The Reading Agency

The Reading Agency is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. Registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales,^[1] its purpose is to help children, young people and adults across the UK feel inspired and confident about reading. It is a library development agency that creates greater access to libraries. It also lobbies the government to promote the role libraries have to play in encouraging reading.

The Reading Agency is one of the eight founder organisations that have come together at the Free Word Centre in London and receives core funding from Arts Council England.^[2] It works with every UK local authority and also reaches readers through broadcasters, publishers, workplaces, schools, prisons and youth services.

The Reading Agency runs a number of high profile national initiatives including the UK’s largest reading promotion, the Summer Reading Challenge. Since the creation of the Summer Reading Challenge 12 years ago, it has become an annual part of the long holidays for more than 750,000 children aged 4–11.^[3]

The Big Lottery Fund awarded a grant to The Reading Agency to run Reading Activists, a project supporting disadvantaged teenagers. The project works with young people aged 11–19 who don't regularly use libraries, encouraging them to get involved in local branches and take part in volunteering opportunities. As the winner of The David Cohen Prize for Literature 2011, Julian Barnes chose The Reading Agency as the recipient of the £12,500 Arts Council-funded Clarissa Luard Award for literature organisations that support young writers and readers or an individual writer under the age of 35. The money will be used to support reading initiatives for young offenders.^[4]

References

External links

• Official website