Big Read | 3-14 June 2019

Across the North | home of crime

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival went back on tour in Summer 2019 with the 11th Big Read!

Mari Hannah, author, Programming Chair, and Reader in Residence at the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, hit the road once more to host the North’s biggest book club, discussing thriller The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.

We welcomed 237 readers to the 2019 tour with 82% of those being brand new attendees to the Big Read. Even with one less event than in 2018, we were pleased to see a 13% increase on total attendees. We were excited to discover a small army of brand new Michael Connelly fans following the mass read-along, despite his first novel being released over 20 years ago!

The Big Read, supported by The Arts Council, aims to encourage crime fiction fans, and entice reluctant readers, to read and discuss the same book. It offers opportunities for social meet-ups, making new friends and meeting like minds.

Thanks to his publisher, Orion, 1,500 free copies of the book were made available and these were distributed by all 11 participating libraries and libraries in the surrounding area.

The Big Read took place in libraries across Yorkshire and the North East from June 3-14 and was completely free of charge.

#BigRead2019.

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