Big Jubilee Read

An initial long-list was compiled from readers' suggestions, and a panel of librarians, booksellers and "literature specialists" made the choice of 70 titles, aiming "to engage all readers in the discovery and celebration of great books". The project received funding from the Arts Council and is supported by Libraries Connected{{cite web |title=Libraries from home |url=https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/page/librariesfromhome |website=www.librariesconnected.org.uk |publisher=Libraries Connected |access-date=24 April 2022 |quote=Libraries Connected is proud to support The Reading Agency and BBC Arts' Big Jubilee Read}} and the Booksellers Association.

The organisers hope that the project will "celebrate the joy of reading and the power that it has to connect people across the country and among nations".{{cite news |last1=Bayley |first1=Sian |title=Reading Agency launches The Big Jubilee Read |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/reading-agency-launches-the-big-jubilee-read |date=1 March 2022|access-date=18 April 2022 |work=The Bookseller |language=En}} Nineteen of the books are winners of the Booker Prize.{{cite web |title=The Big Jubilee Read x The Booker Prize |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-big-jubilee-read-booker-prize |website=thebookerprizes.com |publisher=The Booker Prizes |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}} Most of the books are novels written in English, but there are also poetry collections such as Death of a Naturalist and short story collections including The Boat, while One Moonlit Night was published in Welsh as Un Nos Ola Leuad, Le Procès-Verbal and Our Lady of the Nile were originally in French, and Shuggie Bain is in English but with dialogue in Scots.{{Cite web|url=http://www.angelineking.com/2/post/2020/12/a-weekend-with-shuggie-bain.html|title=Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart|website=ANGELINE KING|date=1 December 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/douglas-stuarts-glasgow-is-changing-fast-will-shuggie-bain-feel-at-home-slcz3dfb5|title=Douglas Stuart's Glasgow is changing fast. Will Shuggie Bain feel at home?|first=Mike|last=Wade|newspaper=The Times|date=17 May 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://lizziekean.nl/2021/08/26/bahoochie/|title=Bahoochie|date=26 August 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenational.scot/culture/19871548.burns-night-modern-scots-language-celebrated-bard/|title=Modern Scots language should be celebrated the same as Robert Burns|website=The National|first=Emma|last= Guinness|date=25 January 2022}}

The list was published by the BBC on 18 April 2022.{{cite web |title=A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Ynpj933DJ2YG5nsMS6fn8k/a-literary-celebration-of-queen-elizabeth-iis-record-breaking-reign |website=BBC |date=17 April 2022|access-date=18 April 2022}} The full list

Where an author is given two countries of origin in the above list, 0.5 is given to each country.

{{notelist}}

Commentators discussed several omissions of potential titles: J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (ranked number 1 in the 2003 The Big Read); J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books; Terry Pratchett's Discworld series;{{cite news |last1=Power |first1=Ed |title=The fantasy-free Platinum Jubilee reading list is pure literary snobbery |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/fantasy-free-platinum-jubilee-reading-list-pure-literary-snobbery/ |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=18 April 2022}} Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook;{{cite news |last1=Sherwood |first1=Harriet |title=The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=18 April 2022 |language=en}} and the work of Dick Francis, reportedly one of the Queen's favourite authors.{{cite news |last1=Griffiths |first1=Sian |title=The Big Jubilee Read — 70 books fit for Queen and country |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-big-jubilee-read-70-books-fit-for-queen-and-country-drkgv9hmb |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=The Times |date=17 April 2022 |language=en}} The inclusion of Northern Irish writer Seamus Heaney was explained by the fact that when he wrote Death of a Naturalist he was living in the UK and published by an English publisher; Heaney identified as an Irish nationalist and had previously objected to his inclusion in The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry.{{cite news |last1=Reid |first1=Kurtis |title=Seamus Heaney's work to be included as part of Queen's platinum jubilee books |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/heaneys-work-to-be-included-as-part-of-big-jubilee-read-41562669.html |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=18 April 2022}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/my-passport-s-green-why-was-seamus-heaney-used-in-northern-ireland-branding-1.4440679|title='My passport's green': why was Seamus Heaney used in Northern Ireland branding?|first=Freya|last=McClements|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=19 December 2020}}

In The Telegraph, Allison Pearson called it a {{"'}}You'll take your medicine and like it' kind of list compiled by people who were scared stiff of not being diverse enough."{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/21/real-best-reads-majestys-reign/|title=The real best reads of Her Majesty's reign|first=Allison|last=Pearson|date=21 April 2022|newspaper= The Telegraph}} Similarly, in The Article, David Herman complained: "If you like Hornblower or James Bond, witches and hobbits, great children's literature, popular poetry or drama, The Big Jubilee Read doesn't care. What it does care about is post-colonial, ideally non-white, literature."{{Cite web|url=https://www.thearticle.com/what-went-wrong-with-the-big-jubilee-read|title=What went wrong with the Big Jubilee Read?|date=26 April 2022|website=TheArticle|first=David|last=Herman}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|publisher =The Reading Agency| url=https://readinggroups.org/big-jubilee-read |title=Big Jubilee Read}} Lists of titles, by decade, with cover image for each title and a paragraph about the decade in Commonwealth literature; links to a book description for every title

{{Jubilees of British monarchs}}

{{Elizabeth II}}

Category:Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II

Category:BBC

Category:Top book lists

Category:Book promotion

Category:Literacy