The initial workshops have gone incredibly well, with lots more to come. We hope to have done over 50 by the end of this year! Our exhibition ‘And then he kissed her…100 Years of Mills & Boon’ was held in Manchester Central Library from 6th June – 31st July. The exhibition then started on a tour around the North West, including Liverpool, where it will be available to view at the Central Library. We are attending and supporting a number of literary festivals:

The NYR is a government-backed initiative, which was formally launched on 1st April by Schools’ Secretary, Ed Balls. It will be supported by a TV advertising campaign featuring Geri Halliwell, Lenny Henry, Bill Bailey, Jon Culshaw and Jo Brand amongst others.

Below is a summary of what the National Year of Reading aims to achieve from the Reading Agency

The 2008 National Year of Reading aims to help build a greater national love of reading and a better understanding of its power as a fundamental life skill that opens doors - for children, families and adult learners alike. Most of all, it needs to convey the ways in which reading is a part of daily life, part of all the things you enjoy.

NYR aims to reach hesitant readers, reluctant readers, those who do not consider themselves readers (but who are!), and those who are in a position to influence someone's future reading potential - and make a compelling case to them all for greater engagement with reading.

This means reaching and engaging every parent and carer, as well as extended family members, in order to promote the central role of the family and the home environment, as well as the impact of education, on any child's reading life and future potential. NYR also aims to engage CEO's nationwide and encourage them to support reading and literacy development within and outside of the workplace.

The 2008 National Year of Reading celebrates books, but is also a celebration of words in every form and through every possible media. We are at a cultural crunchpoint - at a moment when we need to embrace whole new networks of reading through digital media, and at the same time celebrate everything that is relevant about traditional forms of reading and access to reading.

Most of all the 2008 National Year of Reading is about the power of words and reading and the ideas they can illuminate - it will celebrate the fundamental founding principle behind our network of public libraries; ideas available for free, to everyone, offering reading as a tool of personal emancipation, and an expression of a democratic society.

The Year aims to inspire everyone to read more, with a particular focus on unconfident or reluctant readers, as a pathway to educational attainment and personal development - and to enable greater participation in society and democracy.

The NYR will encourage and enable people to read in homes, businesses and communities around the country, by providing new opportunities to read and helping unconfident readers access support.

There will be events, schemes and initiatives aplenty in businesses, schools, museums, libraries and more to help achieve these aims.