- 28 May -30 June 2025
- Non-fiction
Rochester to Richmond: A Thames Estuary Sailor’s View – Nick Ardley
Brought up on a Thames spritsail barge, lifelong sailor Nick Ardley shares a reflective river journey between Rochester and London. A beautifully illustrated book for lovers of sailing amongst salt, marsh and mud, Nick was recently featured in BBC One’s Britain Afloat, a history of the Britain’s boats and waterways. Read more
- Poetry
Live Poetry Juke Box
Step inside the Live Poetry Jukebox! A selection of delicious and delectable poems about love, life, hope, and fun will be waiting for you, pickled and preserved in jars, and stored in Mueller & Malten's marvellous Wunderkammer. Choose a jar and release its flavours! Poetry in the flesh to see, hear, feel, and most importantly, to savour. Read more
- Discussion
- SOLD OUT!
Witches, WAGs and Wide Boys
A fascinating, interactive day of discussion examines the role of place, gender and class in the Essex stereotype and what it is to 'be' Essex. The event brings together various people academics and authors, including Essex Book Festival writer-in-residence Syd Moore and Festival Director Ros Green. Read more
- Fiction
Kitty Peck and the Daughter of Sorrow: Kate Griffin
The latest in Kate Griffin's popular Kitty Peck series. Summer 1881: the streets of Limehouse are thick with opium... and menace. At eighteen Kitty has inherited Paradise, a sprawling criminal empire on the banks of the Thames, and soon realises that the past casts a long and treacherous shadow. Read more
- Fiction
- SOLD OUT!
The Keeper of Lost Things: Ruth Hogan
Aging author Anthony Peardew has spent his life collecting misplaced items. When he dies his assistant Laura is left to fulfill his final wish of reuniting the objects with their rightful owners. An enchanting debut novel from self-confessed ‘magpie’ Ruth Hogan about loss, second chances and endless possibilities. Read more
- Art
- Young Essex
Peace Bunting Print Workshop
Come along for a sun printing workshop on fabric, to make bunting with a message of peace using plant material, letters and acetates, with artist Angenita Hardy-Teekens. You’ll learn all about the cyanotype method, an early Victorian way of making shadows with objects using the suns UV light. Read more
- Young Essex
The Mothership Project Launch
The Festival is thrilled to be launching The Mothership Project at The Redoubt. A partnership project with UK/Chinese charity The Mother's Bridge of Love: Culture for Children, school children in Essex and China will be sending messages of friendship to each other via drawings, postcards and origami boats. Read more
- Theatre
- Young Essex
Malorie Blackman‘s Noughts and Crosses
Sephy and Callum are in love. It is forbidden: Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. This gripping Romeo and Juliet story is a captivating drama of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. Recommended for 11+yrs. Read more
- Fiction
Amer Anwar
A Sikh girl on the run. A Muslim ex-con who has to find her. A whole heap of trouble. After being released from prison, Zaq Khan is lucky to land a dead-end job at a builders' yard. All he wants to do is keep his head down and put the past behind him. But when Zaq is forced to search for his boss's runaway daughter, he quickly finds himself caught up in a deadly web of deception, murder and revenge.… Read more
- Non-fiction
Nathen Amin
The Wars of the Roses were a tumultuous period in English history, with family fighting family for the greatest prize in the kingdom – the throne of England. The story of the Beauforts, with their rise, fall and rise again, is the story of England during the period, a dramatic century of war, intrigue and scandal. Read more
- Young Essex
Epping at the Movies
For Essex Book Festival, Epping at the Movies will screen three fantastic adaptations: BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee’s masterful retelling of Ron Stallworth’s memoir; Big Bad Fox and Other Tales, a sublime animation for young audiences adapted from Benjamin Renner’s comic books; and The Big Sleep, the ultimate Raymond Chandler. Community Cinema at its best! Read more
- Art
- Storytelling
- Young Essex
Oh, The Places We’ll Go!
Come and explore the theme of journeys, adventures and places around the world and in our imaginations. Drop-in for our Pop Up Storytelling Armchair, hear traditional tales from Africa with Djembe drumming, try your hand at Chinese calligraphy, and wrap your tongue around different languages with bilingual storytelling. Suitable for ages 4+ Read more
