Summary

  • Big Book Weekend welcomes 30 authors for a fascinating series of free-to-watch events.

  • The festival continues on Sunday, with five fantastic live sessions starting at midday.

  • Read the Line-up article and plan your Big Book Weekend.

Live Reporting

  1. "You want to make something or write something or sing something in order to get away"

    Hear more from Greg Davies, as shares his passion for a 1960s novel with musician Jarvis Cocker. Which classroom classic do they both love?

    We did it at school. Everybody had to read in order, and so the big excitement in class was if you were going to get a page to read that had some swear words in it.

    Jarvis Cocker describes his favourite classroom classic

    (This video contains strong language).

    Jarvis Cocker describes a favourite childhood read

  2. Textual Healing

    From surviving grief to coping with unhappy families, the BBC.com's Culture site has plenty of recommendations for books to improve your wellbeing.

    Woman reading a bookGetty Images

    Reading can help us get away from it all

  3. Novels... They're not a panacea - but they're a prop, a support

    In a Front Row special to mark World Mental Health Day in 2018, Stig Abel talked about his own anxieties, and spoke to Russell Kane and Marian Keyes about their own experiences of bibliotherapy.

    A special on how reading improves mental health, with Marian Keyes and Russell Kane.

  4. Mental Health - where to get help

    Books can be a great support when we are feeling low - but of course, other sources of help are available for people with serious concerns about their mental health.

    Your family doctor is always a good first point of contact if you are worried about your mood. There is more information about mental health support on the NHS website. The Samaritans offer a 24-hour helpline which anyone can use at any time.

    Man looking unhappy.Image: Nik Shuliahin / Unsplash

    Mental health problems can affect anyone.

  5. Are our reading habits changing in lockdown?

    The first sessions in the first lockdown... everyone wanted to read dystopian novels, and was very up for reading The Road and Station 11 and all these bleak.... now, when I see people, they tend to really want optimistic books, or at least books that do have a happy ending.

    Ella Berthoud

  6. Greg on not managing to read novels

    I just don't give the time to it. It's a faint, constant guilt. And I'll bet I'm not alone.

    Greg Davies

  7. Greg Davies describes his current relationship with books

    When lockdown started I thought perfect, here we go, I'm going to read countless novels that I should have read in my formative years... and I haven't read one.

    Greg Davies

  8. Ella Berthoud introduces the idea of bibliotherapy

    I'm a great believer in fiction, rather than non-fiction, being the cure, because it actually gets into our subconscious, whereas non-fiction speaks to your conscious brain

    Ella Berthoud

  9. Starting Now - These Books Might Save Your Life: Brilliant Reads for Bleak Times

    You can watch the session live by clicking on the play button at the top of the page

    Joining Molly Flatt to banter about bibliotherapy:

    Ella Berthoud is a bibliotherapist who has been prescribing fiction to cure life's ailments for the past fifteen years, often through The School of Life. Ella has co-authored two books with Susan Elderkin, The Novel Cure and The Story Cure, and has also written The Art of Mindful Reading: Embracing the Wisdom of Words. She edited and co-wrote - with five authors - 30 Second Literature, a text book about all the vital aspects of world literature, and she is also an artist, currently working on portraits of authors that she loves.

    Greg Davies is an award-winning stand-up comedian, writer and actor known for starring in his critically lauded sitcom Man Down (Channel 4). After playing the infamously psychotic Head of Sixth Form ‘Mr Gilbert’ in The Inbetweeners (Channel 4) and its two spin-off feature films, Greg went on to appear in Cuckoo, (BBC Three) alongside Andy Samberg and Taylor Lautner, which earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme. Greg is also the host of the BAFTA-winning hit TV show Taskmaster (Dave/Channel 4) alongside assistant Alex Horne. He hosted the 2018 Royal Variety Performance Gala (ITV) in front of HRH the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the London Palladium, and presented the documentary Greg Davies: Looking for Kes (BBC Four) based on Barry Hines’ novel Kestrel for a Knave, which won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Specialist Factual Programme.

    Big Book Weekend title card

    These Books Might Save Your Life: Brilliant Reads For Bleak Times - Sunday, 4pm

  10. Starting soon - These Books Might Save Your Life: Brilliant Reads for Bleak Times

    Our next session begins at 4pm

    Ella Berthoud’s The Novel Cure offers reading remedies for all life’s aches and pains. With help from the actor and (aspiring) bookworm Greg Davies, she asks Big Book Weekend viewers to share their problems and prescribes some extraordinary novels that might help us all navigate the dark days of lockdown.Journalist and Big Book Weekend co-founder Molly Flatt will start proceedings at 4pm.

    Man reading a bookImage: Jilbert Ebrahimi / Unsplash

    Reading can improve your wellbeing.

  11. "I think first and foremost they serve marketing departrments and publishing houses"

    Who really benefits from literary awards? As part of the BBC's coverage of last year's Booker ceremony, Front Row's Elle-Osili Wood hosted a lively debate on the role of literary prizes. Elle was joined by publisher Ellah Wakatama, literary critic John Self and novelist Sara Collins.

    Elle Osili-Wood and guests discuss the role of the Booker Prize and other literary awards

  12. Appropriate subtitles

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  13. More wisdom from Booker winners

    The BBC has spoken to many former Booker winners over the years. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Radio 4's Book Club in 2018, James Naughtie invited Margaret Atwood to discuss her novel The Handmaid's Tale, the forerunner to 2019's joint prize-winning novel The Testaments.

    Margaret Atwood on her dystopian masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale. With James Naughtie.

    In 2019, Atwood shared the prize with Bernadine Evaristo. After her win, Bernadine spoke to BBC News about how we can increase the number of Black British women in the literary world.

    We need to look at who the publishers are, and who get to become publishers... It's a very white industry.

    You can see the full interview here.

  14. "I think distance when you're writing... always brings a clarity"

    If you'd like to hear more from Douglas Stuart, check out this interview with John Wilson recorded just days after Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize:

    Booker prize winner Douglas Stuart on his novel Shuggie Bain.

  15. Douglas Stuart on Shuggie Bain's success

    I think working class voices for a long time have been seen as incredibly niche... I'm hoping that Shuggie's success just encourages so many more regional voices, working class voices, queer voices.

    Douglas Stuart

  16. Douglas Stuart on his relationship with Glasgow

    Distance did a lot of things for me. First of all it gave me longing. It made me long for Glasgow and for home... But it also gave me a sense of clarity.

    Douglas Stuart

  17. A thoughtful question from Alex Clark

    Do you think that's what novels do? They kind of allow to give a shape, and to have feelings, for stuff you really just haven't had the language for.

    Alex Clark

  18. Douglas Stuart on growing up

    When you have a parent that's suffering from addiction you learn a lot of strategies to cope... I learned I could keep my mother's attention on me if I sat down and wrote her memoirs.

    Douglas Stuart

  19. Douglas Stuart introduces his novel Shuggie Bain

    I think many people think about the book in terms of its themes... they think about poverty, addiction, homophobia perhaps, social unrest. But really the book is about love, it's about hope.

    Douglas Stuart

  20. Starting Now - A Big Book Chat with... Douglas Stuart

    You can watch the session live by clicking on the play button at the top of the page

    Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After completing an MA at the Royal College of Art, he moved to New York where he began a career in design, having been scouted by someone from Calvin Klein at his graduation show.

    Shuggie Bain is Douglas's debut novel. It won the 2020 Booker Prize, and is being published in over 30 territories (and counting) worldwide. Douglas is currently working on the script for the TV adaptation to be made by A24 and Scott Rudin Productions. His short stories have appeared in the New Yorker and his essay on ‘Gender, Anxiety and Class’ was published by Lit Hub. His second novel will be published by Picador in Spring 2022.

    Douglas will be in conversation with Alex Clark.

    Big Book Weekend title card

    A Big Book Chat with... Douglas Stuart, Sunday, 3pm