This year's Essex Book Festival is bigger, better and more exciting than ever before. March will see our campuses and many other venues across the county host more than 70 events featuring outstanding writing talent from around the world including leading writers from our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies and our Centre for Creative Writing.
Full details of events hosted by the University or involving academics are listed below.
Information about all the events taking place during the Festival can be found on the Essex Book Festival website or you can pick a brochure up at your local library.
Lakeside Writers’ Showcase
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus
Friday 2 March 7.30pm
£7/5 and £3 UoE Students
An exciting showcase of work-in-progress from members of Lakeside Writers, a group of dramatists, performance poets and storytellers which meets regularly at the Lakeside Theatre, led by the Theatre’s Literary Consultant Andrew Burton. To book call 01206 573948.
Trees Shall Be Our Books
Colchester Campus
Saturday 3 March 10.30 onwards
Free (places limited so booking recommended)
A day of talks, walks, readings, workshops and children's activities bringing together writers, artists and scientists. Includes poet Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, naturalist Richard Mabey, novelist Michele Roberts and artist Miles Thislethwaite, with James Canton, Adrian May, Phillip Terry, Marina Warner and others. More information about Trees Shall Be Our Books.
Getting Where You Want To Be: Writers’ workshop with Andrew Burton
Elmer Suite, Southend Campus
Sunday 4 March 10.30am
Price £40
Andrew Burton offers advice for aspiring writers on how to clarify where your writing career is now, where you would like it to be, and how to set about achieving these goals. Andrew is a Writer and Arts Consultant and Accredited Coach, and leads the Lakeside Writers’ Group which meets regularly at the University of Essex. To book call 01206 573948.
Marina Warner
Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights
Firstsite, Colchester
Tuesday 6 March 7.30pm
£4/£3
The Arabian Nights have inspired writers and artists in every medium. Why do these stories exercise such fascination? Marina Warner from the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Essex, will talk about her new book, Stranger Magic, about flying carpets, hidden treasure and other wonders. To book call 01206 573948.
Poetry Workshop
Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus
Saturday 10 March 4.30pm
FREE (places limited so booking recommended)
Join professional poets Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland as they reveal tips and techniques for engaging audiences with live poetry. Bring your own work-in-progress and explore exciting new performance methods that focus on body language, the text’s volte-face, and the power of adding musical rhythm to your words. Book through the Artson5 website.
Luke Wright and Ross Sutherland
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus
Saturday 10 March 7.30pm
An unmissable blast of performance poetry from two of Britain’s hardest working, fastest rising talents. 4Talent award winner Luke Wright has launched his own curve-ball bid to become Poet Laureate and has become a poet-in-residence on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live. Ross Sutherland was included in The Times’ list of Top Ten Literary Stars. He has written three poetry collections and a one-man show, titled The Three Stigmata of Pacman. To book call 01206 573948.
Adrian May and Philip Terry
Poetry at Red Lion Books, Colchester
Friday 16 March 7.30pm
FREE (places limited so booking recommended)
Join Adrian May and Philip Terry of the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Essex for a reading and discussion of recent works. Phillip Terry will be reading from his new book, a reworking of Dante’s Inferno, set in Essex. Adrian May is a songwriter, poet and essayist, and will be reading from his new collection of poems and lyrics Ballads of Bohemian Essex (wivenbooks).
To book call 01206 874471 or email events@essex.ac.uk
Kevin Dutton - Flipnosis: The Art of Persuasion
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus
Monday 19 March 7.00pm
£4/£3
Why are some people natural leaders? How do they influence, persuade and sometimes manipulate others? From the political genius of Nelson Mandela to the malign influence of sociopaths and conmen, Kevin Dutton, Visiting Professor at the University of Essex, explores what psychology can teach us about the techniques of persuasion. To book call 01206 573948.
Jules Pretty - This Luminous Coast
The Gateway Building, Southend Campus
Tuesday 20 March 7.30pm
£4/£3
Over a year, Jules Pretty explored the East Anglian coastline, completing 400 miles on foot and a further 100 miles in boats. This Luminous Coast explores the relationship between people and nature and how the ever-changing world casts a shadow over memory, time and place. Winner of the ‘Nature and Places’ prize at the East Anglian Book Awards 2011. To book call 01206 573948.
** There will be an intercampus minibus for this event, from the Colchester Campus. Please email events@essex.ac.uk to book your place **
Kate Williams - The Pleasures of Men
Corbett Theatre, East 15 Acting School, Loughton Campus
Friday 23 March 7.30pm
£7/£5
Historian Kate Williams has received widespread critical acclaim for her work. Here she presents her first novel The Pleasures of Men, set in the dark, beating heart of corrupt London during Queen Victoria’s reign. Kate presented the 2011 BBC Royal Wedding coverage. To book call 01206 573948
** There will be an intercampus minibus for this event from the Colchester Campus. Please email events@essex.ac.uk to book your place **
The Burrows Lecture: 2012
Peter Holman: ‘After Byrd: Music in eighteenth-century Essex’
Lakeside Theatre, Colchester Campus
Sunday 25 March 7.00pm
£3/£2
In this lecture Professor Peter Holman will focus on musical activity in Colchester in the second half of the eighteenth century, including an orchestra that met at East Hill House in the 1770s and 80s, and activities of composer Joseph Gibbs, born in Colchester in 1698, and his role in teaching composition to amateur musicians. After the lecture there will be a short concert given by soprano Claire Tomlin and Essex Baroque Orchestra of eighteenth-century music composed or performed in the Colchester area. Read more at http://www.essex.ac.uk/burrows/2012.aspx
Jodi Picoult - Lone Wolf
Ivor Crewe Lecture Hall, Colchester Campus
Tuesday 3 April 7.30pm
£10/£8.50
How do we value a life? Your father’s on life support. Your sister waits for a miracle; the doctors say there’s no hope. What would you do? From the author of My Sister’s Keeper and House Rules, the UK’s top-selling women’s fiction author, Jodi Picoult delivers another heart wrenching novel. To book call 01206 573948
For full details about all Essex Book Festival Events, visit http://essexbookfestival.org.uk