A RETURNING book festival celebrating writers and audiences is set to remember the devastating flood of 1953.

Essex Book Festival is set to return in June to celebrate books, authors and audiences across the region.

This year's theme, The Great Tide, relates to the 70th anniversary of The Great Flood, which devastated communities on the East Coast in 1953 and future threats of flooding resulting from Climate Change.

In 2020 the Book Festival launched the Manifesto for Essex as an innovative new cultural platform for young people living in the region to express their hopes and fears about climate change.

This year, the organisers planned to host themed creative writing projects across schools focusing on rising waters and flooding.

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A two-day eco-podcasting workshop, led by Chelmsford Community Radio, will also take place to teach young people between 14 and 18-years-old how to record, edit and produce their own environmental podcast.

To match the theme, photography students at Harlow College are creating individual photographic books based on The Rising Tide, which will be exhibited in June in the Upstairs Gallery at Harlow College before also travelling to Cressing Temple Barns.

For more information, visit essexbookfestival.org.uk.