Kinetika and Essex Book Festival have been funded by Historic England to gather stories and images of Harwich as part of the national UK wide coastal arts festival Beach of Dreams.

We will design and make 50 silks representing 50 stories from Harwich. These silks will join the national commission – an evolving installation of over 600 silk pennants that will tour the coastlines of the UK in May 2025. beachofdreams.org

They will be installed in Harwich on 28 May where the stories will be shared on a promenade walk led by artist TriggerBliss.

If you would like to contribute a story and design a silk do join Ali’s workshop on 19th Jan. (Free, drop-in, no booking required)

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Sub Titles Over will be at Town and Gown (Cambridge) on the 18th of December, 7:30pm.

Set against the backdrop of the Catalan referendum for independence on the 1st of October 2017, the performance unfolds through the eyes of two young anti-fascist activists defending a polling station. As they await the arrival of Spanish police – who have been dispatched to shut down the referendum deemed ‘illegal’ by the Spanish government – tensions rise, and the narrative explores the real-time impact of state censorship and narrative control through subtitles.

The play is performed in Catalan, with English captions.

Through its exploration of how subtitles and translation shape the international understanding of events, Sub Titles Over challenges audiences to think critically about the information we consume from foreign media.

Book tickets at skiddle.com/whats-on/Cambridge/Town-And-Gown-Pub-And-Theatre/Sub-Titles-
Over

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The true history of tattoo as both art and profession in the West

Thursday 28th November, 7pm
Firstsite, Colchester
Book tickets at eafestival.com

There is a pervasive stereotype of tattoo culture as relating to an underworld of scoundrels, sailors, and ne’erdo-wells, yet it has existed in the West as a professionalized art practice for centuries. Drawing on extensive new research and unprecedented access to largely unpublished private archives of photographs, art, and ephemera, Matt Lodder offers a new perspective on the history of commercial tattooing in Europe and the United States, beginning even before it emerged as a recognizable profession in the mid-nineteenth century. In the process, he shows that the art of tattoo has long been both practiced and commissioned by individuals across economic, gender, and class divides; he also examines the stylistic trends that have shaped tattoo’s development as an art form over its history.

Matt Lodder will introduce the many artists and professionals who shaped tattoo history, including early figures like Martin Hildebrandt, the first-known professional tattoo artist in the West; prominent woman artists like Grace Bell and Jessie Knight; mid-twentieth-century icons like Sailor Jerry and Les Skuse and the Bristol Tattoo Club; and contemporary industry stars including Ed Hardy, Davy Jones, and the Leu family.

Richly illustrated with rarely published images, this important book is the first to examine the history of tattoo in the west as both a serious profession and an art form.

“Importantly, I want to focus in this book almost exclusively on the artists themselves, and their influences, innovations, interconnections… the specific work of the artists has been too often neglected in the understanding of tattooing beyond the industry itself”

Matt Lodder, Introduction

Matt Lodder is a senior lecturer in art history and theory and director of American Studies at the University of Essex.

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Recognising England’s best visitor attractions

Introduced in 2014, VisitEngland’s Visitor Attraction Accolades acknowledge the very best of England’s tourism experiences, from museums, farm attractions, and historic houses to churches, cathedrals, and country parks.

The accolades are awarded based on VisitEngland quality assessments, customer feedback direct to VisitEngland and online customer reviews.

This year, the museum increased its scoring in its annual VisitEngland quality assessment, achieving a personal high of 95% in 2024, compared to 92% in 2023.

The scores are based on visits from trained VisitEngland assessors, who review the entire visitor journey, scoring aspects such as parking, exhibits, retail offer, food and drink, cleanliness, and staff.

Chelmsford Museum’s assessor this year particularly praised the museum’s regularly refreshed collections and its current temporary exhibition ‘Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine’, which provide returning visitors with new content to explore.

Read the full article on the Chelmsford City Life website.

Image: Museums Manager, Sarah Davies (centre), and Operations Manager, Kieran Bacon, (right) with VisitEngland Chairman, Lady Victoria Borwick (left). Photo by Kit Fanner.

The post Partner News: Chelmsford Museum awarded VisitEngland Gold Accolade appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Bly, Essex. Angelic 9 year-old Flora and precocious 12 year-old Miles are the picture of innocence, rescuing injured birds and playing make-believe by the shady lake. But, as a new governess arrives at the manor to take care of them, disturbing secrets emerge from beneath the undulating waters. Questioning the truth behind the children’s stories, the governess finds it increasingly hard to tell reality from her nightmares – until she is forced to take action. Did you really see her? Or was it just a trick of the light?

The Turn of the Screw is a gothic horror written in 1898 by Henry James which has been used as inspiration for West End classic The Woman in Black, hit horror movies The Others and The Innocents and was recently adapted for Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Director, Anna Marsland says:

“The Turn of the Screw is such a classic ghost story, which has inspired so much other work in the horror genre, that we sometimes feel like we already know what’s going to happen. Haunted house. Creepy children. A paranoid governess. Yet, when I re-read it, I was surprised by how different it was; it felt modern and unsettling in ways that I didn’t expect. This led me to explore the story of the Havelock family outside the constraints of the usual Victorian setting, using the backdrop of the beautiful Essex Georgian estate – Bly Manor – but setting the action in 1989: a turning point for child safeguarding.

I hope the audience will experience all the thrills and plot twists of a classic ghost story but feel that the questions it raises are still relevant to now.”

Drawing in both believers and sceptics alike. Don’t miss this enthralling mix of Halloween thriller and psychological mystery.

Tickets are on sale now at queens-theatre.co.uk.

The post Classic Ghost Story The Turn of The Screw Chillingly Reimagined appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

The event marked the launch of the book Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women’s Protests in Iran, edited by Malu Halasa on Saqi Books, “a fiercely independent publisher”.

Extolling the power of art, writing and body politics the event was a universal rallying call and a celebration of the women the regime has tried and failed to silence.

Highly original and savagely topical it included a live art and sound art performance by Tasalla Tabasom and Fari Bradley, an art-style documentary video, a presentation from artist Roshi Rouzbehani, a panel discussion hosted by Malu Halasa and an exhibition of artwork.

This event took place on 1st June 2024 at Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, Colchester.

“Insightful, powerful and inspiring! I now know more of the voices of women (and not only) in Iran, whose fight for their rights is ours too. Events like these bring us together in a fight for a common goal: freedom for all.”

Feedback from event attendee

The post “Actually Iranian Women Do Not Need You to Save Them” appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Ian Collins, a close friend of Blythe’s, will be joining us for this very special event on Friday 15th November, in partnership with Red Lion Books, to celebrate the launch of his book Blythe Spirit: The Remarkable Life of Ronald Blythe.

Drawing on unparalleled access to letters, notebooks, published works, drafts, and conversations from decades of friendship, Collins tells the full story of Ronald Blythe for the first time. The result is a sensitive, revelatory portrait which celebrates a fascinating, complex man and casts new light on one of our greatest writers.

This event will take place in the Old Library at Colchester Town Hall, where Blythe worked for 10 years as a reference librarian and where he founded the Colchester Literary Society.

Ian Collins will be in conversation with Essex Book Festival Director, Ros Green, who grew up in Charsfield in East Suffolk in 1960s and 1970s: the inspiration for Ronald Blythes’s Penguin Classic Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village.

Find out more about this event and book tickets at essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/blythe-spirit/.

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Get ready for a virtual celebration of all things books and storytelling.

Join this Zoom event for an online celebration of children’s literature and author highlights.

A fun-filled evening of readings, discussions, and interactive activities with your favourite authors, for 4-11 year olds.

Highlights include…

• Meet the Authors
• Storytelling
• Quizzes
• Competitions
• Prizes to be won
• Cooking and Illustration workshops

Friday 4th October 2024, 5:00 – 8:30pm
Tickets: Free, booking essential
Register via Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/4gJTKYG

Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity for children to connect with fellow book lovers, and discover new stories. See you there!

The post A Galaxy of Culture and Curious Adventures appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Featuring a mix of live podcasts, networking, and workshops, a range of topics will be covered over the two days, including music, sport, comedy, witches, lifestyle, climate change, business creativity and more.

See the full programme and details, plus book your tickets at chelmsfordforyou.co.uk.

Essex Podcast Festival – An Audience with Manifesto for Essex

An Audience With Manifesto For Essex
Hosted by Marina Cusí with special guests Ada Mazi and Steve Mortimer
Part of Essex Podcast Festival

Starting with humble beginnings at the Essex Book Festival in 2020, Manifesto for Essex is a response to festival director Ros Green’s question, what is the most pressing issue of the day and who is most affected by it?

The discussion will be chaired by Marina Cusi who is joined by Ada Mazi, one of the outstanding young people who have been part of their Writing and Talking National Saturday Club based at ARU. We will also be welcoming Steve Mortimer to the panel, producer of the film Connect: A Creative Response to Climate Change, which was selected for over 140 international film awards. Steve is also the founder of The Black Chapel Collective, which is a creative group of musicians, video artists, film makers, DJ’s, rappers, poets and dancers that create exciting, transformative and contemporary live art projects around climate change.

This event is part of the Essex Podcast Festival, featuring a jam packed line-up of Essex inspired podcasts staged in front of a live audience. For more information, visit chelmsfordtheatre.co.uk.

Saturday 28 September, 2.30pm (Duration: 45 minutes)
Venue: Chelmsford Theatre Studio, Fairfield Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1JG
Tickets: £5.00 A £2 fee is applicable per transaction
Box Office: chelmsfordtheatre.co.uk/events/an-audience-with-manifesto-for-essex/

Wheelchair accessible and essential companion tickets must be booked via the Access Scheme

The post Essex Podcast Festival appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Enlightenment is Sarah’s finest novel to date. It is a story of love and astronomy told over the course of 20 years through the lives of two improbable best friends.

Sarah Perry is an internationally bestselling author. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Her work includes the novels Melmoth, The Essex Serpent and After Me Comes the Flood, and the non-fiction Essex Girls.

She is a winner of the Waterstone’s Book of the Year Award and the British Book of the Year Award and has been nominated for major literary prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Folio Prize and the Costa Novel Award.

We were delighted to have Sarah Perry join us for our launch event at University of Essex to discuss the book. Here is just some of the feedback we received about this thought-provoking event:

“The interview with Sarah Perry was exceptional, great questions, but most of all the author was very eloquent, unassuming and humble in her responses whilst being so thought provoking. It really was a very lovely event. Thank you!”

“Wow what a dazzling event , such a privilege to hear Sarah Perry discuss her work , writing process , inspirations and read from enlightenment. An exceptional talent, could have listened to her for a lot longer.”

If you missed it you can watch the recording of Sarah Perry’s event on our YouTube channel.

Congratulations Sarah – you really are a shining star!

The post Festival Patron, Sarah Perry’s Enlightenment longlisted for the Booker Prize appeared first on Essex Book Festival.