A COUNTYWIDE literary spectacular which will run for three months has revealed its extended page-turning summer programme. The Essex Book Festival, first celebrated in 1999, is an annual bonanza during which hundreds of artists and writers take part in events across county. This year’s carnival of expression will see engaging activities hosted in person and online which will follow coronavirus guidelines. Taking place from June until August, the festival will use more than 40 venues, including the Jaywick Martello Tower, Clacton Library and Layer Marney Tower. It will also see walks hosted on the Witches Trail, which extends from Manningtree to Mistley, and at the Canvey Heights Country Park.
In defence of England's most misunderstood county: Author GILLIAN DARLEY on the joys of Essex
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In defence of England s most misunderstood county. Gillian Darley For Mailonline © Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo
I’ve spent a lot of time defending Essex. Too close to London? Too built-up? Too loud? Too dull? I’ll knock every negative to the ground.
Being near London makes Essex easy to get to. Always did – for centuries, movers and shakers poured city money into country retreats, and Colchester oysters came the other way on roads built by the Romans.
The trip’s easier these days: all those trains running out of Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street, many of them down little half-forgotten lines.
âAnd this also,â says Marlow, the narrator of Joseph Conradâs
Heart of Darkness, âhas been one of the dark places of the Earth.â Heâs talking about the stretch of the Thames estuary near Tilbury in Essex, that is now bookended by the imposing pylons of the cable-stayed Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the bulk liquid storage facilities of Canvey Island. Itâs a little downstream from Purfleet, which Dracula found a handy place to keep his 50 boxes of Transylvanian earth. Itâs just off the A13 â a road, according to Iain Sinclair, of âmemory, mess, corruption, dying industries, political scams, satellite shopping citiesâ.
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Minnette De Silva’s unique position in the mid-20th century exemplifies cultural and local specificity in dialogue with a global modern movement. Her architectural practice was expressive of the materials, techniques, and history of her native Sri Lanka as well as her participation in a network of international architects and designers. As a result, De Silva’s legacy traces the complex and multi-directional vectors of modernity.
The conversation between her built work, dedication to the production of her own archive and commitment to the inclusion of traditional forms of labor, present De Silva as a leader in design. With most of her buildings lost to time and neglect, her architecture survives primarily through images and words. Denying reductive dichotomies of International Style and vernacular, client and architect, object and archive, her work instead reveals nuances in architectural practice that continue to be relevant today.
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