Welcome to Elaine Roberts with another in her interesting series about
literary festivals and workshops.

  

This month I
have interviewed Rosalind Green from the Essex Book Festival. Welcome to the
RNA blog Rosalind.

Can you tell us something about your festival, how it
came about and how long its been running?

Essex Book Festival has been
running for 20 years. Initially Essex Libraries ran it, now it is an
independent charity based in the Centre for Creative Writing at the University
of Essex in Colchester.

Who are your main speakers this year?

Oh, that’s a secret! We don’t
announce our line up until early January. However, I can say that we have a
strong emphasis on fantasy and fiction for 2018.

As our blog is for writers can you tell me how your
festival would benefit our members?

Supporting new and emerging
writers is one of our key aims. And, as such, we host a number of creative
writing workshops across the county. Next year we are delighted, amongst
others, to be running a Writing for Radio Workshop led by leading Radio 4
dramatist Robin Brooks and our first Sci-fi Writing Workshop in Kelvedon Hatch
Secret Nuclear Bunker led by Matthew De Abaitu. Plus a Beginner’s Crime Writing
Workshop led by Nicola Upsom. Tickets go on sale in January – our advice is to
get in quick.

Is there anything to enter (maybe a writing
competition), if so could details be provided?

We are in the process of
planning next year’s writing competition. Information will be posted on our
website www.essexbookfestival.org.uk
in due course.

How about staying over for the whole event. Where can
people stay?

Essex Book Festival takes
place in 45 venues across Essex across one month so it is difficult to be
specific about places to say. One thing we would recommend is booking into the
Park Inn Palace Hotel in Southend-on-Sea for our annual Golden Age of Crime
Weekend, one of our festival favourites and the location of Nicola Upsom’s
writing workshop.

What does it cost to attend?

£7 / £5 concessions (under 27
yrs old)

Do workshops/talks fill up quickly?

Very quickly!

How much time does it take to organise the festival?

We work on the Festival all
year round.

Dates for 2018: 28th February- 31st March

Link to website: www.essexbookfestival.org.uk

Email for queries: hello@essexbookfestival.org.uk

Thank you for
taking the time to talk to me and I wish the festival every success.

Elaine is a member of the
RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme and is currently working on a family saga. She has
sold short stories worldwide and enjoys attending RNA events such as the London
Chapter and our annual conference. Elaine is a great fan of writing retreats
either week long by the sea with friends or one-day retreats with fellow
writers in her hometown of Dartford. Elaine runs a writing blog along with
writer, Francesca Capaldi Burgess called WriteMindWritePlace.