BIG names of the literary world will rub shoulders with TV presenters, musicians and expert writers at next year's Essex Book Festival.
The line-up for the countywide celebration of books, writing and reading has been announced and there's an eclectic selection of authors visiting various venues in Essex during March 2013.
Former government minister Jack Straw, ex Children's Laureate Michael Rosen, comedian Sandi Toksvig and Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler will be at events talking about their work.
They'll be joined by novelists Josephine Cox and Rachel Joyce, musician Pauline Black, revered nature writer Richard Mabey, chef Atul Kochhar and Anthony Horowitz, best known for the Alex Rider books and his Sherlock Holmes novel, The House of Silk.
Jack Straw will give audiences an insight into the world of a senior Labour politician and government minister at the Helena Romanes School, Great Dunmow on March 21 while Michael Rosen will be perform some favourite poems in his own inimitable fashion at the Cramphorn Theatre, Chelmsford, on March 24.
Radio 4 regular Sandi Toksvig's will be talking about her new book Valentine Grey, the moving story of a young woman struggling against the rigid rules of Victorian society, at the University of Essex on March 7.
BBC news man and presenter Gavin Esler will be talking about the themes of leadership in his book Lessons From The Top, at Loughton Library on March 16.
Anthony Horowitz will be kicking off the children's events as part of the book festival, which are curated by the Just Imagine Story Centre in Chelmsford. He'll be at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester on March 2 while The Snow Merchant author Sam Gayton will lead a session of games at Just Imagine on March 10, the same day as children's mystery story writer Elen Caldecott will be at the same venue.
Musicians feature prominently in the book festival programme with Jemima Dury talking about her famous father Ian on March 18 at Canvey Island Library while Pauline Black, singer of seminal ska band The Selecter, discusses her experience as a mixed race woman in Britain at Grays Library on March 6.
Music journalist Daryl Easlea will host a panel discussion about rock writing from fanzine to Amazon at New Road Methodist Church, Leigh-on-Sea on March 28.
Fiction remains a central theme of the festival and shows strongly again in 2013. Best-selling author Josephine Cox will be talking about her latest work, The Broken Man, at Maldon Library on March 19. Rachel Joyce will be discussing her debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which was long-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, at Brentwood Library on March 5.
Essex writers Liz Trenow, Kate Worsley and Gerogina Harding, who was the only British author shortlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction, will also be appearing at the festival.
One of the country's great nature writers Richard Mabey will give the annual Burrows Lecture at the University of Essex on March 13, exploring 'edgeland' the area between inhabited and wild land.
Keeping with that subject, Wild Essex is celebrated at Thurrock Thameside Nature Park on March 8 when natural history writers talk about their passion for nature.
On the culinary front, acclaimed chef Atul Kochhar will be giving mouthwatering cookery demonstrations of recipes from his book Curries of the World at Wivenhoe House in Colchester on March 18 while Genevieve Taylor will be talking about her book A Good Egg: A Year of Recipes from an Urban Hen Keeper at Ingatestone Library on March 7.
The Essex Book Festival takes place from March 1-31, 2013 with events taking place in all corners of the county.
The festival brochure will be available from Essex libraries from mid December and the box office for booking events opens on Friday, January 4, 2013.
For more information on the festival, go to www.essexbookfestival.org.uk