Essex Book Festival

07/10/2026

Don't miss out - closing date for applications is Friday 16 October (midnight)...

Are you passionate about books and storytelling? Do you have strong organisational skills? We are looking for a Festival Coordinator to join our small team that runs the festival year-round. The successful candidate will work closely with the Festival Director to ensure all elements of the festival....

06/10/2026

Two tickets available!

A couple of tickets have become available for our event with Sally Magnusson this Thursday evening at Rayleigh Library.

Celebrate the joy of reclaiming our stories with best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson. The Shapeshifter’s Daughter is a spellbinding feminist retelling of the Norse myth of Hel, the Goddess of the Underworld, set in the magical landscape of Orkney.

Hurry, the last few tickets won't hang around for long!

👉 Book tickets at https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/event/the-shapeshifters-daughter-2/ (link in bio)

Note: This event was due to take place in June but was postponed due to Sally being injured in an accident. We are delighted that Sally can now make it down to Essex!

Celebrate the joy of reclaiming our stories with best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson. The Shapeshifter's Daughter is a spellbinding feminist retelling of the Norse myth of Hel, the Goddess of the Underworld, set in the magical landscape of Orkney.

06/10/2026

Essex Book Worm Podcast - first episode now available!

Over the last few weeks our first Essex Book Worm YA podcast has taken shape.

Our young participants have been learning how to make their own podcast with Chelmsford Community Radio and writer/educator Emma Kittle-Pey.

In this episode the team discuss their seasonal book recommendations, screen adaptations – the good and the bad, the use of AI in books and publishing, plus an interview about the writing process with Isla who has written her own YA novel.

Listen to the first of the monthly podcasts at
https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/essex-book-worm-podcast/
(link in bio)

This project is supported by Essex County Council’s Cultural Development Project Fund.

Essex Book Festival has teamed up with Chelmsford Community Radio on a new project, the Essex Book Worm Podcast, supported by Essex County Council’s Cultural Development Project Fund. A group of young Essex people, aged 13-17 years, have gathered together to learn how to create content, conduct in...

23/09/2026

New Opportunity: Festival Coordinator

Are you passionate about books and storytelling? Do you have strong organisational skills?

We are looking for a Festival Coordinator to join our small team, based at University of Essex, to help run the festival year-round.

Role Details
Responsible to: Festival Director
Location: Centre for Creative Writing, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex
Salary: £29,040.00 pa (pro rata £17,424.00)
Contract: Freelance, Initial 1-Year Contract, thereafter reviewed annually, three days per week with seasonal adjustment related to the festival period.

Key responsibilities include:
⭐ Event management, i.e. liaising with writers/artists, publishers, venues, partners and volunteers; attending and overseeing events
⭐ Managing all marketing activity including the printed festival brochure, updates to website essexbookfestival.org.uk/ and social media
⭐ Budget management and finance monitoring
⭐ Management of box office and online ticketing platforms
⭐ Recruiting and managing volunteers
⭐ Festival evaluation, reports for board and for funders

We are looking for the following knowledge, experience and qualities:
📚 Passion for books and the wider arts
📚 Experience of working in arts/festival environment
📚 Confident and wide-ranging IT skills: knowledge of MS Office including Word and Excel.
📚 Experience of using a variety of digital tools such as Mailchimp, WordPress, Eventbrite, Zoom, SurveyMonkey and Canva
📚 Ability to work to deadlines, and balance multiple and competing priorities
📚 Experience of working in a small team
📚 Experience of budget management
📚 Self-motivated, positive, and reliable
📚 Accuracy, efficiency and excellent attention to detail
📚 Have own car/access to a car
📚 Flexibility regarding working hours during festival period

To apply please send a CV, details of two referees and a covering letter to [email protected] with Festival Coordinator in the subject line.

Application deadline: Friday 16 October (midnight)
Interviews: Week beginning 26 October

Find out more at https://essexbookfestival.org.uk/new-opportunity-festival-coordinator/

Are you passionate about books and storytelling? Do you have strong organisational skills? We are looking for a Festival Coordinator to join our small team that runs the festival year-round. The successful candidate will work closely with the Festival Director to ensure all elements of the festival....

16/09/2026

Free Events in Tendring - Sundream work-in-progress performances

Join Wise Ram Theatre at Harwich Library, Frinton Library, nOse Bookshop in Walton-on-the-Naze or West Clacton Library as they share 'sneak peaks' of their new romantic-comedy play in development, set in two heatwaves 50 years apart, 1976 and 2026.

https://www.wiseramtheatre.co.uk/event-list

08/09/2026

This is such a fascinating project. Be there at the beginning of the journey!

04/09/2026

STORIES IN TRANSIT

What an amazing day at St Leonard's Church-on-the-Hythe Storytelling at it's very best.

A huge thanks to everyone who made it happen and took part in the day, including RAMA - Colchester Friends of St Leonards-on-the-Hythe Sade Fadipe, Marina Warner, Philip Terry and the rest of the Stories in Transit creative team!

A special thanks to The Bean Trust

Arts Council England

To find out more about Stories in Transit go to: https://www.storiesintransit.org/

25/08/2026

We are delighted to be hosting Stories in Transit, an ongoing international workshop series that invites participants, particularly those who have lived experience of migration, to imagine and create fantastical stories together through play, games and performance.

Led by cultural historian, writer and mythographer Marina Warner, poet, novelist and translator Philip Terry, director and actor Gemma Brockis, and artist and poet Hannah Machover, the free workshop is taking place at St Leonard's Church on the Hythe in Colchester on Thursday 3rd September.

This event is kindly funded by The Bean Trust.

📅 Thursday 3rd September 2026

⏰ 12.00pm - 5.00pm

📍 St Leonard-at-the-Hythe Church, Colchester, CO1 2NP

🎟️ Free, places limited so booking essential

🔗 Book at essexbookfestival.org.uk - link in bio

📸 Photo of workshop by Lee Shearman.

09/07/2026

Please share far and wide. And more importantly, COME!!

Just a few days until we bring the creative sector of Greater Essex together. If you haven't already signed up, there's still time.

Monday 13 July | 6:30pm | Chelmsford Theatre Studio

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of people shared what the sector needs most to thrive. We've coded, themed and analysed every submission and now it's time to share what we found and decide what happens next.

Booking Essential: https://bit.ly/4h1s1Fx

05/07/2026

And that’s a wrap! 🎬

The Essex Book Festival is over for 2026, and what a season it's been. From our kickoff at the Colchester Jobserve Community Stadium to our final events at the beautiful Gibberd Garden and Layer Marney Tower, it’s been a packed month.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and made it so special. We couldn’t cram it all in to one minute, but here's a little bit of Essex sparkle for you ✨️

See you again next year!