☰FEBRUARY 2026

The UK National Year of Reading

Reading is joyous. It's an escape and a way of travelling without leaving home. It helps us to see the world through other people's eyes. Books can challenge our preconceptions and introduce us to new ideas. It can be entertainment and education. According to a report by the OECD reading for pleasure is a higher indicator of academic attainment than parental income or status.

I think reading can help our health and our mood too. Just before we locked down for Covid, I was asked to speak at a conference on Health Inequality, organised by Public Health England. I explained that reading had always been a solace for me. It's seen me through some tough times. I always had a book with me, waiting in the queue for radiotherapy when I was being treated for breast cancer. Nothing serious. The last thing I needed was to read about brave women fighting the disease! I needed something light and funny. Or a delicious murder. It was the same when my husband suffered a major mental illness. The fiction, usually set somewhere exotic and exciting, saw me through.

At the end of my speech, I threw out a challenge to the audience. I'd sponsor two part-time reading for wellbeing project workers if the people in the room could match fund my donation. By the end of the day, we had a core group of professionals - people working for Public Health England, in local authority libraries and the voluntary sector - to provide a steering committee. We were chaired by a local GP.

Of course, all our planning meetings were held remotely, but by the time lockdown was lifted we were ready to go. A wonderful organisation called Opening the Book was prepared to train our people. Now we have fourteen staff working throughout the northeast of England, and another couple of workers based in the Woodyard in North Devon. Some work with charities, some are employed by the local authority. We want a flexible model that can respond to local needs. Of course, in these times, funding is difficult, though I'd argue that by diverting people from the medical and social services, we're saving them money.

My publisher, Pan Macmillan, has been a huge support. They've helped by providing multiple copies of books for reading groups and sending their staff to some of our training sessions. By bringing people back to reading for pleasure and introducing the joy of books to those who never thought it was for them, they're widening the publishers' customer base and sending new readers to bookshops and libraries. But we couldn't have done it without them.

2026 is a National Year of Reading and we were approached by The Queen's Reading Room to become their partners. It's hard to say no to a charity sponsored by Her Majesty! TQRR has commissioned ground-breaking research by neuroscientists, which shows that reading even for a short time everyday has important health benefits. Our workers are putting the research into practice and sharing it on the ground with Primary Care Networks, GPs and social prescribers. I'm one of the judges to find the recipient of the first Queen's medal to be awarded to someone who promotes reading within their community.

Do check out our website: www.readingforwellbeing.org.uk. There, you'll hear from some of our participants, understand our ethos - that if you're having a great time with a book, then it's a good book, no matter what reviewers or academics think - and of course you might want to join us.

Celebrate the National Year of Reading by sharing your reading passions with friends and family. Most importantly, if you're not a library member, then join up. Politicians will take libraries much more seriously if they have a huge membership. And while you might be able to afford to buy books, not everyone can, and that might not be the case in the future.