Exeter City of Literature and Exeter Phoenix announce City Reads Film Season

Excellent news! In celebration of Exeter’s fifth year as a UNESCO City of #Literature and the ongoing City Reads campaign, @ExeterPhoenix and Exeter City of Literature are joining forces for a series of six screenings this August! More details ☝️📚📽️

– Exeter City of Literature and Exeter Phoenix –

– Tuesday 6th August to Friday 23rd August –

– Exeter Phoenix’s Cinema Studio 74 –

Excellent news! In celebration of Exeter’s fifth year as a UNESCO City of Literature and the ongoing City Reads campaign, Exeter Phoenix and Exeter City of Literature are joining forces for a series of six screenings this August.

In March of this year, to coincide with National Book Day, the Exeter City of Literature charity launched a city-wide initiative, City Reads, to find Exeter’s favourite novel. Organisations such as Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Browne Jacobson law firm, CoLab, and Exeter Phoenix joined in the campaign to form the shortlist.

To celebrate the books featured on the shortlist, Exeter City of Literature are also working with Exeter Phoenix across August to present a series of screenings featuring adaptations and cinematic inspirations of the six selected novels.

On Tuesday 6th August, City Reads Film Season launches with Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, an adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel which City Reads shortlisted author Caleb Azumah Nelson has cited as an inspiration for his book Open Water. Alongside the feature film will be a screening of Pray, Nelson’s debut short film based on his BBC Short Story Award entry. This evening of screenings will also feature an introduction from Caleb to celebrate his inclusion on the City Reads shortlist!

On Sunday 11th August, Devon’s own Agatha Christie will be centre stage with a screening of Kenneth Branagh’s stylish star-studded adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. This is followed on Tuesday 13th August by The Personal History of David Copperfield, a literary and cinematic inspiration for R.F. Kuang during the writing of her award-winning epic historical fantasy, Babel.

Exeter City of Literature and Exeter Phoenix are celebrating another local literary link – one of the roots of Middle-earth can be found in The Exeter Book, a 10th-century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry and riddles – with an entire day dedicated to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Fans can enjoy Middle-earth revelry from 10:30am on Saturday 17th August until 11:15pm with an extended-edition marathon of the lauded fantasy trilogy.

Graphic novel series turned celebrated Netflix adaptation Heartstopper also features on the City Reads shortlist. To celebrate this during the film season, Exeter City of Literature and Exeter Phoenix will be screening author Alice Oseman’s favourite film on Monday 19th August, Scott Pilgrim vs the World – a cult classic adaptation from Edgar Wright based on another series of award-winning graphic novels.

Rounding out the City Reads Film Season on Friday 23rd August is a screening of crowd favourite Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. This ever popular space opera is near-and-dear to the pioneer of Hopepunk – a subgenre of speculative fiction all about radical kindness – Becky Chambers’ heart, and helped inspire her beloved sci-fi adventure novel The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.

The six shortlisted books were unveiled at Exeter City of Literature’s annual book market on Sunday, 9th June where the public vote was also opened. During the public voting period, voting boxes can be found throughout the city, as well as an online voting option.

The public vote will close on Monday 19th August, and City Reads will culminate in a special event in September 2024 to announce Exeter’s favourite book.

Anna Cohn Orchard, Executive Director of Exeter City of Literature, says:

“From the Exeter Book to Exeter’s favourite book, this city has always treasured reading. We want to celebrate that with a year of reading for pleasure, book giveaways, and light-hearted debate over what our favourite books are. We want City Reads to unite the city behind the joy of reading, no matter the book!”