April 2026
An early-age foray into literature has the potential to last a lifetime. Yet reading appears to be on the decline, and a campaign launched recently to reverse – or least stall – the trend is timely.
The National Year of Reading 2026 is a UK-wide initiative led by the National Literacy Trust and the Department for Education and aims to encourage people of all ages to pick up a book. How many activities are so low-cost, informative and inspiring? And that’s just for starters. Creativity and imagination desperately need nurturing if we are to develop and sustain a rich inner world.
Alongside coverage of the National Year of Reading, there has been much in the press recently about the benefits of curling up with a good book. Reading isn’t a complete antidote to loneliness but there’s a lot to be said for the comfort of engaging with a set of characters. As our guest contributors explain, books bring us insights into different communities, other viewpoints, and all the while the mind is active, whirring, taking in and processing.
As its website (goallin.org.uk) explains, the National Year of Reading campaign is promoting “reading that fits how we live, not the other way around… reconnecting reading with the things that already inspire us – from playlists and football matches to films, food and family time.”
We asked some booklovers to recommend writing that means a lot to them. The answers make fascinating reading…
One of the most beautiful and best-written novels I’ve read in a long time is This Is Happiness by Niall Williams.
It’s set in Faha, a small Irish town that in the 1950s belatedly gets electricity, and what happens when one of the men who is to install it arrives, upending all sorts of relationships. It is the most gorgeous portrait of small-town life, with a huge cast of characters drawn in quick sketches. At times hilarious, at times poignant, it is a book to savour, with every sentence a gem. And if you love it, there’s a sequel called Time of the Child, which Williams wrote because so many readers had asked him for more about Faha.
Tracy Chevalier, novelist
tracychevalier.com
Once upon a long time ago, before social mobility was a thing, my father read a book that changed his life.
Published in 1940, Fame is the Spur by Howard Spring charts the story of a man who rose from the humblest of beginnings in Manchester to achieve political success. Dad left school at the age of 14, as you did in those days. At the local Labour Exchange he was offered a choice: take a factory apprenticeship, or serve articles and train to be an accountant. Option two was set in motion.
Dad had political ambitions and did get as far as selection for what was then the Manchester Gorton constituency. Unfortunately Mother had other ideas – and being the wife of an MP wasn’t one of them. Although to be fair, as we began a slow migration south, she upgraded the daily newspaper delivery, peaking with The Times on our arrival in Surrey.
Our departure from the land of Lancashire hotpot was driven by several factors. The farm, owned by Dad’s grandparents, was barely five miles from the city centre. No future there. The decline of the cotton industry was lurking. Meanwhile, the encouragement to keep reading and studying came from the accountancy practice where Dad worked. He ploughed through Dickens, shared George Eliot with Mum – and, slowly, circles completed as if the words mirrored life events.
The world has a different set of problems and distractions now, but the need for self-improvement, resilience and anchor points is stronger than ever. Page turning is part of the solution. From bedtime reading to my teenage Saturday job in Marple Library, books were part of everyday life. Even now, if I look at the pile of ‘just finished’ or ‘pending’, it’s a round-the-world trip. Inspiration for supper; solving a murder. A psychological thriller set in Cornwall. The heartwarming stories penned by Jenny Kane.
Mood-lifting strategies come in many guises and for anyone who hasn’t picked up a book in a while, or wants to introduce children to what could be a lifetime hobby, I’d start by reaching for a Philip Reeve – such as the adventures of Kevin, a roly-poly Dartmoor pony. With illustrations by Sarah McIntyre, you don’t have to be seven to laugh out loud. I still giggle at the memory of a character questioning what a store, The Po Of ice, sold. Probably stamps. The wind had blown off part of the sign: The Post Office.
Annette Shaw, freelance writer
My choice is the Bible.
At King Charles’s coronation in May 2023, he was presented with a Bible with the words: “This is the most valuable thing that this world affords” and “Here is wisdom”.
This has been my experience too – reading my Bible has given me both comfort and challenge. I enjoy sharing a storyteller version with children and responding to their questions.
The Revd John Rees, Associate Priest in the Parish of Bridport
I loved Still Life by Sarah Winman.
Her writing is flawless! Rich and full and delicate at the same time. Still Life is a big hearted novel with characters you won’t want to leave behind. It is the only book I have immediately started again once I reached the end. Charming, uplifting, a little quirky and utterly wonderful.
Sarah Meadham, proprietor of The Book Shop, South Street, Bridport
dorsetbooks.com
When The Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén is my choice.
I loved this book for the sensitive way it depicts one man’s experience of ageing, his need for autonomy and his relationships with his son and his beloved dog. It made me cry, but it has lingered in my memory for the tenderness with which it depicts the difficult father/son relationship, the role of carers in the family and the atmosphere of rural Sweden that the author evokes.
Rachel Coney, Bothenhampton resident and enthusiastic member of two book groups
My recommendation is Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
This is a retelling of David Copperfield set in modern-day Appalachia, where poverty and addiction steal so many chances. Kingsolver’s prose immerses the reader in Demon’s world and has you rooting for him to succeed – or just survive – against the odds. I am in awe of the skill and work it takes to produce a novel like this.
Olivia Daly
Editor, The Bridge Magazine
We will be marking the National Year of Reading in further issues throughout 2026