Getting everyone talking about East Lothian Reads
At the end of last year, we gave you a little teaser for the East Lothian Reads campaign. Now it’s getting underway, we want everyone in our communities to be talking about what they’re reading.
Whether it’s scrolling social media, checking the football scores, following a recipe or getting lost in a good book, there’s a reader in all of us.
Throughout 2026, the library service will be working with schools, groups and organisations to help as many people as possible find out more about what they love through reading. We’ll be looking to involve community members (readers and non-readers) in choosing the books we buy for our libraries and organising events to celebrate reading in all forms.
#EastLothianReads
Across the year you’ll also find three special collections of books available to borrow in each of our libraries. The first collection was chosen by our school librarians, public library staff and our social media followers and brings together classics, new titles and recommendations around the theme of Scotland. These will be available to borrow from early February. We’d love to know what you think of our choices so please join in the conversation on social media using the hashtag #EastLothianReads
The collection includes a mix of genres from classics like Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song; to Irvine Welsh’s follow-up to Trainspotting, Men in Love; a DCI Karen Pirie novel from Val McDermid and non-fiction titles to get the tastebuds tingling like The Scottish Food Bible by Claire MacDonald and The Scottish Soup Bible by Sue Lawrence. There are history books, fantasy novels, children’s books and much more to explore.
Visit the libraries page on our council website and follow East Lothian Libraries on social media to keep up to date with the latest activities, events and news about East Lothian Reads throughout the year. Full story on the campaign launch and Scottish collection is in our news section.
Our next collection will appear in early summer and will involve community members and partner organisations in the selection panel.
