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Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Big Jubilee Read from the Library of Birmingham

Writers Abdulrazak Gurnah and Kit de Waal alongside the Poet Laureate of Birmingham Casey Bailey on stage to mark the Big Jubilee Read at the Library of Birmingham.

The Big Jubilee Read is a reading for pleasure campaign by the Reading Agency and the 麻豆官网首页入口 highlighting 70 books from across the Commonwealth published during the decades of the Queen's reign. To mark the launch, Front Row comes from the Studio Theatre at the Library of Birmingham with an audience. Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah talks to Samira about his novel Paradise from 1994 which has been chosen as a Big Jubilee Read. Emma d'Costa from the Commonwealth Foundation explains how the books were chosen. Local author Kit de Waal comments and we hear from Birmingham's Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey, whose play GrimeBoy has just opened at the Birmingham Rep. He performs poems celebrating his city. And how are libraries faring ten years on from the first austerity cuts and two years after the pandemic? Briony Birdi of the University of Sheffield explains.

The full list of books is available from Monday 18 April at 麻豆官网首页入口 Arts /arts

Photo credit: Tricia Yourkevich for the 麻豆官网首页入口

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Sarah Johnson

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42 minutes

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  • Mon 18 Apr 2022 19:15

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