A Double Celebration
The third One Book - One Edinburgh reading campaign took place in February 2009 as part of Uk-wide The Lost World Read.
2009 was the 150th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known for creating the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes.
the same year marked 200 years ago since Charles Darwin was born. It was during his study at the University of Edinburgh that he developed a keen interest in natural history, and it was here and around the Forth that the foundations for his theory of evolution were developed.
The Lost World Read 2009
To mark this double celebration The Lost World Read 2009 focused on Conan Doyle's classic adventure story, The Lost World, in which a group of explorers set out on an expedition to South America to prove that deep in the jungle there is a forgotten world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals still survive.
UK's Largest Ever Collaborative Reading Campaign
in 2009 Edinburgh joined the cities of Glasgow and Bristol for a collaborative reading of The Lost World. The three cities were joined by the county of Hampshire, and the 15 Library authorities of South West England, as well as Oxford, Portsmouth, Shrewsbury and the City of Westminster.
Edinburgh’s campaign will be led by the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, Glasgow’s by The Aye Write! festival and Bristol’s by The Great Reading Adventure.
It's a Cracking Read Gromit !
An exclusive cover was designed for the free edition of the book by Bristol’s Aardman Animations, featuring their famous creations, Wallace & Gromit.
A spokesman from Aardman commented “Wallace and Gromit are big fans of reading and are so excited about being part of this project. They think it's great that so many people, up and down the country, are going to be joining in."
And Off Course ... Free Books!
There were four different free books on offer as part of The Lost World Read, which were made available while stocks lasted through the following outlets:
- To the public through Edinburgh lending libraries
- Edinburgh high schools, primary schools and special schools
- Adult learners through CLAN (City Literacy and Numeracy)
- Youth Literacy groups and looked-after children
- Through our partners to community outreach programmes
- At some of the Lost World public events
3 Programmes - community, school and public events
To reach out to communities across Edinburgh, teh one Book - One Edinbrurgh campaign links three strands: public events, a schools programme and a community outreach programme, with web resources freely available.
Online Resources
Look through our campaign pages to find out about The Lost World and access the freely available games and puzzles, reading lists and audio downloads. You can also find out more from the main camapign website at www.lostworldread.com.
Get Involved
Join our message boards on Facebook and discuss the book, view behind-the-scenes photographs and more.