World Book Night: Free books to be handed out in Bradford as part of mission to tackle nation's reading crisis

Published for the charity’s flagship World Book Night, the Quick Reads are short, affordable (they retail at £1), and entertaining tales, written by bestselling and acclaimed authors.

They are, says The Reading Agency’s CEO Karen Napier “a tool for social change”. “Regular reading has far-reaching social impacts, improving health, wellbeing, life chances and social connections,” Karen explains.

"Quick Reads are designed to be an entry point for readers to discover, or rediscover, the joys and benefits that reading is scientifically proven to bring.”

And the charity has done the research: Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20 per cent more likely to report greater life satisfaction.

Reading for pleasure enhances empathy and understanding – and those who do so also have higher levels of self-esteem, better sleeping patterns and more resilience. Non-readers, meanwhile, are 28 per cent more likely to report feelings of depression.

Cathy Rentzenbrink’s Quick Read is an abridgement of Write It All Down – her guide to putting your life on the page.

It is a full circle moment for Cathy who is a former project director of Quick Reads. She took on the role, after helping her illiterate father read for pleasure.

Her dad grew up in poverty, the youngest of nine. Cathy thought his lack of education was unique to 1950s Cork, but Quick Reads revealed to her the various ways that adults have difficulty reading.

“It’s a complex thing,” she says. “It’s usually because they’ve had a difficult relationship with education, or family trauma, and often they might be dyslexic and not diagnosed.”

Books and reading have shaped her.

Cathy says: “I’ve always found books to be such good friends. Once you can read, and you are confident and know your way around a book, they’re incredibly forgiving as friends – reliable and constant.

"With The Reading Agency’s Quick Reads, I wanted to make sure everyone had the opportunity to read for pleasure.”

Another Quick Reads author this year is the romance writer, Cathy Bramley, who has sold almost two million books worldwide.

Her motivation came from volunteering as a teenager for the Right to Read scheme and seeing the impact it had.

She says: “I worked with a young widow, a mother of two, whose first language wasn’t English and who struggled to read.

"Despite all the difficulties she was going through, her goal was simply to read a bedtime story to her children.

"I have never forgotten the brightness of her smile the day she reported back that she had been able to do just that.”

Every April 23, World Book Night takes place as a national celebration of reading and books for adults and young people.

Presented by The Reading Agency, it brings people from all backgrounds together for one reason – to inspire others to read more.

This year, Bradford, as the 2025 UK City of Culture, was chosen for the World Book Night launch event.

Shanaz Gulzar, CEO of Bradford 2025, says: “Reading should be accessible to everyone, whether English is a second language, literacy is a challenge, or life has simply made it difficult to maintain the habit.

"The written word is the foundation of so much of our culture, and ensuring more people can engage with it will have a far-reaching impact.” 

People are being invited to join a mass ‘read-in’, hosted from 11.30am in The Wool Exchange Waterstones.

As a thousand Quick Reads are gifted (on a first come, first served basis) one of the Quick Read authors, the crime writer Abir Mukherjee will give a reading, signing and talk.

Now in its 19th year, the Quick Reads programme has collaborated with over 30 publishers and produced more than 140 titles since 2006.

Fellow crime writer Fiona Cummins has a very personal motivation for being involved. Her father struggled with illiteracy- and her Quick Reads title (A Boy Called Saul) is dedicated to him.

Fiona explains: “A few weeks after I finished writing it, he was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer and given less than a handful of months to live.

"When I first mentioned this book to Dad, he told me he was determined to read it. At 78, he still struggles to access the written word, but he wants to give it a try, which, to me, sums up the spirit of Quick Reads.”

She adds: “Books have always been so much more than a series of words on a page. They entertain and thrill us, infuriate and move us. They make us laugh out loud and weep.

"They introduce us to new ideas and unfamiliar worlds, and open doors to places inside ourselves that we didn’t know existed.

"They are a daughter reading to her father. And a father who can’t read trying to connect with his little girl. They are about being human. And everyone is welcome.”

Find out more about the authors and titles at readingagency.org.uk/quick-reads-2025