Throughout June, Metal Southend will become a home for Essex writers to share, forge ideas, make connections, gossip, read and write.

Packed with an inspiring lineup of events including wild swimming, wild hot desks, estuary mud walks, writing walks, film screenings, open advice sessions and collaborative co-writing spaces.

Come write, connect, and get muddy with us.

Writers’ Hot Desks – Atmospheric attic room desks with spectacular views across the estuary to Kent never cease to provide inspiration for writers needing space to shape their ideas. Book a desk to carve out time for yourself away from the distractions of everyday life.

Wild Writing Desk – A special writer’s desk will be outdoors in a secluded area of Chalkwell Park. This is the perfect environment for those who love to write immersed in nature. Southend weather permitting.

Co-Working & Shared Spaces, Open Advice Sessions, Meet Our Resident Writers, Plus special events just announced:

How to Approach an Island: Walking the Broomway with Helen Galliano of Arbonauts - 8 June
Write Around The Island: A Day of Estuary Exploration – 16 June
Find Your Writing Community with National Centre for Writing – 18 June
Wild Write + Swim: Sense the Estuary with Angenita Teekens – in partnership with the Federation of Essex Women’s Institutes  – 21 June
Creative/Critical Writing- Live Art Writers Network with performingborders  – 25 June

Plus more!

Visit metalculture.com/projects/essex-writers-house-2025 for more details and to book on to events.

The post Essex Writers House 2025 – Full Programme Announced appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

The question is, have you got your ticket to hear winner Abi Daré talking about And So I Roar at Grays Library in Thurrock on Tuesday 3rd June?

The novel explores the lives of women and girls in rural Nigeria as they navigate the devastating impacts of environmental collapse in a part of the world where families are losing their homes, where communities are being forced to adapt in unexpected ways, all of which rarely makes the news.

‘A book of real energy and passion which both horrifies and entertains with a cast of compelling characters, a story of how the climate crisis can provoke social crisis where often women and children are the victims. Despite the tragedy, Abi Daré holds faith in the strength of individuals and relationships, and her hopefulness leaves us inspired.’

Climate Fiction Prize Chair, Madeleine Bunting

Another book causing quite the stir is Chloe Dalton’s Raising Hare – an instant Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller, short-listed for The Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2025, short-listed for the British Book Awards’ Book of the Year 2025, short-listed for Waterstones Book of the Year, and a Critics’ Best Books pick for The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Spectator and iNews.

We are beyond pleased to be co-hosting an author event with Chloe Dalton and her fellow nature-writer James Canton as part of EA Festival at Hedingham Castle on Saturday 14th June. James Canton’s fabulous new book Renaturing is also causing more than a ripple or two in the world of nature-writing.

Other Nature and Environment festival events include the launch of Radical Islands on Mersea Island on 1st June featuring Jules Pretty and Ken Worpole, Wildlife Detectives at the Wild Space (8th June, Maldon), Wild Swim and Write Workshop: Sense the Estuary, in partnership with the Federation of Essex Women’s Institutes and Metal as part of Essex Writers House (21st June, Southend), and Batty About Bats with the National Trust (21st June: Rainham Hall).

The post Nature and the Environment Playing Leading Role This June appeared first on Essex Book Festival.