Parade of 500 flags for Campus launch of Essex Book Festival

The 25th Essex Book Festival kicks off at the University in June with a packed programme of events including a parade of 500 flags from the Hythe onto the Colchester Campus.

The launch day, on 1 June, will jointly honour the 25th year of the Festival, and the University’s 60th anniversary.

It will include a Radical Essex Procession of 500 silk pennants, created by arts organisation Kinetika and carried onto Campus by volunteers.

As well as the parade, there will be a talk by University Chancellor and Patron of the Festival Dr Sarah Perry, the signing of a Festival charter, and a programme of workshops, talks and activities, many led by University researchers and students.

Festival Director, Ros Green, said: “To say that we are excited to be launching this year's special 25th Edition of Essex Book Festival on Campus is something of an understatement.

“As an independent charity based within the Centre for Creative Writing at the University, Essex Book Festival, in contrast to most other book and literary festivals, is uniquely placed to reach younger and more diverse audiences. It also means that we have a ready-made pool of emerging and established writers on hand to help steer and shape the Festival programme.

“Twenty-five years is a huge milestone. To mark this moment, we have pulled together a programme of events that celebrates the essence of Essex: its rich cultural diversity, its radical heritage, its innate creativity, natural beauty and fascinating geography. Consider this the Big Essex Reveal!”

The Radical Essex Procession of flags will start at St Leonard-at-the-Hythe Church on Hythe Hill at 10am. It will feature 500 flags made for Kinetika’s 2021 Beach of Dreams project, which celebrated hidden gems of the east coast. The flags will be led onto Campus and met by Sarah Perry and Colchester Mayor John Jowers. Volunteers will be invited to plant them around the lake immortalised by John Constable in his 1816 painting Wivenhoe Park.

Multi-award-winning author and University Chancellor Dr Sarah Perry will discuss her highly-anticipated new novel, Enlightenment, a story of love and astronomy told over the course of 20 years, at 4.30pm. The ‘in conversation’ event will be chaired by Festival Trustee Peter Donaldson.

Speaking about her role as Patron, Dr Perry said: “Essex, historically, has been treated as such an underdog or not a contender in the arts and culture. Some people don't even realise there's an Essex Book Festival - writers in particular - and so being able to say that I'm a patron of the Essex Book Festival, and we're doing this and that, this writer and that writer is coming, and then watching them realise in that moment how much they have underestimated Essex as a cultural engine, is quite exciting for me.

Speaking about overseeing the Festival in her role as Chancellor, Dr Perry added: “It’s probably the greatest honour of my life to take part in such an enormous endeavour. The opportunity to be an arts chancellor at a time like this feels like an even greater privilege.”

The day will also include opportunities for the people of Essex to help shape a new Charter for the Festival, marking the 25th anniversary and outlining the ambitions for the next 25 years. Activities on 1 June include an exhibition of old charters and an ink-making workshop to develop a special Festival ink, made out of oak gall (a growth found on oak twigs) gathered from 25 places across Essex, in which the Charter will eventually be written.

Other events on the day include a creative writing workshop with wild writing lecturer Dr James Canton at 2pm. The workshop will be inspired by Kinetika’s Beach of Dreams project which is being relaunched for 2025 for a collective moment of reflection and climate action.

Events celebrating the arts and giving participants the chance to get creative will also be led by lecturers Professor Philip Terry and Dr Jordan Savage, both from the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, as well as Essex graduate and playwright Marina Cusi.

For a full round-up of launch day activities, and the full Festival programme, see the Festival website.

Header picture, of the Beach of Dreams Flag Procession, courtesy of Tessa Bunney.