Quick Reads Initiative

Quick Reads Initiative

Quick Reads are a series of short books by bestselling authors and celebrities. With no more than 128 pages, they are designed to encourage adults who do not read often, or find reading tough, to discover the joy of books.

They were launched in the UK and Ireland by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair on World Book Day 2006. Since then, over 60 titles have been published, over 3 million copies have been sold and 2 million copies have been loaned through libraries.

Quick Reads are a collaboration amongst leading publishers, supermarkets, bookshops, libraries, government departments, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), Arts Council England, the BBC, World Book Day, 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 across the country. 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.

Quick Reads have helped hundreds of thousands to pick up books and enjoy reading again. In a survey covering 50,000 new readers in 2010, 98% said that Quick Reads had made a positive impact on their lives. Quick Reads have:

• Improved new readers' confidence • Increased morale at work • Improved family life, as readers feel more able to help their children learn

Featured authors have included Gordon Ramsay, Chris Ryan, Danny Wallace, Andy McNab, Ricky Tomlinson, John Simpson, Colin Jackson, Scott Quinnell, Adele Parks, Kerry Katona, Minette Walters, Joanna Trollope, Alvin Hall, and Rolf Harris. The initiative also features seven books based on the popular Doctor Who series. An incomplete list of titles can be found on the Quick Reads website.

The ten new Quick Reads for 2011 include stories from the world Number One James Patterson, l Irish novelist Sheila O'Flanagan, rising star Linwood Barclay and ex-Python Terry Jones. The other new Quick Reads include a comedy by Mike Gayle, a tale of childhood by Lucy Cavendish, a novel about a train journey going awry by Priya Basil, a martial arts adventure by Benjamin Zephaniah, a story of adoption gone wrong by Cathy Glass and a true story of a footballing bad-lad-made-good by Brighton & Hove Albion's Charlie Oatway.

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.