5,000 free books to be given away as York’s 2016 Big City Read gets even bigger

In July 1917, Siegfried Sassoon wrote an open letter to The Times protesting about the conduct of the war. What happened next is the subject of Pat Barker’s book Regeneration which is Explore York’s Big City Read for this year.

From Wednesday Explore is giving away 5,000 free copies of Regeneration and asking readers to immerse themselves in the world of 100 years ago by participating in our diverse programme of events and activities across the city.

Books can be collected from any York library and at pop-up giveaway events which will be promoted on social media.

This month our fantastic programme of events offers something for everyone, many of them free to book.

Meet the author events

This year the authors include Pat Barker, Jo Baker, Joanne Harris and a wonderful debut novelist David Sanger, who will talk about his first novel, All Their Minds in Tandem, and how his experience of working at Faber with the likes of PD James, Seamus Heaney, Kazuo Ishiguro and Peter Carey has inspired and influenced his work.

History event

Our headline historical event is The World in 1917: War, Peace and Revolution, a lecture by Professor David Stevenson. And you can also hear the Curator of the War Poets collection at Craiglockhart, a Mint Yard Lecture about conscientious objection in York, and find out about York’s famous Chocolate Letters.

Poetry workshop

York Explore has some awesome events for National Poetry Day on Thursday, October 6 and the opportunity to take part in a very special poetry workshop using our 1914-1918 archives with Carole Bromley on October 13.

Mental health events

We have events focussing on mental health including the history of mental health diagnoses and treatment, a trauma workshop and a special pop-up reading group to discuss Regeneration led by practitioners from the Tuke Centre.

Get involved

All of our library reading groups will be discussing Regeneration at their regular groups and at special pop-up groups. York Castle Museum is running a book club special including a tour of their 1914: When the World Changed Forever exhibition.

The Big City Read has many opportunities for families and children to get involved, especially during half term, with family days at York And Acomb Explore, and craft and story sessions for both under-fives and older children at all of our libraries.

We are very excited to welcome Chris Cade to York, Acomb and Dringhouses libraries who will be playing real life Yorkshire veteran Arthur Walker in an interactive tale of Arthur’s experiences during the First World War.

York Explore is also hosting a special event for children over 8 and their families to experience trench warfare and find out if they could survive.