OUR GOLDEN AGE OF CRIME - COURTESY OF ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL

A Criminally Good Crime Writing Story Competition To make up for the disappointment of cancelling this year’s Golden Age of Crime Weekend at the Park Inn Palace Hotel in Southend-on-Sea, Essex Book Festival has decided to run a special crime writing short story competition. After all, who knows if the next Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham or Martina Cole are waiting in the wings! The prize is a mentoring session with thriller writer Samantha Lee Howe and literary agent Camilla Shestopal plus publication on our Essex Book Festival website. The deadline is 30th May. To find out more about how to enter, eligibility and rules visit essexbookfestival.org.uk. Get writing and good luck!   Get Bunting! To markEssex 2020: A year of Science & Creativity, Essex Book Festival is working with its partners and friends to create a giant snake of bunting. Why? The bunting will form part of our Manifesto For Essex: a countywide project that offers children and young people a creative platform to express their thoughts and feelings about Climate Change. Following a number of hugely successful bunting-making workshops in venues across Essex as part of this year’s Essex Book Festival, we are now urging everyone to join in the fun at home. All you will need is a piece of recycled cardboard (cereal packets are perfect), a ruler, pens, scraps of paper, scissors, and glue sticks. To find out more about how you can get involved with creating your own bunting visit essexbookfestival.org.uk. HouseBound 2020: the world’s first antiviral literary festival A new online literary festival has been launched bringing authors and readers together online for 7 days of stories and conversation Monday 27 April to Sunday 3 May 2020 Visit houseboundbooks.co.uk to find out more HouseBound 2020 is a new, not-for-profit literary festival, bringing authors and book-lovers together online for 7 days of exciting events, including readings, story-times and live author-to-author conversations.