The Bookseller.com

5th July 2008

Balls leads reading revolution

24.10.07 Katherine Rushton

Minister Ed Balls called for a "national revolution" in children's reading at home at the launch of the 2008 National Year of Reading this Wednesday. The Children, Schools and Families Secretary—who is one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's closest advisors—urged parents to make bedtime reading as much a part of children's daily routine as brushing their teeth.

"As a parent myself I know how hard it can be to find time, but just ten minutes a day can make a difference to a child's future, and create a love of reading from an early age," he said. He added that parents should "make a start now" and buy books as presents for Christmas and birthdays.

Balls' plea led an ambitious unveiling of the 2008 NYR—the second of its kind—which aims to have "a huge impact on the reading culture in this country". The first NYR, in 1998, was criticised for having too little lasting effect.

The scheme will be led by Honor Wilson-Fletcher, who joins as project director in November and has pledged to make NYR "greater than the sum of its parts".

She told The Bookseller this week that she would use NYR as a framework to bring together various reading initiatives as well as expertise from other creative industries like music and film.

"I don't think there is one single route to readers from any target group, so we will work with a multitude of different partners. It's about lots of integrated, joined up work," she said. "We will link with pretty much everyone we can. This is not something that's going to be orchestrated and bestowed upon the country; it's going to be orchestrated by the country...If you have only got one pony, you can only pull one trap. If you have 20 horses, then you've got yourself a chariot race."

Wilson-Fletcher is currently marketing director at the Southbank Centre, and has previously been Waterstone's head of PR, held numerous sales and marketing roles in publishing and headed up marketing at the British Museum.

Katherine Rushton children's National Year of Reading NYR Ed Balls

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