Cityread 2016

As we mentioned before, April is the month of the book in dear old London town. The Cityread scheme celebrates literature in and around London and this year is promoting the controversial Ten Days by Gillian Slovo.

Cityread is an annual celebration of literature that
aims to bring reading to life for the whole capital.

The book, inspired by Slovo's research into the London riots for her 2011 play The Riots, examines the way one community's tragedy can be corrupted and how multiple levels of society collide in the response.

Mental health; community disintegration; police procedure; political wrangling and back-stabbing: you name the social issue and Slovo has probably touched on it in this book.

Our group had mixed feelings when we met this month, but we all agreed that it touches on some serious issues and that, really, the ideas expressed could happily make two or three full-length novels. In some ways, it felt a bit like Slovo was trying a bit too hard to get across all the things she wanted to say and this led to the novel feeling a little disjointed. Clearly, an awful lot had come out of her research which left her with a lot of information to convey, but perhaps the book would have had a more significant impact had she just focused on one or two of these points.

One thing is certain, it definitely got us talking. We shared ideas, created our own mini social manifesto and generally considered elements of life that we wouldn't have normally inclined towards. And, after all, isn't that the point?

To see what others are saying about the issues surrounding the book, why not visit the interactive Digital Installation at Foyles?

To find out more about Cityreads, check out their website: http://cityread.london/

To find out more about Gillian Slovo, click here