24 February 2026, 7pm
The Minories, Colchester

If rags are the shreds of culture inhabited by the unfortunate, are ruins the shells of their oppressors’ power? Ancient prophets observed that all garments, whether imperial purple or hermit brown, are torn to shreds by the ages; every hut or castle becomes fluid as sand in time. What of we who are alive now, clinging to our holdfasts, menaced by waves of weaponised information?

— Damian Le Bas

In art and words, mother and son, artist and writer, Delaine Le Bas and Damian Le Bas (jr) come together to reflect on shared themes that run through their work across visual art, writing, and lived experience. Drawing on Romani history and culture, as well as broader questions of power, marginalisation, survival, and memory, they will discuss how materials, stories, and landscapes carry the traces of human conflict and endurance.

This event, which forms part of a series of art-themed events, a partnership between EA Festival, Essex Book Festival and The Minories, is a rare opportunity to hear two internationally acclaimed artists in dialogue, reflecting on inheritance, identity, and the role of art and language in navigating a world shaped by history, violence, and renewal. Expect a thought-provoking evening that moves between the personal and the universal, rooted in deep cultural knowledge.

About Delaine Le Bas

Delaine Le Bas is a British artist whose work spans textile, collage, assemblage, installation, and performance. Of Romani heritage, her practice explores Romani history, language, and lived experience, addressing themes of displacement, survival, memory, and cultural resilience. Using found fabrics, clothing, photographs, and hand-worked materials, her work is marked by layering and accretion, reflecting both nomadic traditions and the fragility of inherited histories. Her work has been shown widely in the UK and internationally, including participation in the Prague Biennale (2005 and 2007) and the first Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. She was shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize in 2024, with her installation shown at Tate Britain as part of the prize exhibition. Le Bas’ practice challenges stereotypical representations of Romani identity, asserting its complexity, modernity, and political urgency.

About Damian Le Bas

Damian Le Bas (jr) is a writer and artist. His first book, The Stopping Places, A Journey Through Gypsy Britain, won the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award in 2019 amongst other literary awards. His visual art has been shown internationally, and his poetry and essays are widely published. His second book, The Drowned Places, was released in 2025 and nominated for the Maritime Foundation Best Book Award. Damian read Theology at Oxford University and is a native speaker of the Romani language. He grew up in Sussex, where he lives with his partner and their two daughters, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

damianlebas.com/

Photo of Delaine Le Bas by Egbert Trogemann at Maxim Gorki Theatre, 2025

Photo of Damian Le Bas by Tara Darby

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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.

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Essex Book Festival are delighted to be partnering with EA Festival once again on two very special events.

Renaturing: Chloe Dalton and James Canton in conversation with William Sieghart
Saturday 14 June, 10am

James Canton and fellow author, Chloe Dalton, will explore their different approaches to nature writing.

Dalton’s Raising Hare is a charming account of unexpectedly raising a leveret during lockdown and a feel-good, life-affirming treat.

Canton’s Renaturing shows how the concept of rewilding can be adopted by us all. We can all make positive change, however large or small. We can all be involved in caring for and restoring the natural world.

In this session, we will discover how their experiences – of nature and writing – have intersected.

Book tickets here

Always Take Notes (live podcast taping) featuring Frank Close
Sunday 15 June, 4.30pm

As the capstone of EA Festival 2025, we are taping an episode of the UK’s #1 podcast about writing, Always Take Notes, co-hosted by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd.

Besides interviewing authors about their latest work, in this case, Destroyer of Worlds by physicist and multi-award-winning science writer Frank Close, the podcast delves into the creative process, research, habits and quirks of each guest, the better to understand what makes their books so good.

Considering that Destroyer of Worlds is a new and seminal history of the atomic bomb authored by one of the world’s top science writers, strap yourself in for a fascinating look under the hood of what makes Frank Close tick.

Book tickets here

Visit eafestival.com for EA Festival 2025 Programme, Line-up and to book tickets.

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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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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.

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