One City, One Book, One Month

Cityread London is a registered charity that promotes the key ideas of reading for pleasure, engaging new library users, enhancing the experience of existing readers, and encouraging people to explore and celebrate London’s culture, landscape and history through its stories. Cityread works in partnership with library services in 24 London boroughs plus Slough and Luton. Founded in 2012 it has featured: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (Penguin), 2012; A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks  (Vintage), 2013; My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young (Borough Press), 2014; Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz) 2015; Ten Days by Gillian Slovo (Canongate) 2016; Prophecy by S.J. Parris (HarperCollins) 2017; The Muse by Jessie Burton (Picador) 2018.

“The British Library was very happy to be involved in Cityread London 2013. The Library hosted a soldout event with the author Sebastian Faulks in partnership with Stellar Libraries. We hope to continue our association with Cityread London.”

Jonah Albert – Events Manager, British Library

“Cityread London does a fantastic job of engaging a wide range of readers in London and beyond. It successfully scales up the reading group model, creating a strong sense of reading community through online platforms for those who want to explore the book of the year in detail and an imaginative programme of face-to-face events to involve families and readers of all levels. Its partnerships raise the profile of local libraries and museums, enticing new visitors into these spaces, who will then come back through the year.”

Dr Holly Furneaux, Reader of Victorian Literature – University of Leicester

“Cityread showed me the whole of London, literally, and it is a huge, beautiful, book reading city. The libraries, the book groups and the community organisations are all there. Cityread connects up all the dots to make something that is even larger than the sum of its parts.”

Ben Aaronovitch, Cityread London 2015