The Big Read 2025: Connecting Communities Through Shared Love of Books

Strategic Insights -

The Big Read 2025 is coming to libraries across Yorkshire and the North from September 22-24, with the aim of developing readers, supporting libraries, and connecting communities through a shared love of books. Harrogate International Festivals has produced this year's Big Read in partnership with Dialogue Books, focusing on a book given away free, The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton. The free events, hosted by Reader-In-Residence Luca Veste, a bestselling crime novelist, will take place at Harrogate Library and Knaresborough Library on Tuesday, September 23.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Big Read 2025 will visit both rural and urban areas across Yorkshire and the North, engaging 40,000 people in a series of inclusive events.
  • The selected title, The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton, is a murder mystery set in a countryside village with secrets, feuds, and murder lurking beneath the idyllic exterior.
  • The free events will be hosted by Reader-In-Residence Luca Veste, a bestselling crime novelist, and will include discussions, reading groups, and online events.
  • Harrogate International Festivals' Chief Executive, Sharon Canavar, aims to encourage people to read The Potting Shed Murder and connect through a shared love of crime fiction.
  • The Big Read is produced by Harrogate International Festivals in partnership with Dialogue Books.

Statistics:

  • The Big Read 2025 will engage 40,000 people across Yorkshire and the North in a series of inclusive events.
  • The selected title, The Potting Shed Murder by Paula Sutton, was published by Renegade Books.
  • The free events will take place at Harrogate Library and Knaresborough Library on Tuesday, September 23.

Sources:

  • Harrogate International Festivals website (https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/event/big-read-2025-harrogate-library/)
  • Image: The Big Read in Harrogate - Author Paula Sutton who wrote The Potting Shed Murder (Picture Tamsyn Morgans)
  • Image: Harrogate International Festivals' Reader-In-Residence, bestselling crime novelist Luca Veste (Picture Ean Flanders)