A SERIES of creative events, including this year’s Essex Book Festival, is taking place across the county next month.

Essex 2020, the county’s largest celebration of everything scientific and creative, is holding a number of events throughout March.

Over the year there will be more than 365 science, technology, engineering, art and maths (STEAM) focused events and activities.

The events are designed to break down barriers to science and engineering and appeal to people of all ages in Essex.

This year’s Essex Book Festival is running from February 29 until March 31.

As part of the annual festivities, there will be an immersive audio performance by Wet Sounds at Riverside Leisure Centre, in Chelmsford, between February 28 and March 1.

On March 3, people will be able to hear from organisations already taking part in Essex 2020, at Stansted Airport College, before guests are able to find out about ethics and sources of power and control at Transition, in Chelmsford.

Quantum physicist, author and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific Jim Al-Khalili will talk about his debut novel Sunfall at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Chelmsford also on March 3, before a climate change presentation at the Hexagon, in Colchester, on March 6.

On March 8, a family-friendly day of craft workshops will be held at Civic Theatre, in Chelmsford, and International Women’s Day can be celebrated with Siobhan Nicholas’s critically acclaimed play Stella at Cramphorn Theatre, in Chelmsford.

Dr Who’s K9 robotic dog, which first appeared on screens in 1977, will be discussed at the Cramphorn Theatre, on March 11, Mat Irvine will reveal his wealth of facts about his time in the BBC’s visual effects department at the theatre on March 12, and a talk on the changes in advertising, gender and society will go on at the ARU in Chelmsford on March 12.

A talk with BBC Radio 4’s space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who published The Book of the Moon, is at the Civic Theatre, in Chelmsford on March 15, before illustration and sound art workshops at Harlow Library on March 21.

A Dad’s Army radio show is being aired at the Civic Theatre on March 21, and an updated version of the Chelmsford industrial trail, bringing to life the importance of the town’s industries, the places involved and the people who made them possible is at the Cramphorn Theatre on March 24.

In celebration of the first public broadcast by Dame Nellie Melba from a shed in Chelmsford a century ago, author and broadcaster Charlie Connelly will take listeners on a nostalgic look at the magic of radio through his new book on March 26 at ARU.

With the fashion industry being the second largest polluter in the world, guests can discover how old clothing can be transformed into top fashion at Twenty One, in Southend on March 28.

To mark the end of the month professor of radio frequency engineering at the University of Manchester Danielle George will talk about the impact of Marconi on the world of radio astronomy at ARU on March 31.

n For more, visit essex2020.com.