Big Read, Small Island

Small Island Read 2007 is the biggest mass-reading initiative that has ever taken place in Britain. It brings together the reading projects The Great Reading Adventure (Bristol and the South West) and Liverpool Reads, and partners from Aye Write! the Glasgow book festival and Hull Libraries.

Everyone in the areas covered by the project is being encouraged to read Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel Small Island.

2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Slave Trade Abolition Bill and Small Island Read 2007 is part of a wider national initiative commemorating the ending of the trade and exploring slavery’s continuing influence upon multicultural Britain. The novel Small Island has been chosen not only because it is an entertaining and enjoyable read but also because it provides an insight into the initial post-war contact between Jamaican migrants, descendants of enslaved Africans, and the white ‘Mother Country’.

Thousands of copies of Small Island are available for loan from branches of libraries in the participating local authorities and you can also get free copies from Arnolfini's bookshop.
Go to www.smallislandread.com for more details.

Published on: 11 March 2007