Start 2016 by joining Write It New and taking part in our creative writing laboratories.

Launching at the end of January the Saturday sessions are open to everyone - the only requirement to take part is a desire to push the boundaries with your writing.

They are part of Essex Book Festival and led by writers from the Centre for Creative Writing at the University of Essex.

Each laboratory is hosted by a different writer and is based around various themes and approaches ranging from wild writing and experimentalism to fables and song writing.

Laboratory 1, 2 and 3 will take place in The Hexagon at the University's Colchester Campus. Laboratory 4 will be staged at Jaywick Martello Tower and will be followed by a performance by acoustic duo Face Furniture.

The full Write It New programme

Laboratory 1, Saturday 30 January, 11am-1pm - Wild Writing: Literature and The Environment

James Canton, author of Out of Essex, will be providing participants with a fresh vision of Essex, its cultural history and its living legacy of wilderness and imagination.

Laboratory 2, Saturday 6 February, 11am-1pm - Oulipian Poetry and The Avant Garde

Philip Terry, Director of the Creative Writing Centre, and author of critically acclaimed Tapestry and Dante’s Inferno, will encourage participants to experiment with new, playful forms of poetry.

Laboratory 3, Saturday 13 February, 11-1pm – Telling the Tale

Ros Green, writer, journalist, and Director of the Essex Book Festival, will explore the marvellous tradition of fabulism and the re-working of the Tale as a tool for creative inspiration.

Laboratory 4, Saturday 20 February, 12-3pm (Jaywick Martello Tower) – Song Writing and The Lyric

Adrian May, Poet, songwriter and folk singer, author of The Comedy of Masculinity, will give an invaluable insight into the process of song writing.

Booking is essential. Tickets £10/£5 (25yrs & under) per session.

For more information and/or bookings, please email: ros@essexbookfestival.org.uk