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Brighton and Hove City Reads celebrates 10 years of shared reading

Celebrating ten years of shared reading, City Reads (Brighton and Hove) is the longest running big read in the UK. The chosen book for 2015 is Matt Haig’s The Humans, an accessible, funny and inventive book that asks what it means to be human. People have already started the book and the celebration of reading culminates in events around Brighton and Hove from 10 October – 1 November.
City Reads is an annual citywide reading festival which aims to spread a love of books and ideas to the widest possible audience throughout Brighton & Hove run by Collected Works CIC. The concept is simple: selecting one book by one author for the whole community to read, discuss, debate and creatively engage with in a series of special events, workshops and performances.

On learning that The Humans was chosen for this year’s City Reads, author, Matt Haig said: “I am overjoyed to have The Humans chosen as this year’s City Reads title. I originally wrote the book as a kind of advert for the human race, and I wanted it to be a story that as many people as possible could enjoy. It was a very personal book for me, and I really hope you like it.”
Sarah Hutchings, Artistic Director explains how proud she is that City Reads has such a special book to celebrate its 10th Birthday: “This book changes lives. Just go on Twitter and search ‘Matt Haig The Humans’ to see what I mean. As soon as I read the book, I knew we’d found our 2015 title. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it was a book I wanted to share with family, friends and acquaintances, so choosing it for Brighton & Hove’s annual big read seemed like the perfect way to do that. Matt has described the book as ‘a kind of advert for the human race’ a book he wanted as many people as possible to enjoy. That sentiment sums up the whole ethos of City Reads. Some of the people I’ve recommended it to have interpreted if very differently to me and isn’t that what a good book should do? Make us question, discuss and debate its meaning? One book. One city. A thousand conversations… read The Humans and be part City Reads 2015, I hope you love it as much as I do.”

The full programme of events will be revealed in September – but already announced is the big closing event featuring Matt Haig in conversation with Alex Clark (1 November, The Old Market); Human Poetry with Jackie Kay, Dean Atta and Vanessa Kisuule exploring the complexities of identity and what it means to be human (1st November, The Old Market)and a Sci-Fi Film Weekender including the acclaimed Under The Skin, Pinocchio and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (23 – 24 October, One Church, Brighton).
For young creatives aged 16 – 25 there is a competition entitled Young, Human And Creative in which young people are invited to create work on what it means to be human in three categories – photography, writing and illustration – with a development opportunity as the prize in each category. Finally City Reads celebrates World Mental Health Day in partnership with Action for Happiness, with free events at Jubilee Library including: a Happiness Café, discussions about reading, featured mood boosting books and the chance of win copies of The Humans (10 October, Jubilee Library).
See cityreads.co.uk for full event information

Top international graffiti team take on Brighton i360 hoardings

A team of top international graffiti artists have covered 100 metres of hoardings at the i360 site after being brought together by local graffiti artist, Aroe.
It will be the second time the site’s hoardings are handed over to graffiti artists, with Aroe and his collaborators having already decorated part of the site back in September last year.
On that occasion Aroe was joined by regular companions Gary, Rebus and Radios. Aroe, Gary and Rebus returned to once again leave their indelible mark on the area but this time they were accompanied by an array of other, equally-talented local artists including Jiroe, Vodka, Morf, Warg, Ster and Past, as well as Yes B from Essex, Rench from Reading, Nottingham’s Alert and Europeans Twesh (Italy) and Relay (Germany) who both now live in the UK.
Said Aroe beforehand, “We’re bringing a crack team of graffiti artists down to the beach on Sunday and we’re all excited to have such a big new slate to work on.”

Where street artists use stencils or projections to aid the artist, graffiti is free hand and last time out Aroe, Gary and Rebus attracted quite a crowd. Aroe recently painted an artwork of a naked Kim Kardashian on the side of a house in Oxford Place in Brighton, and earlier this year painted a giant Homer and Bart Simpson in Hartingdon Road, Brighton.
Eleanor Harris, chief executive at the i360, decided to invite the graffiti artists to return after being impressed by Aroe et al’s previous work – not just on the attraction’s construction site but also elsewhere in the city.
Said Eleanor, “Brighton and Hove is an incredibly creative city and we want our hoardings to reflect that and not just be left blank. We had a really positive reaction last time and, when we put up some additional hoardings when the tower erection started this summer, Aroe approached us about painting those boards too.
“Being on the seafront our hoardings do weather more than in most locations, but we hope the new artwork will last until the i360 opens next summer. The graffiti as well as our infographics about the i360 are proving incredibly popular with
passers-by.
“We have 100 metres of hoardings waiting to be covered and the artists have complete control over what they create.”