Free Big Read book club coming to Hartlepool with chance to meet author Luca Veste and discuss Ann Cleeves’ book The Long Call

Led by 2023 Reader in Residence Luca Veste, the writer is visiting eight libraries from Sheffield to Hartlepool discussing Ann Cleeves’s book The Long Call as part of The Big Read.

The free event, produced by Harrogate International Festivals and sponsored by Pan Macmillan, is designed to celebrate and create awareness of literacy, while paying homage to the legacy of crime fiction’s greatest writers.

It also includes the acclaimed Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival being taken on tour and arrives at Hartlepool’s Community Hub Central, in York Road, on Friday, June 30, at 3pm.

Copies of The Long Call book will be distributed across the participating libraries and these copies will be free to visitors.

Sharon Canavar, chief executive at Harrogate International Festivals, said: “The Big Read is a great opportunity to connect people over the love of reading, offering the opportunity for like-minded people to get together and make new friends. The event is also a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of local library services.”

Mr Veste is the author of numerous crime novels, including You Never Said Goodbye, and The Bone Keeper. As well as being the host of the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast and the co-founder of the Locked In festival, he also plays bass guitar in the band The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers.

He said: “Local libraries are a cornerstone of our communities and incredibly important to me personally. I couldn’t be more excited to be discussing a fantastic book with crime writing fans new and old.”