Poets who lived and breathed the heady air of Essex in the 1960s and 1970s are now legendary, from Tom Raworth and Ted Berrigan to Ed Dorn and Anna Mendelssohn, and have changed the shape of literature as we know it today.

• Out of Essex: Poetry

On Saturday 7 March, you can join the Centre for Creative Writing at the Lakeside Theatre for a day devoted to taking a walk on the wild side of Essex poetry as part of the University's 50th anniversary celebrations and Essex Book Festival.

The day will include:

• Iain Sinclair talking about American poet Ed Dorn, who taught at Essex in the 1970s
• Ian Davidson discussing more generally “Essex School” poets
• Ralph Hawkins giving a performance of the groundbreaking Diagram Poems by Doug Oliver, who studied and taught at Essex

This will be followed by readings and performances from Kelvin Corcoran, Angela Livingstone, Alexei Vernitski, Elaine Feinstein, Chris McCully, Matt ffytche, Philip Terry and others, with music in the bar from Face Furniture.

Out of Essex: Poetry is at the Lakeside Theatre on the Colchester Campus on Saturday 7 March from 11am to 8pm.

On Sunday 8 March, Out of Essex: Theatre will feature writers sharing their new work including Jeremy Krickler and Bafta award-winning Essex alumnus Nick Dear, who wrote Frankenstein at the National Theatre and The Dark Earth and the Light Sky at the Almeida Theatre.