Suffolk Libraries has launched a campaign to celebrate and promote reading across the county.
2016 will be a big year for reading in the county with various initiatives and events taking place in libraries and other venues.
There will be a big focus on tackling literacy as a county-wide issue but the aim of the campaign is to encourage reading for pleasure amongst people of all ages and the many social benefits it can bring.
Alison Wheeler, Chief Executive of Suffolk Libraries said: “There is a great deal of activity planned this year which will promote literacy in the county and provide social opportunities for people to come together and celebrate reading.
“It’s never too late to start your reading journey and the library is the perfect place to do that – with free access to hundreds of thousands of titles in various formats, and hundreds of events and activities throughout the year for families, older people, avid readers and those just starting to enjoy books. Our campaign is also about celebrating the many other events and projects round the county.
“It doesn’t matter how much you read or what you read – we want people to get involved and share what they enjoy about reading and what it means to them.”
Colin Rockall is a member of Suffolk Libraries Board, Chair of Lavenham Library Friends and a Director and Secretary of the Lavenham Literary Festival. He added: “The popularity of events such as the Lavenham festival demonstrates a clear appetite across our county for books and reading. We want to encourage more and more people to enjoy that experience.”
There will be various initiatives and events taking place throughout the county throughout the year:
- Suffolk Writes – a pilot project to enable aspiring writers to get some of their work published as a Suffolk Libraries eBook – suffolklibraries.co.uk/suffolkwrites
- A Suffolk Libraries literacy conference on 27 May for education professionals which will focus on how creating a reading culture in schools can help children and young people with their mental wellbeing.
- A calendar of events including Suffolk Libraries own Bookfest book festival in October, the Slaughter crime writers’ festival organised by Southwold Library in June, the first Lavenham Children’s Book Festival and Lowestoft Library Literary Festival, both of which will be held in the autumn, and other book festivals round the county.
- The development of projects tackling literacy including Suffolk Libraries’ Literacy Ambassador Matt Shenton’s work with Year 7 Pupils – suffolklibraries.co.uk/community-services/literacy
- Suffolk Libraries is working with ten of the county’s primary schools to set up new Chatterbooks reading clubs to support reading for pleasure as part of a national Department for Education pilot project.
- Suffolk Libraries will be supporting Reading Ahead which is a relaunched initiative by the Reading Agency to challenge young people and adults’ perception of reading by encouraging them to read six books. This will be promoted through the county’s public libraries and also the three prison libraries which are also run by Suffolk Libraries.
- Suffolk Libraries will also be getting behind Reading Hack which is a new programme aimed at inspiring young people to read.
How people can get involved:
- Suffolk Libraries are asking people to make reading pledges which will be collected online and on postcards available from the library – suffolklibraries.co.uk/our-year-of-reading/make-a-reading-pledge
- As well as all the various events and activities in libraries and other venues, Suffolk Libraries will be running a ‘Get Caught Reading’ competition – A chance for people to send a photo of themselves reading in unusual or interesting places. More details on this soon!
- You can also have fun posting #bookfacefriday photos of strategically placed books held up in amusing ways – www.instagram.com/explore/tags/bookfacefriday/
- People can use the hashtag #SuffolkYOR on Twitter and follow @SuffolkLibrary to keep in touch.
For a list of upcoming events in libraries visit suffolklibraries.co.uk/upcoming-events
@suffolklibrary Facebook.com/suffolklibraries
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