Barry, chosen as a reading town
Barry is delighted to have been chosen as one of two Reading
Towns for Wales during the National Year of
Reading 2008.
Pioneered in the USA, the
one-book-one-city idea, as it is known there, involves as many
people as possible reading and discussing the same book at the same
time. In developing this idea in Barry and the Vale, we’ll be
joining a growing but select group of
towns and
cities around the world that have read the same book and
created a buzz around reading. As we have the added advantage of
two rich literary traditions in Wales, we'll select one book in
English and one in Welsh. We may even be the first town to do
this!
Our winning bid, and the funding we have received, will enable us
to choose and promote the two books and also run a number of
complementary projects. These projects will include a creative
writing project and an art project. The books and the projects will
be showcased along with workshops and fun activities at a grand
finale in Barry during the late autumn.
Word will soon go out to a number of organisations and groups in
the Vale asking for suggestions for a book for the whole community
to read. We expect there will be far too many books to choose from
at this stage so we'll invite a carefully chosen panel of juidges
to reduce the books to a shortlist. Once we have the shortlist
we expect that book champions will emerge for each of the titles
before a public vote gives eveyone the chance to choose
the winners.
We’ll have more information about our plans very soon and we’ll
let you know how they progress and how you can get involved.
The selection of Barry and Llanelli was announced by the Welsh
Books Council, who are coordinating the National Year of Reading in
Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government.