Big City Reads 2026: Meet the Authors

Join us for a panel to meet our fantastic authors from Big City Reads 2026, and get a FREE book. Hear about these powerful stories, directly from the authors, focused on the campaign's theme of Identity. Co-chaired by members of our Youth Selection Panel.

The 2026 Big City Reads authors you will meet are:

• Nicola Garrard, author of 29 Locks (HopeRoad Publishing) — a fast-paced debut about fifteen-year-old Donny, growing up in Hackney in poverty and groomed by a local gang, who finds unexpected purpose working on a canal — before the 29 locks home to London beckon.
• John Allison, author of Charlotte Grote: Solver (Scary Go Round Books) — a graphic novel from the Eisner award-winning creator of Giant Days, following a former teen detective who peaked too soon and must now figure out what comes next.
• Natalie Lucy, author of Searching for the Remarkable in Things (ZunTold) — a debut novel in which a grieving teenage girl discovers a box of letters from 1851 that reveal her true heritage and the hidden family secrets of slavery her mother kept from her.
• Becki Jayne Crossley, author of Tart (Bloomsbury YA) — a queer coming-of-age story about a teenage girl whose life unravels when a viral video falsely accuses her of cheating, exploring identity, grief and first love.

Tickets are available as Pay What You Can, and we welcome any donations.

About Big City Reads 2026
Now in its FOURTH year, the free book giveaway campaign will feature five compelling Young Adult titles, selected by Nottingham City of Literature’s Youth Selection Panel. Centred on the theme of Identity, this year’s selected titles will give readers the opportunity to engage in a city-wide shared reading experience. Big City Reads hopes to empower and inspire young minds with feel-good, upbeat stories, alongside promoting reading as a practice that enhances wellbeing.

Thank you to Arts Council England and Nottingham Central Library for supporting this event.
Photo by Tom Morley