Colchester is being transformed into a giant game, encouraging active travel.

Take a look at a short video explaining how you play the game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMS6rQPIt0o&t=2s

Visit https://beatthestreet.me for full details

The post Beat the Street – Colchester appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Sunday 14 June 2026, 2.00 – 3.00pm
The Minories, 74 High Street, Colchester, CO1 1UE

Join in this hilarious interactive event with multi-award-winning author Kes Gray as he talks about the evolution of his Oi! picture book  series, from Oi Frog! to Oi Dinosaurs! Guaranteed to get everyone giggling.

Kes Gray was born and grew up in Chelmsford in the 1960s and ‘70s. He has published over 100 books, including the popular Oi Frog! and The Trouble with Daisy series. Well-loved by young families for their humour and creativity, his books are largely inspired by his memories of growing up in Chelmsford and feature regular references to places and people across the district.

For ages 3+. All those aged under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Tickets: £6
Box Office: eventbrite.co.uk

Part of Midsummer Madness Family Fun – A day of other worldly storytelling and creative mayhem in the enchanted setting of The Minories, Colchester’s oldest art gallery and garden. Our Midsummer Madness Family Day is the perfect place to get crafty and messy with our delectable range of free hands-on drop-in workshops, and much, much more.

The post From Oi Frog! to Oi Dinosaurs! appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Saturday 13 June 2026, 6.30pm – 8.00pm
Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ

Step into the wild world of How to Become a Peregrine at Essex Book Festival.

Join the Cabinet of Living Cinema for the world premiere of its new film How to Become a Peregrine inspired by J.A. Baker’s The Peregrine, and accompanied by a soaring and immersive live soundscape by composer Kieron Chissik.

Before the film screens, help graphic novelist Hannah Eaton craft a sky backdrop and bring bird puppets to life, or explore the project’s creative output by young people from Dorset and Somerset. Narrators will be invited to share their favourite passages.

The evening concludes with a panel discussion.

How to Become a Peregrine is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Find out more about the project at thecabinetoflivingcinema.org.uk/project/how-to-become-a-peregrine/.

Tickets: £8 / £5 concessions (students, under 27s and unwaged)
Box Office: eventbrite.co.uk

Limited Edition prints of this How to Become a Peregrine montage illustration by Hannah Eaton will be available to buy at this event.

The post How to Become a Peregrine appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

30% discount code available below.

Friday 10 October 2025
7pm (doors at 6.30pm)
The Minors, 74 High Street, Colchester, CO1 1UE

Tickets: £15 general / £10 friends of the Minories
Book now: theminories.org/event/a-musical-iliad

Award-winning storyteller Clare Goodall and historical musician Lizzie Gutteridge combine forces to bring you an epic tale of love, tragedy and loss in an energetic and punchy adaptation, where the characters come to life even if that life then ends brutally in bloodshed.

This is the epic that everyone has heard of but few have read. Our adaptation brings it to life, showing why it’s been so well known for 3,000 years, and how it deals with issues that are still relevant today…

“A unique, powerful and compelling piece of time travel.”
“It was breathtaking and awesome!”

Use this special discount code for 30% off: ILIAD30

The post An epic tale of love, tragedy and loss – A Musical Iliad at The Minories appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Saturday 13 June 2026, 11.00am – 12.00pm
Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ

Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes in Eva Verde’s work. She has published three novels including Them Girls, and will be discussing with Sabah Khan, publicity director at Simon & Schuster Books, what it takes to write and publish a book.

Tickets: £8 / £5 concessions (students, under 27s and unwaged)
Box Office: eventbrite.co.uk

This event is part of The Writers Room

Essex Book Festival and the University of Essex are hosting an exciting 1-day programme of writers’ and writing events. Events include author talks and workshops, multi-genre panel discussions, and The Pitch (a 10-minute speed-date with an industry professional). Plus, an opportunity to engage with and explore the J.A. Baker Archive.

The Writers Room Day Pass – Five events for £25 / £15 concessions – Book a Writers Room Day Pass here

Eva Verde

Eva Verde is a writer from East London. Identity, class and female rage are recurring themes throughout her work. Eva’s love song to libraries, I Am Not Your Tituba forms part of Kit De Waal’s Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers. Her words have featured in Marie Claire, Grazia, Elle and The Big Issue, also penning the new foreword for the international bestselling author Jackie Collins Goddess of Vengeance. Eva lives in Essex with her husband, children and dog.

Them Girls

Two sisters, a lifetime of secrets, and the chance to set the record straight…

Meet Goldie and Vee: sisters, dreamers, grafters. In their forties, both appear to have it all…

Until Goldie finds the courage to leave Benedict. Once upon a time their faux marriage worked, but when the magnetic Wolfie comes on the scene, her world of pretending falls apart.

Vee’s neat world is spiralling, too. Since her ex-husband Jamie started dating Julia her cruel school bully, Vee’s long-buried insecurities are out of control. She needs to get away, and fast.

So when Goldie suggests a holiday in France, Vee leaps at the idea. A curiously well-timed invitation – just as speculations around Goldie’s brilliantly brief pop career back in the nineties are beginning to resurface. Escaping’s one thing, but nothing stays secret forever, and as Vee and Goldie’s unresolved pasts make surprise returns, the stories them girls once told themselves begin to look very different…

A raw and real portrayal of two sisters, the lives they left behind and the lives they want to lead, Them Girls is bold and immediate and deals with themes of identity, class and the corruption of power . . .

Order a copy of the book at bookshop.org – released 09 April 2026

Praise for Eva Verde

‘This is a really powerful, beautifully written story about three generations of working class women with each character so vividly drawn that they leap off the page’
– Red

‘I loved Verde’s debut, LIVES LIKE MINE, and this is just as raw and insightful’
– Good Housekeeping

Eva Verde will be in conversation with Sabah Khan, award-winning Publicity Director at Simon & Schuster

The post What it takes to Make a Book appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Tudor historian Alison Weir‘s event on Tuesday 10th June, which features her new book The Cardinal, could not be taking place in a more appropriate venue than the magnificent Chelmsford Cathedral given its’ chief protagonist, Cardinal Wolsey’s East Anglian roots.

The same applies for our event with Edward Wilson-Lee whose latest book The Grammar of Angels tells the fascinating story of Renaissance prodigy and polymath Giovanni Pico della Mirandola who dedicated his short, brilliant life to a quest to find the sublime. With angels in The Cathedral’s stained glass, carved into its stones, stitched into its kneelers, and fashioned into its reredoses’, audience members will be in excellent company for Edward’s event on Friday 20th June.

As for St Leonard at-the-Hythe Church, our special 1-day event Spirits, Salons and Sanctuary undoubtedly ‘chimes’ with this wonderful redundant church in the heart of Colchester, which has more than a story or two to tell about spirits and sanctuary. Not so sure about salons!

Join internationally acclaimed cultural historian and writer Marina Warner as she illuminates the concept of ‘sanctuary’ past and present via her new book Sanctuary, which explores how the idea of ‘sanctuary’ has shifted from what was once seen as an ancient rite to something quite different these days.

Meanwhile, poet Philip Terry will take his audience on a tour of his reimagined Purgatoria, which is set on Mersea Island, and poet and novelist Clare Pollard will invite us into the magical fairy-telling salons of Sixteenth Century Paris with her fabulous new novel The Modern Fairies.

Tickets for all events are available now at essexbookfestival.org.uk/events.

The post Glorious Venues appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Arranged on 16 posts, a QR code geo-locates content, offering walkers a diverse mix of materials inspired by the journey. This year’s theme is “Communities within Communities”. Join in to stay active and creative.

£300 Prize money is split for the winners, £150 for first place and £50 for 3 runner ups.
How to join:

• Travel the WWW route around Colchester
• Get creative with photos, art, poetry and more that relates to the theme.
• Go to the website https://walkwithwords.co.uk/
• add your contact details and submission
• Wait for the results.

Winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony as part of our Day on the Wild Side at The Minories, Colchester on Sunday 22nd June.

Submissions are unlimited, and we encourage you to participate with your friends or communities. Good luck!

For full details visit walkwithwords.co.uk.

The post Walk With Words Competition officially launched! appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

To inaugurate the series of art-themed talks, James Birch, the curator, gallerist and art impresario with many ties to East Anglia, will introduce his newest book, Gilbert & George and the Communists.

The book memorialises James’ experience of mounting major art exhibitions in Moscow and China for the irreverent and iconic art duo, Gilbert & George, after the great success of bringing Francis Bacon to Russia in 1988.

It’s a multi-faceted romp through the art world and politics of the late 80s and early 90s that James will bring to life when he joins us on stage at The Minories.

Find out more and book tickets at eafestival.com.

The post New Event Series in Partnership With EA Festival and The Minories appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Professor Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu embark on a pulse-pounding quest across Europe. When a brutal murder in the Louvre Museum uncovers hidden clues within Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces, the duo must unravel a web of intrigue that could alter the course of history…

Uncover the twists and turns of ancient secrets, relentless rivals and coded messages in a quest to protect a secret that could change the world forever.

A Mercury Theatre Colchester and Wiltshire Creative Production

From Wednesday 07 May – Saturday 24 May 2025 at Mercury Theatre, Colchester.

Visit mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/the-da-vinci-code/ for more information and to book tickets.

The post Electrifying Stage Adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code coming to Colchester’s Mercury Theatre appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

We were particularly pleased to welcome Fousseny Traore, a Climate Refugee from Mali, who spoke about the environmental devastation that is already happening in parts of Africa as a result of the Climate Emergency, and the very real threat to those who speak out about it.

Read a copy of Fousseny’s deeply moving speech here.

Participants took part in a range of workshops during the day led by Eco-educator/Dramaturg Dr Andrew Burton (University of Essex), Theatre Director/Founder Wise Ram Theatre Company Sofia Bagge, Radio Producer/Presenter Michelle Durrant (Chelmsford Community Radio) and Theatre Director/Founder Mad, Who? Theatre Marina Cusi. This was followed by a feed-back and ‘what next’ brain-storming session.

It was, as ever, a very positive day. To have so many eloquent and motivated young people in one space was inspirational and a real credit to Essex. To welcome Climate Refugee Foussney Traore to speak about his journey from Mali to Colchester, and the personal sacrifices he has made along the way, was both a privilege and deeply moving (see attached photograph c. Essex Book Festival).

Ros Green, Festival Director

The Manifesto for Essex, which was set up in 2020 as part of Essex2020, goes from strength to strength. This year will be working with young people from Harlow to Harwich to help raise awareness of the positive actions everyone can take to mitigate the Climate Emergency. We look forward to celebrating their work as part of this year’s Essex Book Festival.

Thank you to Young Reporter, Ellious Woodroof, for this great write-up about the Youth Climate Summit:

Manifesto For Essex: Art and the Climate Emergency

By Ellious Woodroof,
Colchester Sixth Form College

This article was written by one of our Young Reporters, a scheme that gives 14 to 18-year-old school students a chance to write for a real newspaper. Find out more at the Young Reporter website.

This January I attended ‘Manifesto for Essex’ at Headgate Theatre for my third year.

This event aims to help young people tackle the climate emergency through all forms of art – the focus of this year was theatre.

The opening speech from Foussney Traore (a climate refugee from Mali) was incredibly powerful – he spoke in French with translation to English.

He described how women and girls spend days searching for food and water; how Mali and the Sahel have become Climate Change warzones; how his peoples’ subsistence life is collapsing; and how the work of multinationals is destroying the environment, his home.

There were references to the beauty of nature that his uncle taught him to appreciate, countered by the fragility of how the lakes he used to bathe in had become football pitches.

To combat this, he started an online movement ‘Action Sahel’ and is taking his activism international, warning that although extreme impacts of climate change do not reach the UK currently, it is only a matter of time.

I found someone recounting personal experiences brought home the reality, showing how stories shape our view and therefore our actions.

This was followed by a panel discussion on tackling the Climate Emergency through performance, chaired by Marina Cusi.

The panel included a representative from SPARK Chelmsford (a group giving young people a role in shaping Chelmsford’s cultural identity); Richard from Headgate Theatre’s youth troop; Hattie Philips (studying for a degree in Sustainable Futures, and with experience in many areas of activism such as being a youth ambassador for WWF); and Sofia Bagge from Wise Ram Theatre (a group using theatre to explore the climate crisis in ways which are funny and heartfelt).

There were discussions of how theatre can be a space for play and fun while trying to untangle the mess of the climate emergency.

Theatre is also accessible, only needing a space and an audience to bring people together, communicate ideas and create connections.

Hattie highlighted that simple communication is a creative practice and engaging people on issues is an artform itself.

The discussion also explored how interdisciplinary ideas are becoming more important in education, which is particularly significant for the climate crisis which is a huge web of linked issues.

I then did an Eco-Script writing workshop with Andrew Burton where we generated ideas through questions about emotions – what makes us angry, sad, gives us hope – and then linked these to anecdotes of our own, which was a great exercise in being creatively free with writing.

My final workshop was Eco-Podcasting with Michelle Durant from Chelmsford Community radio, and we interviewed Peter Donaldson (chair of Essex Book festival) about climate and books.

This was a great experience of how immediate and responsive audio journalism can be.

The other workshops included Eco-Performance with Sofia Bagge and Eco-Poetry with Marina Cusi.

I found the event extremely valuable for the discussions it sparked, the community it created and the hope it gives me that action is possible.

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