Reading Detectives

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Reading Detectives

Five teams of Reading Detectives have been given the challenge of finding undiscovered fiction and writing about the places they live as part of Made in England.

The Reading Detectives is an exciting new challenge to some of England's reading groups and libraries. Their task is to find, read and share undiscovered, or little known works by new and old writers about the places we live.

It is being managed for Made in England by The Reading Agency - which is a charity set up to get people to read more.

The book clubs are in Grange over Sands in Cumbria, Buxton in Derbyshire, Chorley in Lancashire, Winchester in Hampshire and Tonbridge in Kent.

With the help of local authors, archivists, librarians and other specialists they will be tracking down literary gems and mapping them on a special Reading Detectives website. They will also be keeping each other updated using Twitter.

BBC Local Radio will be following the literary trail as the teams compete to find the best hidden treasure. In Kent there has already been a discovery of previously unpublished letters to Jane Austen; in Cumbria the man who inspired Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons has been investigated through his own writing.

There are more than a hundred million books in UK libraries alone. Add those to the countless numbers of books out of print, alongside letters, personal archives and documents in local records offices, and they all tell the story of our literary heritage.

All the finds and the trials and tribulations of the Reading Detectives teams' search will posted on a dedicated website - including a Made in England Reading Detectives Digital Map for each region.

Follow the Reading Detectives using the links on the right.

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