Saturday 20 June 2026, 11.00am – 3.00pm
Venue: CVS Tendring, Sam’s Hall, Imperial House, 20-22 Rosemary Road, Clacton-on-Sea, CO15 1NZ

The Human Library is coming to Clacton!

Just like in a real library, a visitor to the Human Library can borrow a book from a range of titles. The difference is that books are PEOPLE, and reading is a CONVERSATION.

Books in our Human Library come from all walks of life, and each has an experience to share. Come along, connect with people you wouldn’t normally meet, and celebrate positive differences in our communities.

The Human Library is part of Clacton Rocks! a day of talks, drop-in events and family activities taking place across the town as part of Essex Book Festival 2026.

Tickets: Free, no booking required. Drop in anytime between 11am and 3pm.
Cold and hot drinks will be available to purchase as part of the event.

Want to be Human Book ?

Do you defy a stereotype? Are you like an open book and do you have valuable experiences that readers could benefit from learning about? Are you motivated to help challenge stigma and stereotypes through dialogue and personal conversations? Then maybe we can publish you to our readers.

The Human Library Organisation is always looking for Human books for future events, building up a network of local organisers and book depots around the world, that not only recycle Human Books, but also ensure they are well kept in between events.

Being a book in the Human Library is more than you expect and something you will never forget. It is also an opportunity to meet a lot of people that are different from you and yet you will find you share a lot in common.

Sound interesting and exciting? Then contact Jo on jo@essexcdp.com for a chat, or fill in the online form at the Human Library Organisation’s website.

The post The Human Library – Clacton appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

For example, how can we reasonably choose between Victoria Shepherd talking about her fabulous debut book A History of Delusions: The Glass King, A Substitute Husband, and A Walking Corpse at Maldon Library, and The Guardian’s hilariously funny, outrageously acerbic political satirist John Crace taking Westminster to task in his latest book A Farewell To Calm: How To Survive The New Normal? An ongoing dilemma in Festival HQ.

The same applies for Maggie Gee who will be talking about her book The Red Children at Brentwood Library at exactly the same time that writer Nick Higham will be sharing insights into his fascinating book The Mercenary River – a tale of greed, complacency, high finance and low politics – at Grays Library, and Sunday Times Bestseller Anna Whitehouse of ‘Mother Pukka’ fame talking about her explosive debut novel: Underbelly at Anglia Ruskin University. Don’t know about you but we’re down to drawing straws this end…

See you very soon!

Greenwood Words – Burnham-on-Crouch

We’re really excited to be heading to Burnham-on-Crouch on 2nd June for our bumper one-day event Greenwood Words: part of our Jubilee celebrations, including performances by leading East Anglian storytellers Glenys Newton and Marion Campion who will be channelling King Canute, Neptune and The Green Man amongst others, a host of free family arts and crafts workshops all focusing on The Natural World, plus a plethora of pop-up writing desks dotted around town waiting to be scribbled at.

One thing not to be missed is William Sieghart’s The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul.

Come along to this unique event to hear William, publisher, philanthropist and founder of the Forward Prizes for Poetry speak about how poetry has been such an obvious source of inspiration and comfort during the pandemic, and beyond that, his ‘live prescriptions’ and poem suggestions for the audience, their friends and loved ones.

In the words of Stephen Fry:

“Here is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, an arm around the lonely shoulder, a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss.”

Stephen Fry

Find out more about The Poetry Pharmacy

The Human Library – Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover
Mercury Theatre – 11th June

What is The Human Library? Just like a real library, visitors to The Human Library can borrow a book from a range of titles. The difference is that the books are People, and reading is a Conversation. Books in our Human Library come from all walks of life, and each has a different story to tell.

Come along, connect with people you wouldn’t normally meet, and help us celebrate positive differences in our community.

Find out more about The Human Library

The post Less than 4 weeks to go… appeared first on Essex Book Festival.