The Big Sporting Read

The Big Sporting Read – a new national celebration of reading – has announced its list of 25 titles celebrating a landmark summer of sport, as Hay Festival celebrates with its own ‘Sports Day’.

The Big Sporting Read is a collaboration between national charity The Reading Agency and BBC Arts, aiming to use the power of sport to inspire readers across the UK – highlighting the links between sporting excellence, reading, health and wellbeing. The Big Sporting Read list was crowdsourced by The Reading Agency and the final list of 25 sporting titles was compiled by an independent panel of librarians and booksellers. It showcases a rich mix of fiction and non-fiction aimed at adults, including titles from Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tom Daley, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Haruki Murakami.

The campaign will run throughout summer 2024, coinciding with a packed sporting calendar including the UEFA Euro 2024, Wimbledon Championships, The Open Championship and the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. Libraries, bookshops, and leisure centres across the UK are set to get involved in the campaign by promoting the books and hosting activities and community events at their respective venues. BBC Arts will be supporting the campaign using its unrivalled reach into UK households to engage diverse audiences.