Book Launch: We Are What We Read: a life without & within books

“A wonderful book. I endorse it with all my heart.”

Miriam Margolyes

"If you are a book lover, this is a must-read. Intensely personal and intellectually robust, this is an exploration of the mighty novel and the power it has to shape lives, both collectively and individually. Necessary, provocative and moving, I read parts out to friends ('did you know that...') then found myself both sobbing and laughing out loud, sometimes on the same page. Vybarr is a guardian of the arts who deserves his own statue."

Catherine Gray, Sunday Times bestselling author

“The boldest, clearest, most beautifully written articulation I have yet read of the life-changing properties of literature and why we disdain and downgrade its study at our peril. We Are What We Read should be a set text for the next Education Secretary and required reading for anyone who doubts the transformative potential of arts and humanities subjects.”

Caroline Sanderson, associate editor, The Bookseller

We Are What We Read explores the profound impact that books have in shaping a life, at a time when their value is being repeatedly brought into question. From a rebellious past entangled in petty crime to a lofty career as an English Professor, Vybarr Cregan-Reid weaves his own unexpected life in books with a spirited history of the war on the humanities, to make a case for the civic value of ideas, stories, and the imagination. Lively, shocking and often funny, We Are What We Read is not just a tale about how education can place you back on the right side of the tracks, it’s a rallying cry for the importance of books in a world where literature is being squeezed out of education at every level from primary to university.

Vybarr will be in conversation with, poet and novelist, Prof. Abi Curtis to discuss what is happening to the humanities and why it matters for all of us.

The event will be followed by a book signing a flurry of book sales, and a wine reception.

Vybarr Cregan-Reid is an author, award-winning teacher and academic and sometimes broadcaster. He is currently Professor of Creative Non-Fiction at York St John University, where he runs Creative Writing, Media and Film. He has written widely about literature, nature and the environment for the BBC, the Guardian, The Independent, The Big Issue, The Telegraph, The Mail, The Washington Post, Literary Review and many others. He has appeared across the BBC Radio network, as well as on BBC TV, ITV and Sky News.

Abi Curtis is Professor of Creative Writing at York St John University. She is the author of two poetry collections, Unexpected Weather and The Glass Delusion (both published by Salt) and for her poetry she has received both an Eric Gregory Award and Somerset Maugham Award. Her debut novel, WATER & GLASS, a speculative climate change story, was published by indie press Cloud Lodge Books in 2017. She recently edited Blood & Cord: Writers on Early Parenthood (The Emma Press, 2023). Her second novel THE HEADLAND is forthcoming from Gold SF.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Creative Centre Auditorium, York St John University, Lord Mayor's Walk, York, United Kingdom