đź“° Adult Literacy News Summary
How do you make children enjoy reading again?
14-Jul-2026 - UK
Hundreds of primary school pupils have been encouraged to "love reading" by authors and illustrators. A two-day literacy event was held at the University of Suffolk on 13 and 14 July, in partnership with the Kingfisher Schools Trust and the East Anglian Daily Times (EADT) and Ipswich Star newspapers. University chancellor and children's author Zeb Soanes performed a reading of one of his Gaspard the Fox books, with live illustrations and music. Last year, one in three (32.7%) children and young people aged eight to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time, the lowest in 20 years.
Read moreOver half of adults with learning disabilities do not live past 65, report says
13-Jul-2026 - UK
More than half of adults with learning disabilities in England die before the age of 65, an annual report into mortality suggests. For the general population, that figure is 15%, according to the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review, which is known as the LeDeR and was commissioned by NHS England. It looked at deaths recorded between 2021 and 2024 and found those with a learning disability died, on average, 19 years younger than the general population. A government spokesperson said "significant action" was already underway to improve care, adding that ministers would "do all we can for people with a learning disability and autistic people."
Read moreWorlds of wrestling and reading collide at library
11-Jul-2026 - UK
You may have heard of chess boxing, in which fighters alternate between duking it out in the ring and carefully seeking checkmate on the board. Now Bradford Libraries is bringing literature into the arena, combining wrestling with reading. Professional wrestlers will take to the ring at Keighley Library later for a free family event that will see fighters act out well-known stories, from Jack and the Beanstalk to Theseus and the Minotaur. The Read-a-Slam event is part of the National Year of Reading programme at Bradford Libraries.
Read moreI'm dyslexic and avoided reading until BookTok got me hooked - now I run a book club
11-Jul-2026 - UK
Romance is the key that finally unlocked the world of reading for Amelia Lord after she had avoided it throughout her life. Love was all over her TikTok feed in the form of BookTok – the app's literary subcommunity - just as she was searching for a new hobby to take up after moving from her home in Newport to Gloucester. The 28-year-old social media and events coordinator did not read at all before she was 21. Although "intrigued", a dyslexia diagnosis made her think she couldn't do it. "I kept seeing BookToks on my TikTok," she said. "I was seeing loads about it and it piqued my interest." She made her first ever New Year's resolution, to read just one book, Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, which was released as a film starring Blake Lively in 2024. She established Booked Up Book Club after her boss gave her space at the play café where she works in the suburb of Whitchurch.
Read moreRead With Me hosts author John Dougherty at school event
10-Jul-2026 - UK
Stroud author John Dougherty delighted children from Kingsholm C of E Primary School this week at a Meet the Author event as part of Gloucestershire’s Year of Reading. One hundred and eighty children attended the event at Gloucester Rugby Club and enjoyed a session crammed with stories, songs, and laughter. The event was run by local literacy charity Read With Me, which provides volunteers to read with children in schools across Gloucestershire.
Read moreHope HTS celebrating 17 years of helping homeless people
10-Jul-2026 - UK
A homelessness charity is celebrating 17 years of helping people find safe accommodation and rebuild their lives. Hope Housing, Training and Support (HTS), based in Bournemouth, has supported more than 2,700 individuals since it was founded in 2009 by Julie Berti and her late father, David Botterill. Julie Berti, co-founder of Hope HTS, said: "Everything about our open day was glorious, from the weather to the singing, and the shared compassion of everyone attending. We were pleased to host some of our sector partners; BCHA, Bournemouth Foodbank, Read Easy, StreetScene, and The Samaritans, who were able to share their great work with our visitors."
Read moreThousands of free books to appear across Nottinghamshire this summer as Big City Reads returns
08-Jul-2026 - UK
Running until August 12, the youth-centred initiative will distribute 2,250 free books across Nottingham city and county. Across Nottinghamshire, books are being distributed through libraires, schools, colleges, cafés, arts venues, community organisations and county visitor attractions, helping to reach young people who may not otherwise have access to books at home. The campaign launched with book giveaways across Nottingham, with free books now available at locations across the city and county.
Read moreHow to solve the literacy crisis in schools
08-Jul-2026 - UK
The critical issue of secondary school reading fluency is not a new problem. A fundamental inability to access the curriculum due to poor reading and comprehension has always been the case for a significant cohort of students entering secondary education, although this has increased over time. As a secondary school teacher, I am frequently left wondering about the exact nature of the literacy instruction occurring in some primary schools. Year after year, pupils entering year 7 lack the basic decoding and automaticity required to engage with secondary-level texts.
Read moreMore than 800 young people engage with Chichester charity's new Bookfest YA programme
07-Jul-2026 - UK
More than 800 young people from secondary schools across Chichester have taken part in BookFest YA, a new initiative from local charity Children's BookFest (CBF) designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading among teenagers. Throughout June, students from Chichester High School, Chichester Free School, Bishop Luffa School and Fordwater School took part in a series of author visits, creative writing workshops and literary events created specifically for young people aged 11 to 18. Together, the programme reached 802 students, demonstrating the appetite among young people for opportunities to meet authors, develop their own writing and explore the world of books beyond the classroom.
Read more"I presumed kids’ books were written by people who were white and dead": new children’s laureate Patrice Lawrence
07-Jul-2026 - UK
When Patrice Lawrence got the call asking her to become the UK’s next children’s laureate, her first response was disbelief. “I was in absolute shock,” she says, laughing. She is only just beginning to process what it means to join a lineage that includes Jacqueline Wilson, Quentin Blake, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Malorie Blackman and, most recently, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Lawrence spent years working in organisations focused on children’s rights and social justice before becoming a children’s author, publishing her breakthrough YA novel Orangeboy in 2016, aged 49. She has a practical vision for her laureateship. “To change policy you need evidence”, she says. “We say stories work, let’s show how they work.” She hopes to gather research from children in care, refugee families and the children of prisoners to demonstrate how books change lives.
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