Liverpool Central Library will welcome three best-selling authors through its doors later this month to kick start a national campaign.
The Reading Agency launches its Quick Reads initiative in the city on Tuesday 18 February and three of the featured authors, Milly Johnson, A A Dhand and Clare Mackintosh, will be taking part in a free public panel discussion.
Quick Reads started in 2006 and is an important part of The Reading Agency’s drive to improve adults’ literacy in the UK, where one in six adults find reading difficult and only a third read for pleasure.
The books are bite-sized and are designed to be engaging and accessible to all readers especially people just starting on their reading journey.
Six Quick Reads titles will be published on Thursday 20 February. They are:
- A Fresh Start – short story collection, edited by Fanny Blake, including stories by Jojo Moyes, Ian Rankin and Adele Parks
- Notting Hill Carnival – Candice Carty-Williams
- Darkness Rising – A A Dhand
- The Little Dreams of Lara Cliffe – Milly Johnson
- The Donor – Clare Mackintosh
- This is Going to Hurt – Adam Kay.
The Central Library event is free but tickets must be booked in advance through Eventbrite
The event will also be livestreamed to other public libraries as part of a partnership between The Reading Agency and the British Library’s Living Knowledge Network.
Cllr Barbara Murray, cabinet member for education, employment and skills and lead for Liverpool’s Year of Reading: “It’s wonderful news that The Reading Agency has chosen to come to Liverpool to launch 2020’s Quick Reads titles during our Year of Reading.
“Year of Reading isn’t only about encouraging young people to read. We want to boost literacy across the city and initiatives such as Quick Reads are a brilliant way of doing that. As they get older, people fall out of the reading habit as they think they don’t have time but Quick Reads mean that everyone can feel the achievement that getting to the end of a book brings.”
Karen Napier, chief executive, The Reading Agency, said: “We are delighted to be holding the Quick Reads 2020 launch in Liverpool Central Library. We’ve chosen Liverpool in support of the city’s Year of Reading 2020 #LiverpoolReads and to celebrate the beautiful Central Library.
“It also means we can extend the celebration to HMP Liverpool and will be including prison libraries and education as part of the launch day before coming to Central Library in the evening.
“Our best-selling authors will share these great stories written with the aim to make reading accessible to less confident readers as well as to regular readers who want to try something new. Coming to Liverpool is a great way for The Reading Agency to start the year, using the proven power of reading to change lives.”
Find out more about Liverpool’s Year of Reading by following #LiverpoolReads on Twitter.
