bad Blood set in her home-town Maldon.
Meanwhile, just across the road from Maldon Town Hall, Thomas Plume Library, an absolute Essex gem and one of the oldest reference libraries in the country still housed in the room created for it in 1704 on the first floor of the Plume Building, will be open to coincide with our Criminally Good Day. We love libraries and Thomas Plume more than warms the cockles.