City Reads Celebration Evening
On Tuesday 10th September, we celebrated the culmination of City Reads - our campaign to decide Exeter’s favourite book - and Exeter’s fifth year as a UNESCO City of Literature at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
Attendees such as the Lord Mayor Kevin Mitchell, leader of Exeter City Council Phil Bialyk, The Lord of the Rings illustrator Alan Lee, and other leaders across the business, cultural, and educational sectors came together to honour Exeter’s long-standing love of reading and commitment to culture.
We hosted a variety of activities inspired by the City Reads shortlist, which included:
Babel - R.F Kuang | The Magic of Translation with Wenqian Zhang
Heartstopper - Alice Oseman | Draw a Heartstopper Portrait with Shri Gunasekara
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie | Are we nearly there yet? A history of transport exhibition by RAMM
Open Water - Caleb Azumah Nelson | Reading Rhythms with The Decolonial Salon
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers | Exploring Exoplanets - A Virtual Space VR Experience
The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien | Tolkien’s Roots in the Exeter Book and The Art of Lord of the Rings, an Alan Lee Exhibition
We also brought some of our Bibliotherapy trainees to share the benefits of bibliotherapy at the event, and to prescribe book recommendations to the attendees!
In celebration of The Lord of the Rings’ inclusion on the City Reads shortlist, we were delighted to host Academy Award winner and celebrated illustrator Alan Lee at the event. His illustrations featured in the works of J.R.R Tolkien were presented alongside information about The Exeter Book, which resides at Exeter Cathedral. This 10th-century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry and riddles has a special connection to The Lord of the Rings, as the inspirations for Middle Earth stem from the Exeter Book.
Board deputy chair Adam Watt started the procession, and then our attendees were treated to performances of excerpts from the City Reads shortlist from actors Ben Tallamy, Sarah White, and Patrice Naiambana. The performances were followed by speeches from Exeter City of Literature’s Executive Director Anna Cohn Orchard, and then it was up to trustee Tom Staniford to share the winning book!
“The programmes and initiatives coming out of Exeter City of Literature are creating new pathways for exploration, self-expression, and cultural exchange. It’s about expanding opportunities, so that people from every walk of life can experience the transformative power of words – whether they’re reading, writing, or sharing stories that reflect their own experiences.”
Anna Cohn Orchard
Executive Director, Exeter City of Literature
“The connections we make in literature are multi-faceted and uniquely personal. Words can be a window, offering a glimpse of other realities, a mirror reflecting our own, or a door, encouraging us to walk through to a new existence. City Reads is much less an end- point announcing a triumphant winner as a starting point for your next literary adventures.”
Tom Staniford
Exeter City of Literature Trustee
Tom unveiled that Exeter’s favourite book is… The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien! Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper also received an honorary mention due to its strong support from the young readers of Exeter.
In celebration of The Lord of the Rings’ victory, a video message from J.R.R Tolkien’s publisher, Chris Smith at HarperCollins was shared, highlighting 70 years of the widely acclaimed fantasy series and Exeters ‘excellent taste’!
To further Exeter City of Literature’s mission to make reading accessible and enjoyable for all, the charity and its business sponsors will provide free books featured on the City Reads shortlist to neighbourhoods with low literacy levels. This forms part of our Devon-wide Book Nooks in Warm Spaces project.
Photography Credit: Jim Wileman
