With a special emphasis on coastal heritage, the project centres on inclusivity, working with diverse local communities.

The project aims to gather 150 stories and images reflecting the area’s 3 stretches of coastline.

Community stories

Project partners Essex Book Festival (Harwich and Orford Ness) and Out There Arts (Great Yarmouth) have worked alongside local groups, in collaboration with writers and digital artists, to uncover individual stories and shared narratives through walking tours, heritage site visits and creative expression.

In Harwich, the Essex Book Festival team worked alongside filmmaker Marley Karazimba, wordsmith TriggerBliss, and Kate O’Neill, sound archivist at Essex Record Office. Participants were the Electric Palace Cinema Young Film Programmers, the Connect Without Limits Autism Group, African Families in the UK, and Refugee, Asylum Seekers and Migrant Action (RAMA)

With the support of the National Trust, the creative team of Essex Book Festival, photographer/filmmaker Lucia Barbagallo and writer Emma Kittle-Pey enjoyed access to the internationally important coastal nature reserve Orford Ness. This remarkable experience inspired story-gathering sessions with communities in Orford

In Great Yarmouth, 5 local community groups took part in workshops led by filmmaker Mark Hannant and author Belona Greenwood: Men’s Walk and Talk, a men’s mental health organisation; Heritage for Wellbeing, a mental health organisation created by the Restoration Trust; Stomping Ground, a Great Yarmouth Youth Club for young people aged 11 to 18; Great Yarmouth Refugee Orientation Service; and Herring House Homeless Support Charity

Creative display at the Beach of Dreams Festival

The stories, memories and images from workshop participants will inspire written work, drawings and photographs created by artists, which will be revealed to the public in digital content and designed silk pennants.

The pennants, which are part of the Beach of Dreams national commission, ‘The Beach of Dreams Silks’, will be displayed during free, family-friendly events and walks from 28 to 30 May across Harwich, Orfordness and Great Yarmouth and will remain in the communities as enduring symbols of their stories and identity.

Orford Ness and Harwich, both steeped in history, have different stories to tell – it has been a privilege finding out more about these two extraordinary coastal destinations.

Ros Green
Essex Book Festival Director

We are really pleased to have funded this project in the East of England, where coastal heritage plays an important part in the lives of local communities in three towns with very different histories. Through working with artists, people will have a chance to explore the heritage on their doorsteps, unearth hidden histories and celebrate what makes their towns so special. The project will also enable people to reflect on the future of their places as this coastline changes.

Tamsin Silvey, Cultural Programme Curator
Historic England

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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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Chelmsford Science Festival – 26th and 27th October

First up is Anglia Ruskin University’s hugely popular Chelmsford Science Festival, which is hosting two Family Science Days on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October.

Activities include interactive exhibits, hands on activities and talks by leaders in their fields. Essex Book Festival is proud to be playing its part by hosting a Traditional Ink-Making and Eco-Printing Drop-in Activity. Why not come along and dabble in some ancient gall oak alchemy!

Find out more about Chelmsford Science Festival at essexbookfestival.org.uk.

Blythe Spirit – The Remarkable Life of Ronald Blythe
Friday 15th November

It is difficult to sum up the remarkable life of Ronald Blythe, author of Akenfield and countless other books and essays, who spent the last forty years of his life living in Wormingford near Colchester.

However, close friend and writer Ian Collins has done an equally remarkable job of distilling and condensing Ronnie’s fascinating life and work spanning 100 years into his new biography Blythe Spirit.

We are thrilled be partnering with Red Lion Books on an author event on Friday 15th November at the Old Library in Colchester Town Hall featuring Ian Collins in conversation with Festival Director Ros Green, who grew up in the now mythical ‘Akenfield’ in East Suffolk in the 1960s.

It’s not often that the venue plays a starring role in one of our events. Who could have imagined that eighty years later the shy reference librarian affectionately known as Ronnie who worked at the Old Library for 10 years, would one day become one of the UK’s leading writers, essayist and editor. Well, he did, and made Essex his home.

Find out more and book tickets at redlionbooks.co.uk.

Hot Off The Press
Tattoos – The Untold History of a Modern Art

Essex Book Festival is teaming up with EA Festival and Firstsite on another exciting event in November: The Launch of Dr Matt Lodder’s new book Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art published by Yale University Press.

Tattoos is the first book to examine the history of tattoo in the West as both a serious profession and an art form.

Contrary to the pervasive stereotype of tattoo culture relating to an underworld of scoundrels, sailors and ne’er-do-wells, 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, Dr 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.

The event is taking place at 7pm Firstsite on Thursday 28th November.

For more information and to book tickets go to: ea-festival.eventcube.io/events.

Beach of Dreams

Essex Book Festival is hosting a special weekend of activities for four local community groups on 16th and 17th November to explore and reflect on the fascinating history of Harwich. Participants will be invited to tell their own stories of what the town means to them via workshops led by a writer, digital artist and a local archivist. All of the stories created will feed into a new national digital platform as part of the project: Beach of Dreams.

Beach of Dreams aims to engage hundreds of thousands across the UK in a major interdisciplinary programme responding to coastal, environmental and climate themes, Activities include walks; journeys; participatory creative events; digital activity; talks and other events along the UK coastline in the 4 nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from October 2024 to May 2025.

Get involved!

In addition to our four community workshops, Essex Record Office will be hosting a free oral recording session between 4-5pm on Saturday 16th November. If you would like to take part in this session, email hello@essexbookfestival.org.uk The more story-gatherers the better!

Find out more at essexbookfestival.org.uk/beach-of-dreams and beachofdreams.org.

The post Some Autumnal Delights … appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Supported by Historic England, this project aligns with a national festival called Beach of Dreams, which will take place at the Out There International Festival of Outdoor Arts and Circus in May 2025.

Artists will lead workshops to explore the hopes, fears, stories, and dreams of the local coastal community. These stories will be shared on digital platforms and in a stunning visual display of thousands of locally designed silk flags, made and carried by the public to inspire and bring about positive change in reflection of the past.

Application deadline: 14th October 2024

To view artist and writer’s briefs and apply visit our Beach of Dreams page.

The post Calling all Writers and Digital Artists appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Festival Patron Sarah Perry, our Finale event for the day, summed up the magic of the day in the following words:

“Just the most extraordinary day at University of Essex for the launch event of the Essex Book Festival…I couldn’t be more proud and honoured to be an Essex Girl, the Essex Chancellor, an Essex Book Festival patron and an Essex novelist. The time of mockery is over: the era of Essex has begun!”

What an amazing endorsement!

And that’s just the start. We have so much more to come with events taking place in venues across the county over the coming month. View all upcoming events at essexbookfestival.org.uk/events/.

The post What a start, and still so much to come… appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Led by Kinetika in collaboration with Rosa Productions, Beach of Dreams is an exploration of the UK Coastline and its’ environment beginning in June 2024 and culminating in a UK wide walking arts festival 1 May–1 June 2025.

Beach of Dreams offers a creative way to respond to the Climate Emergency. It is an invitation to join a moment of reflection and action in the month of May 2025 to discover more about our coastlines, ourselves, and our planet, in collaboration with local communities, artists, writers and scientists.

Beach of Dreams 25 will be launched on 1 June at Essex Book Festival, where the commissioned artists and the programme of activity will be announced.

Find out more about Beach of Dreams 2025: beachofdreams.org

#beachofdreams25

Image of Beach of Dreams flags credit Mike Johnston

The post Funding announced for Beach of Dreams 2025: a UK wide walking arts festival appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Saturday 1st June – Mark the diary now.

How to get involved

We’re looking for volunteers to join us on the day, If you would like to come along and hold a Beach of Dreams pennant, register your interest by completing this form.

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