Bestselling author Jojo Moyes has called on the government and the publishing industry to do more about the UK’s “shameful” adult literacy record. In 2018, Moyes, writer of global hits including Me Before You and The Girl You Left Behind, donated three years of funding to charity the Reading Agency for its Quick Reads scheme, saving the scheme from closure when its previous sponsorship ran out.
While she was “proud to be able to help out as a private individual”, she is furious at what she calls governmental and industry failure to understand the importance of Quick Reads.
“Both the government and the publishing industry should stand up and be counted,” she said. “It was very important to me that, having been so lucky myself as an author, I was able to give back in this way but I do hope that other organisations, publishers in particular, start to step up over the next few years.
“Levels of adult literacy are shameful in this country and that’s partially because of the threat to libraries, the cuts and slashes in funding. A scheme like Quick Reads is an easy and low-cost way of increasing people’s reading skills and one that makes reading pleasurable.”
The 2020 Quick Reads collection of books between 17,000 and 20,000 words in length will be published next February and range from thrillers by Clare Mackintosh and AA Dhand to romances by Milly Johnson and a novel by rising star Candice Carty-Williams, alongside an adaptation of former junior doctor Adam Kay’s bestselling medical memoir This Is Going To Hurt and short stories from such big hitters as Adele Parks, Ian Rankin, Mike Gayle and Sophie Kinsella.
The titles are available for £1 at bookshops and newsagents such as WHSmith, and free to borrow from libraries in addition to being used in colleges, prisons, trade unions, hospitals and adult learning organisations.
Many of the writers involved have personal reasons for contributing work to the scheme. “My mum is dyslexic and struggles with reading, so I always think about the ways in which her life could change if stories were written with her in mind,” said Carty-Williams, whose debut novel, Queenie, has been one of the biggest successes of 2019.
Her story, Notting Hill Carnival: A West Side Story, drew inspiration from Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story transposing them to present-day London over carnival weekend. “I also thought about the stories I’ve loved and how I would have loved them to be retold. We should all have access to stories, which is why I’m so pleased that the books will reach potential readers in prisons, libraries and hospitals.”
Fanny Blake, the commissioning editor for the series, agrees that the scheme remains a vital way of helping those who might otherwise feel cut off, excluded or ignored.
“The world of books can be a very intimidating one,” she said. “Many people feel that it’s not their world, that reading is not something they afford to do. Quick Reads is completely transformative because it says that’s not the case and just because someone is a slow reader it doesn’t make them a slow thinker. Anyone can enjoy a good story. That’s why schemes such as these need continued backing and support to succeed.”