Published: Friday, 2nd October 2020

Medway Council is encouraging residents to take part in a social media #Readathon to mark Libraries Week from Monday, 5 October to Saturday, 10 October.

Throughout #LibrariesWeek Medway Libraries will be feature recordings from author favourites including Peter James, Milly Johnson, John Lewis-Stempel, Matt Haig, Victoria Hislop, Ben Aaronovitch, Anton du Beke and Heather Morris on the Medway Libraries Facebook page as well as Abi Elphinstone, Serena Patel, Laura Ellen Anderson and Matt Haig, for younger readers.

Local Medway authors Tim Parsons, Netsai Thurmer, Peter Cook, Julia Bettelheim, Mbeke Waseme, Sam Rapp and Irina Fridman are also supporting the council’s celebration of reading. 

Each day the posts will explore how reading has inspired the authors and how they put pen to paper. They will also share information about their latest titles.

Libraries have become cultural hubs in our local communities 

Cllr Howard Doe, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Community Services, said: “We are looking forward to celebrating Libraries Week digitally with a series of exciting audio and video recordings from a diverse range of authors. Libraries are incredibly important in our local communities as not only are they places where residents can borrow books but they can also access a range of council services and, in normal circumstances, attend a range of clubs and activity sessions. We are committed to investing in our library service and earlier this year I was pleased to officially open our seventh community hub in Wigmore.

“We also have a brilliant online library service and more than 103,103.eBooks, eMagazine, eNewspapers and eComics have been borrowed since 23 March (the beginning of lockdown). I would encourage residents to become a member of Medway Libraries online, if they are not already a member and make #LibrariesWeek the week you discover a new favourite book.”

Cllr Doe added: “Medway’s libraries have become cultural hubs in our local communities which support Medway’s aspiration to become City of Culture 2025. Becoming City of Culture in 2025 would create a legacy of opportunities for local people and bring significant economic benefits to Medway.”

Find out more about Medway Libraries and sign up for a library account

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