'' Quick Reads'' is a series of short books by bestselling authors and celebrities. With no more than 200 pages, they are designed to encourage adults who do not read often or find reading difficult to discover the joy of books. Quick Reads are a collaboration among publishers, supermarkets, bookshops, libraries, government departments, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education ( NIACE),

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to promote reading, publishing, and copyright ...

, National Book Tokens and more. They are used as a resource for adult literacy teaching and have been used in Skills for Life and ESOL classes in colleges, community centres, libraries, prisons and workplaces. They have also been used in hospitals, stroke recovery units, dyslexia centres, care homes, family learning groups, pre-schools, organisations working with homeless people and traveller communities, and Army and RAF bases. In 2018, the program was due to end because of a lack of funding. Jojo Moyes offered the group an additional three years of funding.

History

Quick Reads were launched in the UK and Ireland by the then

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

2006. Through mid-2020, over 100 titles have been published, over 4.8 million copies have been sold and over 5 million copies have been loaned through libraries.The Reading Agency, retrieved September 10, 2020
/ref> Featured authors have included

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

, Chris Ryan, Danny Wallace,

Andy McNab Steven Billy Mitchell (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former Special Air Service soldier. He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled ''Bravo T ...

Ricky Tomlinson Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in the soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1988), DCI Charlie Wise in '' Cracker'' (1993–2006) and Jim Royle in '' T ...

, John Simpson, Colin Jackson,

Scott Quinnell Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a Number eight (rugby union), number eight for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Scarlets, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond F.C., ...

, Adele Parks, Kerry Katona,

Minette Walters Minette Caroline Mary Walters Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 26 September 1949) is an English writer. Life and work Walters was born in Bishop's Stortford in 1949 to Samuel Jebb and Colleen Jebb. As her father was a serving army officer, the f ...

, Joanna Trollope, Alvin Hall, and

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...

. The initiative also features seven books based on the popular ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' series. An incomplete list of titles can be found on the Quick Reads website.

Sale

Quick Reads are available from supermarkets, bookshops and online retailers for £1.99. They can also be ordered direct from publishers and wholesalers. There are special offers for employers and for family reading breakfast organisers, and in 2010 the new titles were available as eBooks for the first time.

Wales

The project in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

is also known as Quick Reads or Stori Sydyn in Welsh. Each year four books are published in Welsh, and four in English, by Welsh authors or celebrities. The campaign in Wales uses the same branding as the campaign in England, but it is bilingual. Funding for this comes from the Welsh National Assembly via Basic Skills Cymru, part of the National Basic Skills Strategy.

References

External links

Quick Reads Initiative websiteQuick Reads Initiative WalesBBC Skillswise for Quick Reads audio recordings and downloads
{{Authority control British books Programmes of the Government of the United Kingdom