Metal Southend hosts Essex Writers House 2026, a collaborative partnership between Metal and Essex Book Festival from 01 – 30 June 2026.
Writing Routes
This year’s Essex Writers House celebrates the messy and circuitous paths writers take. It highlights the challenges and surprises they encounter, from global political contexts and rejection to the friendships and collaborations that shape and champion their work.
Essex Writers House is a month-long programme hosted by Metal, based in Southend. Chalkwell Hall opens its doors through June as a creative hub, offering a range of events from talks, open advice sessions and workshops to collaborative workspaces for writers, story tellers and book lovers of all levels.
Hot Desks and Co-working Days
We have a range of writing spaces to book through June. You may find yourself at the wild writing desk in the Peacock Garden or grabbing a spot overlooking the Thames Estuary. Drop in to our co-working space throughout the week and find moments to share ideas and projects whilst being supported by the Essex writing community.
Book your hot desk here.
Book the wild writing desk here.
Open Advice Sessions
3 June | 10 June | 17 June | 24 June
Book a 1:1 slot with the Metal Team and a special guest panellist to gain valuable feedback, advice and support. These sessions are free and welcome writers at any stage of their journey, whether you’re starting out or refining a manuscript. This space is dedicated to you, your writing needs and your development.
Our special guest Open Advice panellists include:
Dean Atta is an award-winning Black British writer based in Ealing, West London. His heartfelt storytelling draws on his Greek Cypriot and Jamaican heritage as well as his queer identity. He writes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for all ages. Dean Atta has published award winning novels for young adults and younger readers as well as his memoir Person Unlimited: An Ode to My Black Queer Body, earning praise from Michael Rosen as ‘wonderfully original’. Additionally, Dean is a screenwriter and executive producer of the stop-motion animated short film Two Black Boys in Paradise, which won the 2026 EE BAFTA Film Award.
Saira Niazi is a writer, renegade guide and founder of Living London. Creative and Life Writing MA Graduate from Goldsmiths College, Saira was shortlisted for the Art Foundation Futures Award for Place Writing and published multiple publications including Renegade Guides: the places we go and the stories we share and On Belonging, Reflections of a Renegade Guide out now.
Lora Aziz is an interdisciplinary artist, storyteller, land-based cultural producer, and creative strategist based inland near the river Stour, UK. Her work weaves together ecology, memory, and storytelling through workshops, residencies, foraging walks, and community rituals. With a background in anthropology and visual ethnobotany, she explores themes of belonging, slow economies, and cultural care — from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms to international climate platforms. Some of Lora’s most recent work has been published in Thirst: In search of Fresh Water, which accompanied her collaborative community-based projects in the Wellcome Collection exhibition Thirst from 2025-2026.
Book an open advice slot with Lora HERE.
Camilla Balshaw is an award-winning author. She has been published in numerous journals, and her essays have featured in the Guardian, Therapy Today and the Observer. Camilla’s debut memoir, Named: A Story Of Names And Reclaiming Who We Are (2025), has been described by Diana Evans as a ‘valuable meditation on the origins of what we call ourselves, packed full of rich storytelling’ and by Bonnie Burke-Patel as an ‘utterly fascinating, insightful and meaningful memoir.’ In 2025, Named won the best Memoir & Biography category in the East Anglian Book Awards.
Book an open advice slot with Camilla HERE.
Walking Events
Southend Wandering with Saira Niazi
13 June, 11 – 1.30pm
Southend City Centre
Free
Book your place HERE
Discover Southend through a different lens on this social neighbourhood wandering. Beginning at Southend Forum and heading towards Southchurch Park, this guided walk invites you to explore the area’s hidden gems, from colourful street art and secret gardens to sun shelters and seaside views.
Along the route, you’ll hear stories about the local people and places that make Southend unique, while also having the opportunity to document your own journey through words and images.
The stops on the tour will be: Southend Central Library / Focal Point Gallery / Prittlewell Gardens / Shrubbery Gardens / Southend Pier / Beach / Southchurch Park
Meeting point: Southend Forum, Elmer Ave, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1NS
Free, spaces limited so booking essential. Includes a packed lunch.
Saira Niazi is a writer, author and renegade guide, passionate about discovering new places, collecting stories and connecting communities. Saira has collaborated with grassroots groups across the UK on various oral history, art, film, food, environment and heritage projects.
Intertidal Walking and Writing Workshop with JR Carpenter and Sylak Ravenspine
14 June
8am – 1pm
Guided walk from Leigh-on-Sea to Two Tree Island
Meeting/end point: Chalkwell Hall, Southend-on-Sea
£25 per person
Travel and lunch included
Book your ticket HERE
Join artist, writer, fossil hunter, and Port of London Authority (PLA) licensed mudlark J. R. Carpenter with local Essex based artist Sylak Ravenspine for an intertidal walking and writing workshop in the Thames Estuary. As we move between high and low tide, mud flats and marshland, fresh and salt water, we will navigate the creative space between noticing and noting, where writing happens.
J.R. Carpenter will share her journey around her new book p a u s e. which is out now. In p a u s e. J. R. turns the simple act of going for a walk into a radical practice of attention. Written over the course of a year of daily encounters with kisiskâciwanisîpiy (the North Saskatchewan River) as it runs through amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Written in short, breath-like fragments, p a u s e. drifts between field note, love poem, and land acknowledgement, refusing to settle as a genre. Fossils, wildfire haze, trumpeter swans, city traffic, and pandemic loneliness all pass through its pages, as the poem keeps returning to one insistent question: what happens when we treat noticing as a form of care and listening as a way of giving something back?
Sylak Ravenspine Sylak Ravenspine is an Essex-based eco-artist whose practice is rooted in the local landscape. Drawing deep inspiration from the tidal marshes and eroding coastlines of Essex, Sylak forages material from the area, imparting a sense of fragility, ecological stewardship, and renewal into everything he creates. His ‘Inks of Essex’ provide a fluid representation of the environment, while his work on recording soil structures redefines field data as an artform. Sylak’s work responds to the land with an intentional surrender to natural cycles that challenges traditional notions of permanence and control in art.
In Conversation: with award-winning author, artist, fossil hunter and PLA licensed mudlark J.R. Carpenter
16 June
Chalkwell Hall, Southend
7 – 8.30pm
Free (spaces are limited)
Book your ticket HERE
Join us for an in-conversation event with award-winning author, artist, fossil hunter, and PLA licensed mudlark J. R. Carpenter sharing new works and exploring themes of walking, meandering, writing, place, environment and deep time.
There will be discussion and sharing of JR’s recent works: Shore Thing, a poetry pamphlet about mudlarking on the River Thames; p a u s e., a poetry collection about walking, writing, and attention on the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton; and Measures of Weather, a finalist for the Laurel Prize 2025. JR is also well-known for digital projects which explore questions of place, displacement, climate, and deep time.
Walk and Explore Prittlewell Greenway with Lora Aziz
20 June
Prittlewell Greenway
Free (spaces are limited)
Join artist Lora Aziz exploring the Prittlewell Greenway through landscape, observation and language. How can we pull inspiration from the backstreet places and welcome in wonders we might pass every day? Walk a familiar pathway and discover new perspective through storytelling, local histories, layers of intuitive plant knowledge, and creative encounters with place.
Together we’ll slow down and tune into what is often passed by, from tree canopies to plants pushing through tarmac to running water sources, fragments of story held in hedgerows, footpaths and back lanes. Through guided prompts, gentle conversation and nature journalling, we’ll explore how memory, ecology and imagination intertwine through sensory mapping and writing, letting language and symbols move as freely as the landscape itself.
Walk and Talk around Canvey Wick with Man About Country
21 June
Canvey Wick
£10 per person
Book your ticket HERE
Join James Lawrence, AKA Man About Country, for a special guided walk around Canvey Wick, one of Essex’s (and England’s) most fascinating nature reserves. In this brownfield rainforest you’ll discover wildlife, hear stories from over 2,000 years of Canvey Island history, and explore how these incredible places can supercharge your creative practice in unexpected ways.
James is working on a book following his 400km adventure on the Essex Way.
Find out more about Man About Country HERE
Evening Events
The Essex Ways: Film screening at Chalkwell Hall
20 June
£10 ticket entry
Doors open: 6.30pm
Screening: 7 – 9.30pm
Book your ticket HERE
Discover the many ways of Essex with a screening of ‘The Essex Ways’, a feature length documentary by filmmaker Thomas Winward.
The film follows Essex-born storyteller James Lawrence on an epic 400km walking journey around the county to discover its places, people and stories. Over 21 days, James adventures through rural Essex from Epping to Harwich, and then down the coast to Tilbury Docks. Along the way, he explores the many beautiful natural landscapes of Essex, while delving into the history, folklore and stereotypes that make Essex the fascinating county it is today. Expect thrills, chills, myths, modern retellings of 2000 years of history, and a lot of love for trees and mud.
After the film, there will be an open Q&A with James Lawrence, who will answer questions about the walk and project.
Writing and the Power of Language: In conversation with Camilla Balshaw, Emily Abdeni-Holman and Boakye D. Alpha
In partnership with National Centre for Writing
24 June
7 – 9pm
Free
Book your ticket HERE
Join us for an evening with the National Centre for Writing’s Escalator Writers Emily Abdeni-Holman and Boakye D. Alpha, in conversation with award-winning author Camilla Balshaw about writing and the power of language, with discussion rooted in cultural histories, oppression and identity.
The panel:
Camilla Balshaw is an award-winning author. She has been published in numerous journals, and her essays have featured in the Guardian, Therapy Today and the Observer. Camilla’s debut memoir, Named: A Story of Names and Reclaiming Who We Are (2025), has been described by Diana Evans as a ‘valuable meditation on the origins of what we call ourselves, packed full of rich storytelling’ and by Bonnie Burke-Patel as an ‘utterly fascinating, insightful and meaningful memoir.’ In 2025, Named won the best Memoir & Biography category in the East Anglian Book Awards.
Named is a fascinating exploration of names, global naming conventions and identity politics woven into a moving, personal narrative about the finding of family and self. At the intersection of memoir and social and cultural history it is a truly fascinating book about the seemingly ordinary and every day.
Emily Abdeni-Holman was raised in England and Lebanon, and is particularly interested in crossing-points, of identities, languages, and places. She enjoys experimenting with different kinds of style and form and is currently working on a couple of projects: a collection of short stories, mostly converging around Lebanon; and a more hybrid work about Arab-European identity, pre- and post-October 2023.
Her first book, Body Tectonic, on Lebanon’s socioeconomic crisis, is an experiment in approaching structural disaster through poetry (Broken Sleep Books, 2024). In 2025, she was one of five writers shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award.
Boakye D. Alpha is a Ghanaian interdisciplinary creative whose works include poetry, prose, screenplays, creative nonfiction, and filmmaking. His writing has appeared in Lolwe, The Shallow Tales Review, and elsewhere. In 2025, his short story was longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Although a versatile writer, his heart lies in literary fiction, and continues to explore experimental, layered narratives that provoke reflection on society and the experiences of underrepresented voices.
His work in progress explores the reality for some women in Ghana who endure violence and systemic oppression rooted in superstition. Through intergenerational narratives, the novel exposes the haunting effects of gendered violence.
Hosted At Programme
Kelly Buckley – THE KINETIC AUDIO BAND’s ART + SOUND LITERARY SALON
Thursdays: 4 / 11 / 18 through June
6.30 –8:30pm (final session until 9.30/10pm)
£45 total for all three sessions incl booking fee
COME and be part of THE KINETIC AUDIO BAND’s ART + SOUND LITERARY SALON as we create…
Sonic Chapbooks #1: Routes (A Work In Progress)
A three-part art, sound and writing salon exploring how listening and sound experimentation can inspire and complement your narrative.
Using the Essex Writers’ House theme of ‘Routes’, we’ll explore ideas surrounding journeys, place, movement, return and more, through deep listening, sound mapping, recording, writing prompts, text and graphic score exploration.
Participants will develop a new work-in-progress piece, creating a handmade ‘Sonic’ Chapbook that combines text, visuals and audio links.
Inspired by the DIY spirit of historic chapbooks and Beat writers, this is a space to test ideas, experiment freely in a supportive salon setting.
For self-motivated creatives interested in sound, writing, art, and experimentation.
Book your ticket HERE
Victoria Nwankpa – The Art of Storytelling
Tues 09 June
1pm – 2pm
FREE
Join us online for a fun and inspiring session all about the magic of storytelling! Whether you’re into writing, exploring your unique voice, or just love diving into your imagination, this event’s got you covered. Let’s unlock your creativity together and craft stories that truly shine. Don’t miss out on this chance to boost your skills and have a blast!
Book your ticket HERE
13 Spheres – Sunstead: A Solstice Retreat
Saturday 20 June
1 – 5pm
£48 – 65
A day of ritual, relaxation and creativity in celebration of the Summer Solstice.
Can we call on the moment that the sun “stands still” to find some stillness within? Can we draw inspiration from the start of summer and find our own new beginning?
Sunstead is a half-day retreat that invites you into small acts of creativity whilst sitting in community, to mirror nature’s own symbiotic creations.
We will devote time to gentle breathwork, sensory meditations and solstice rituals to inspire words and poetry rooted in the natural world.
We will nourish our bodies with treats and teas created for the season and relax our minds with a restorative sound bath.
An afternoon for the body, mind and soul to inspire the written word.
This event is open to all (16+).
Book your ticket HERE
Poet in Every Port Programme coming soon!
