News
4th September 2026 – Welcome to the new Season.
The new season opened with members meeting online last night, to talk about the books they had enjoyed reading this summer. Here is a list of the books that were discussed with a brief outline of the book itself.
Operation Mincemeat — Ben Macintyre
The extraordinary true story of the Second World War deception operation that persuaded Hitler that the Allies would invade Greece rather than Sicily. Macintyre brings together espionage, ingenious planning and some wonderfully improbable characters.
Songbirds — Christy Lefteri
Set in Cyprus, this moving novel follows Nisha, a Sri Lankan migrant domestic worker who disappears without trace, and the people left behind searching for her. A story of love, loss and the hidden lives of migrant women.
The Romantic — William Boyd
Presented as the autobiography of Cashel Greville Ross, an Irishman whose restless life takes him across nineteenth-century Europe and into love, adventure and political upheaval. A richly detailed fictional life story that deliberately blurs the line between biography and invention.
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent — Judi Dench
Judi Dench reflects on a lifetime spent performing Shakespeare, drawing on conversations with actor Brendan O’Hea. Part memoir, part masterclass, it offers an entertaining and illuminating insight into Shakespeare’s plays and the business of bringing them to the stage.
Guilty by Definition — Susie Dent
A witty murder mystery built around words, dictionaries and the world of lexicography. When a murder takes place at a literary festival, language itself becomes a clue as the characters try to uncover the culprit.
The Odyssey — translated by Emily Wilson
Wilson’s acclaimed, vividly contemporary translation of Homer’s epic follows Odysseus on his long journey home from the Trojan War. It brings freshness and clarity to a foundational work of Western literature while retaining its strangeness, humour and violence.
The Divine Comedy — translated by Clive James
Dante’s monumental journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, transformed into an accessible and engaging modern English verse translation. Clive James combines literary ambition with conversational wit while preserving the power and complexity of Dante’s vision.
Windswept: Why Women Walk — Annabel Abbs
A blend of memoir, travel writing, history and literary biography exploring women’s relationship with walking and the outdoors. Abbs introduces a fascinating succession of women writers and thinkers who found freedom, creativity and independence through walking.
And Quiet Flows the Don — Mikhail Sholokhov
A sweeping epic centred on the Cossack community of the Don during the upheavals of the First World War and Russian Revolution. Through the turbulent life of Grigory Melekhov, Sholokhov explores love, loyalty, war and the destruction of an entire way of life.
28th July 2026.
The Booker Prize 2026 Long List has been published and it is always interesting to see what books the judges have chosen and, if we have read them, whether we agree with their choices. It’s certainly a good place to browse through to see if we want to add any to our reading pile.
Everything you need to know about the Booker Prize 2026 longlist | The Booker Prizes
27th May 2026.
From time to time a new list of the best novels of all time is published. This time it’s The Guardian’s view and I was interested to see it feature The Go-Between by L P Hartley, a book which featured in one of our talks this year. The comparison between that and Room with a View, certainly intrigued the members.
What do you think about the Guardian’s list and how many of the books have you read? It’s always interesting to see which books makes the list and I sure is the subject of heated discussion between those of us that love books. Perhaps we should compile our own lists but perhaps 100 books is a bit too much to aim for. What about our best 10 novels of all time?
29th January 2026.
Following on from our very popular talk on ‘The Art of Popular Science’ in October 2025, you might be interested to read that three authors won $10,000 prizes for blending Science & Literature.
Three authors who demonstrated how scientific research can be wedded to literary grace have been awarded $10,000 prizes.
On Wednesday, the National Book Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced the winners of the fifth annual Science + Literature awards. The books include Kimberly Blaeser’s poetry collection, “Ancient Light,” inspired in part by the environmental destruction of Indigenous communities; the novel “Bug Queen” by Anna North, the story of a forensic anthropologist and a 2000-year-old Celtic druid; and a work of nonfiction, Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian’s “Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature.”
“These gifted storytellers shine a scientific and poetic light on the beauties and terrors of nature and what they reveal to us about our deepest selves, our humanity, and our existence on this planet,” Doron Weber, vice president and program director at the Sloan Foundation, said in a statement.
Ruth Dickey, executive director of the National Book Foundation, said in a statement that the new winners continue the awards’ mission to highlight “diverse voices in science writing that … enlighten, challenge, and engage readers everywhere.”
The Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards, one of the literary world’s most prestigious events. The Sloan Foundation has a long history of supporting books that join science and the humanities, including Kai Bird’s and Martin J. Sherwin’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “American Prometheus,” which director Christopher Nolan adapted into the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer.”
Information taken from The Independent article on 21st January 2026.
23rd January 2026.
It is good to see the National Literacy Trust is promoting 2026 as the National Year of Reading. This is a major, UK-wide campaign designed to reverse the sharp decline in reading for pleasure and to rebuild a national culture of reading — for children, young people, and adults.
The National Year of Reading 2026 is a Department for Education initiative, delivered by the National Literacy Trust, with partners including:
- The Reading Agency
- BookTrust
- World Book Day
- Bookmark
- The Queen’s Reading Room
Its public-facing campaign brand is “Go All In”, with the slogan:
“If you’re into it, read into it.”
The core idea is to connect reading to people’s existing passions — like football, music, gaming, cooking, fashion, or fantasy — so reading feels relevant, enjoyable, and natural.
The campaign responds to worrying national data:
- Only 1 in 3 young people (8–18) now say they enjoy reading
- Just 25–26% of boys report enjoying reading for pleasure
- Daily reading has roughly halved over the past decade
This decline is linked to lower attainment, wellbeing, confidence, and long-term life chances.
The Year of Reading aims to:
- 📚 Reignite reading for pleasure
- 🧠 Improve literacy, wellbeing, and empathy
- 🏫 Support schools and early years settings
- 🏛️ Strengthen libraries and community reading
- 👨👩👧 Encourage family and shared reading
- 🧑🤝🧑 Recruit and mobilise volunteers and ambassadors
What’s included?
1. Schools & Early Years Programme
- Free toolkits and resources each term
- Professional development webinars
- National reading events and challenges
- Flexible programmes to embed reading culture
2. Libraries & Communities
- Public library campaigns led by The Reading Agency
- Support for:
- Summer Reading Challenge (ages 4–11)
- World Book Night (adults)
- Toolkits, displays, and community activities
3. National Moments & Funding
- Government investment in school libraries and reading programmes
- High-profile launches and events
- Celebrity and author ambassadors (e.g. Malorie Blackman, Michael Morpurgo, Richard Osman, Julia Donaldson, Leah Williamson)
4. New Children’s Booker Prize
- £50,000 prize for children’s fiction (ages 8–12)
- Judged by both adults and children
- Designed to raise the profile of great children’s books
What does “Go All In” mean?
Instead of pushing traditional ideas of “proper reading,” the campaign promotes:
- Comics & graphic novels
- Magazines
- Audiobooks
- Blogs & digital reading
- Non-fiction linked to hobbies
- Multilingual and culturally relevant texts
The message: all reading counts.