Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz) has been chosen as the focus of Cityread London’s 2015 campaign. The title will be the centre of a month-long celebration of reading in the capital, starting on 30 March and running throughout April, which aims to engage London’s residents, workers and visitors with reading for pleasure, focused around the shared reading experience of a single book.
Taking Aaronovitch’s novel as a starting point, a programme of events will take place across all 33 London boroughs in libraries, bookshops, museums and other venues including a series of interactive theatrical performances by award winning theatre company Look Left Look Right as well as a tour by Aaronovitch that will include a library visit or event in every London borough.
Cityread 2015 will also include a specially produced Quick Reads title aimed at engaging Londoners who struggle with reading and will be supported by a partnership with BBC London.
Ben Aaronovitch said:
“As a native Londoner it's hard to imagine a more exciting honour than having my book selected to be the London Cityread for 2015. Added to that is the sheer pleasure of working with and helping support the public libraries of London. My love of reading began in my local library and I frequently find myself drawn into the many fabulous local history libraries when researching my books - they are a resource beyond price and their contribution to the intellectual and cultural capital of London is beyond measure. If I have one hope for Cityread 2015 it is that many other people, young, old and those travelling in between, who have yet to fall in love with books will find that same first love. I mean it would be nice if it's Rivers of London. but I'm not fussy - there's plenty of books to go around.”
Andy Ryan, Director of Cityread London said:
“The world created in Rivers of London, a magical but very real modern-day capital, complete with river spirits, vampires and a secret branch of the Met dedicated to dealing with the supernatural, makes it the perfect Cityread title. We’re thrilled to be working with Ben and the team at Gollancz on our 2015 programme as the book presents so many exciting opportunities to bring reading to life for Londoners. There’ll be opportunities to interact with the characters at immersive theatrical performances, and to discuss the book with the author as Ben will be visiting each of London’s 33 library services during April.”
Watch this space, go to our website or follow us on Twitter @LewishamLibs to find out what is happening in Lewisham
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