London CityRead

  • Holly Jade O'Leary
In a campaign to make literature more accessible to a wider audience, Cityread London created a socially relevant campaign, embodying the dramas which unfold in the lives of the characters in Charles Dicken's Oliver Twist.
Holly Jade O'Leary arranging casting and styled Nancy and The Artful Dodger on behalf of Andy Ryan and Cityread London.
Cityread London is an annual celebration of literature that brings reading to life for the whole capital in a massive book group. Each spring, Cityread invites London’s citizens, workers and visitors to pick up a book – the same book – and read it together. Taking the chosen novel as a starting point, a month-long programme of book groups, author talks, workshops and other events takes place across London’s libraries, bookshops, museums and other venues.
Images from this shoot were used throughout the London Underground transport network, as in association with the local libraries and London Cityread distributed a a significant amount of copies of Oliver Twist free of charge on behalf of Penguin Classics.
The campaign was designed to engage a younger, urban audience, and a Charles Dickens inspired spectacular free event was staged at King's Cross Station.