Press Release

Plans for Britain's biggest ever reading adventure announced

Thursday 29 September 2005

Plans for Britain's largest ever reading adventure were announced today by Brunel 200 and Oxford University Press.

The 2006 South West Great Reading Adventure - which takes place for 80 days from 5 January 2006 - builds on the success of the first three Bristol reading adventures. For 2006, Bristol and the South West will be reading Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. From Swindon to Penzance, and Gloucester to Plymouth, tens of thousands of people are expected to participate.

Andrew Kelly, Director of Brunel 200 and the Great Reading Adventure, commented:

'For our fourth Great Reading Adventure we wanted a book that the whole region could enjoy and learn from as part of our celebrations of the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel that will take place next year. Jules Verne wrote optimistically about the opening up of the world through transport and technology. He also sailed on the Great Eastern - Brunel's last great ship - and wrote a novel about this called The Floating City. There is no better choice.'

In addition to the thousands of copies of the book distributed free of charge, readers will be able to obtain a fully illustrated guide, which provides the history of the book and author. And all ages can take part with a specially written and illustrated children's version available.

Previous Bristol Great Reading Adventures have included Treasure Island (2003), The Day of the Triffids (2004) and Helen Dunmore's The Siege. Each adventure attracts over 20,000 readers in libraries, reading groups and schools and many thousands more who read the story in Bristol's newspapers. For 2006 key details are:

Over 40,000 copies of Around the World in Eighty Days will be distributed free of charge in the South West.
Over 50,000 copies of a specially commissioned and illustrated children's version will be distributed free of charge.
Over 50,000 copies of a 52 page full-colour guide will be distributed free of charge.
All 15 library authorities in the South West are participating.
Over 80 schools in Bristol and 70 in Swindon have already joined in the project.

Andrew Kelly added:

'We expect that over 100,000 people will participate directly in the 2006 Great Reading Adventure. I can't think of a better start to our yearlong celebrations of the life and work of Brunel.'

Judith Luna, Editor, Oxford World's Classics, commented:

'We are delighted to be joining Brunel 200 in this project. Many publishers have watched with admiration Bristol's work in getting the whole city reading over the past three years. We fully support this massive project and look forward to two months of reading pleasure and learning.'

The Great Reading Adventure

Between January and March each year, everyone in Bristol is encouraged to read the same book. The book chosen is one that is either set in Bristol, is by a Bristol author, or is about issues that are of interest to people in Bristol. Books so far that have been chosen are Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (partially set in Bristol), John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids (which allowed debate about environmental issues and GM technology) and Helen Dunmore's The Siege, which promoted learning and debate about the Second World War.

This is the first ever South West Great Reading Adventure and has been launched to contribute to Brunel 200 - the year long programme celebrating the life and work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the bicentenary of his birth in 2006.

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