Big City Reads 2026: Meet the Authors

About this event

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.