Dear Somebody,
Book worm or not, we can all agree that reading is fundamental. Recently, a year-long scheme has been announced by the Department of Education to help increase the number of people reading across the nation. The National Year of Reading is a campaign set up in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust to address the significant decline in reading abilities and enjoyment across all age groups in the UK.
The initiative came after studies in 2025 finding that only 1 in 3 children aged 8-18 reported enjoying reading in their free time and over 7.1 million adults in the UK struggle with reading. The Year of Reading campaign aims to spark reading for pleasure across all age groups, support literacy, and make reading meaningful.
Sarah MacLennan, the Creative Writing programme leader at Liverpool John Moores University, spoke about the importance of this scheme. As a former reader in residence for Knowsley Libraries, she could not help but notice that it had the fourth lowest literacy rate in the country. Ultimately, this lead to her voicing out how vital it is for Liverpool to increase its literacy levels, as a lack thereof is highly detrimental to our overall intellectual development.
You can participate in the year of reading challenge by not just encouraging others to read, but also indulging in a best seller yourself. To find out more, visit the National Literacy Trust.
Sincerely,
Liverpool Noise
