A Writer's Guide to Colchester

Colchester Library is the Essex Library Service branch on Trinity Square, with study space, Wi-Fi and computers. Small groups can book the 10-seat Castle Room or the 4-seat Catchpool Room, and there is a media studio as well. It opens daily, with a late night on Wednesdays.

Greenstead Library on Hawthorn Avenue has study space, Wi-Fi, computers and a room for hire. It closes on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Members of the public over 16 can study in the university's main library and read shelved material for reference, with no sign-in or ID. Bring your own laptop. Visitors have no access to the library PCs, but Guest Wi-Fi works on your own device and a limited set of walk-in e-resources runs on dedicated terminals. In term time it opens seven days a week.

Special Collections holds the papers of J. A. Baker, the Essex nature writer behind The Peregrine, from notebooks and diaries to draft manuscripts and letters. Poets will find the archives of Donald Davie and Douglas Oliver. The Margery Allingham and Philip Youngman Carter collection is here too, alongside Samuel Harsnett's library of 900 books. Reading room visits are by appointment only. Book by email at libline@essex.ac.uk.

Red Lion Books has been independent since 1978. It stocks signed and exclusive editions and books by local authors. Author talks and launches run through the year, along with a Silent Book Club and other book clubs. It closes on Sundays.

GfB keeps around 20,000 rare and secondhand books. It is strong in literature and the arts, and in history, philosophy, science and local interest. Climb to the attics for the bargain section. The shop opens Wednesday to Saturday.

Dial Lane Books stocks LGBTQ+ titles and books by local authors. It holds author signings and is part of the Ipswich Book Festival.

The Berryfield Café is inside Firstsite, and it suits people who want to work or study over coffee. The Wi-Fi is free, and the balcony looks over the Berryfield lawn. It closes on Mondays.

TOAST belongs to an independent coffee-house chain with branches in Essex and Suffolk. Its first floor has laptop workstations and a balcony, and the Wi-Fi is free. It opens daily.

Spaces sells cowork day passes and dedicated desks on three floors of Wellington House. Book a day pass ahead at busy times.

The Mercury's café-bar is open to everyone, with or without a ticket. The Mercury Kitchen serves cakes and small plates at lunchtime and on performance evenings, and there is free Wi-Fi and seating on the piazza. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, and on Sundays when there is a performance.

Firstsite's Foyer Café and Berryfield Café serve homemade snacks and light meals. Entry to the gallery's exhibitions is free, and there is a cinema too.

The Essex Book Festival is a county-wide literature festival run as a charity. It stages more than 100 events in venues across Essex. It also runs spoken-word workshops and keeps a directory of UK literary festivals, and its office is at the university's Centre for Creative Writing.

Philip Terry, Marina Warner and Adrian May founded the Centre for Creative Writing in 2010. Its work ranges from Oulipo to writing about walking and place. With the Essex Book Festival, it puts on public readings and residential writing workshops. It also teaches MAs in Creative Writing and Wild Writing.

Colchester Arts Centre runs poetry events alongside its comedy and music.

Through Mercury Creatives, the Mercury Theatre gives early-career creative freelancers in the East of England mentoring and business support, along with workshops and showcases. Playwrights have a programme of their own.

The centre works across law and literature, archival studies, scholarly editing and translation studies. Science fiction and utopian studies are among its strengths too. Its events have included seminars and panels.

ESCALA is the University of Essex's collection of Latin American art. Search it through the online catalogue or the themed collection guides. It also holds exhibitions and events.

UKRI funds the UK Data Service through the ESRC, and the UK Data Archive at Essex is its lead partner. Researchers can work with datasets such as the Census and Understanding Society, and controlled data is available through secure access. It also offers data-skills training and citation guidance.

The repository makes research by University of Essex members public and preserves it. Browse by year, subject, department or author.

Mica Press & Campanula Books, based in Wivenhoe, has published poetry and other books of interest since 2012. Its pamphlets and paperbacks appear under the Mica and Campanula imprints. Some titles are issued for guest publishers.

The British Journal of Criminology is an Oxford University Press journal. It publishes peer-reviewed work from around the world across all areas of criminology, from sociological, historical and policy standpoints among others, and it carries a substantial book review section. Its editor-in-chief works in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Essex's Colchester Campus. Preparing an article for The British Journal of Criminology

The National Centre for Writing runs Escalator every year for unpublished, unagented fiction writers based in the East of England, Essex included. Fellows get eight months of mentoring with one-to-one sessions, plus a year's Society of Authors membership. Subsidised NCW courses come with it, and so does a chance to show work to agents and publishers.

The Royal Literary Fund supports professional writers across the UK. It makes grants to writers in financial difficulty through illness, disability, age, reduced income or changed circumstances. Its Fellowships place writers in more than 100 UK universities, where they help students with their academic writing.

Maker Campus is a community-led ceramics and printmaking studio at Trinity Works, with risograph, letterpress and silkscreen equipment. Writers printing a zine or chapbook can start with one of its classes, which run from linocut to screen printing. Members get 24/7 access to the studio and discounts on classes.