ESSEX BOOK FESTIVAL 2022 - BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER - AWAITING PROGRAMMES

 

Not long to go now to receive details of this year's Essex Book Festival, preparations of which are well underway.

We will be launching on 1st June and running through until 30th June, our venues including everywhere from Layer Marney Tower and Firstsite, through to Harwich Foot Ferry, Royal Opera House's High House Production Park (Purfleet-on-Thames), Cressing Temple Barns, and Hylands House and Gardens. Plans are also afoot to launch ourselves into Space in June. More of that later.

The full programme will be revealed on 4th April when our Box Office opens for business. However, just to get the juices going,we can't resist sharing some of the tasty treats on the menu. These include appearances by award-winning Patrick Gale who will be talking about his new book Mother's Boy at Chelmsford Library on 22nd June, and novelist Samuel Fisher who fittingly will be talking about his debut novel Wivenhoe at Wivenhoe Library on 8th June. Meanwhile The Guardian's brilliantly acerbic columnist John Crace will sharing tips on how to survive the 'New Normal' in Westminster at Anglia Ruskin University (Chelmsford) on 30th June.

Tickets are already on sale for our very special partnership event with EA Festival, which will be taking place at Hedingham Castle on 11th and 12th June. Festival favourite and national treasure artist Maggi Hambling will be talking to art historian and academic  James Cahill, whose debut novel Tiepolo Blue due for publication in June has already been receiving rave reviews from the likes of Stephen Fry. We suggest you get in quick for this one. Rumour has it tickets are selling quickly: ea-festival/maggi-hambling-in-conversation-with-james-cahill

In the meantime ...

Spoken Word Power

Something exciting has been taking shape in six Tendring schools over the winter months. Essex Book Festival has been working with Essex Children's University and other partner organisations around the UK to deliver a fabulous new schools' project: Spoken Word Power

Spoken Word Power is a new Arts Council England funded project led by Hackney-based Eastside Educational Trust, that supports primary, secondary and SEND schools to champion the spoken word by providing a creative platform for a new generation of young people to express their feelings and thoughts and basically have fun with language.

Following a series of artist-led workshops, which have been taking place in the schools this winter, each of the participating schools will be hosting its own Spoken Word Poetry Slam. The winners and runners-up of each Poetry Slam will then take part in a regional Spoken Word Power performance at the Lakeside Theatre (University of Essex) on 14th March. Segments of this will then be screened at The Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly as part of the national Spoken Word Power celebration on World Poetry Day. Find out more here: eastside.org.uk/spoken-word-power