As the festival draws to a close and with temperatures soaring outside, we can’t recommend enough the remaining events still to come across the county.
Who can resist one of the UK’s leading historians Alison Weir talking about the Boleyn family at Essex Record Office on Tuesday night.
Having said that, just across the road at Chelmsford Library we have Sunday Times and international best-selling author Sarah Vaughan (whose previous novel Anatomy of a Scandal became an instant smash-hit Netflix series), talking about her latest suspense novel Based On A True Story.
It’s going to be hard to choose between those two. The excellent news is that everyone should be home in time for the kick off of England vs. Ghana!
Our final two library event include two more best-selling writers: Vaseem Khan at Colchester Library on Wednesday night and Sophie Hannah at Witham Library on Thursday night.
Vaseem will be taking a deep dive into the world of James Bond with his new series The Q Mysteries, which centre on Major Boothroyd (aka Q), the gadget-maker for M16’s 00 agents.
Sophie, meanwhile, will be marking the 50th Anniversary of the Dorothy L Sayers Society with a talk about the hugely-popular murder-mystery genre, her own books included. The excellent news here is that tickets are still available for both of those events.
We are spreading the net wide over our final weekend with events taking place at Gibberd Garden and Harlow Museum and Gardens in Harlow and Layer Marney Tower near Colchester.
Anyone who is interested in The Knights Templar is in for a huge treat at Layer Marney Tower.
TV presenter and writer Tony McMahon is opening our History Books day on Sunday with a talk about his latest book Downfall of The Templars. For centuries, people have wondered what happened to the fabled treasure of the Templars, including the Holy Grail. Join Tony to find out more.
Tony will be followed by a British scholar of classics and a historical fiction novelist Emily Hauser who has been on a quest of her own.
This time we will travel even further back in time to ancient Greece as Emily reveals the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece’s greatest legends – and the real heroes of those ancient epics, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Wrapping up the day we have Radio 4 presenter and Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland talking about his latest book The Traitor’s Circle, which details the true story of the Solf Circle—a secret, high-society group of German intellectuals, aristocrats, and diplomats who secretly opposed Adolf Hitler and were betrayed from within.
Those with a passion for the visual arts have a treat in store at Gibberd Garden on Sunday with British painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling talking to art critic and novelist James Cahill about the new monograph Maggi Hambling which marks her 80th birthday.
Followed by fellow British artist and writer Darren Coffield talking about his biography of Henrietta Moraes, the muse of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, and final muse and lover of Maggi Hambling. Our first event with Maggi and James is already sold out but tickets are still available for Darren’s event.
Again, it is going to be difficult choosing between Layer Marney Tower and The Gibberd Garden!
Finally, if the festival has whet your appetite to get cracking on your own novel, book your place on Saturday morning at Harlow Museum for our final writing workshop of the festival, this time led by best-selling Essex author Syd Moore. Syd will also be talking about her own book The Great Deception at Harlow Museum later in the day.
Keep cool and hydrated. And, most importantly, keep reading…