January 2020 will see the launch of the annual BIBLIO-BUZZ, a project run by local libraries, schools and Ally Pally’s Creative Learning team, that aims to get more young people in Haringey enjoying reading books.

Stay tuned for more info about BIBLIO-BUZZ first thing in the new year. But to get in the spirit we asked Mark Civil, head of Alexandra Palace’s Creative Learning Team, for his ‘Desert Island books’:

• All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews – contains the greatest sister spat ever written
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – full of Pulitzer prize winning inventiveness but you can skip her follow up novel
• What I loved by Siri Hustfvedt – truly haunting. It’s the book I most often give as a gift
• Normal People by Sally Rooney – Rooney is my current literary crush!
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith – generally prefer her essays but I love this book
• Full dark, No Stars by Stephan King – King at the peak of his powers
• The Gate at the Stairs by Laurie Moore – possible my favourite author of all time – just wish she published more frequently
• Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo – if this novel doesn’t move you then you are officially dead
• Old Filth by Jane Gardam – practically perfect in everyway