Author of best-selling novel Me Before You, Jojo Moyes, recently announced that she will fund Quick Reads for at least the next three years. Her announcement came just two weeks after the popular adult literacy scheme announced that it was on the brink of closure due to lack of funding.
Run by the Reading Agency charity, the Quick Reads scheme is aimed at the one in six adults in the UK with reading difficulties. The scheme publishes entertaining, simply written books by well-known writers from Andy McNab to Malala Yousafzai. According to the charity, 95% of literacy practitioners say that Quick Reads has boosted learners’ reading confidence and 91% say the books have directly improved literacy skills.
Moyes said that she felt the need to step in and donate funds of up to £120,000 per year to keep the Quick Reads scheme going and continue to commission books. In addition, she would help the organisation find future funding thereafter. She said that the scheme, which has proven itself with positive results, should continue to be available because “you are tethered forever to the bottom rung if you don’t have the ability to just be able to read at a certain level”.
I really applaud Jojo Moyes for her generosity in donating to the charity to keep Quick Reads from closing down. It is indeed an extraordinary gift that will undoubtedly have immense social impact. It is a gift that will give many the chance to improve their literacy skills, which will then open many doors of opportunities for them.
If you want to read more about the Quick Reads scheme and Jojo Moyes’ donation, click the following link:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/10/jojo-moyes-steps-in-to-save-quick-reads-after-literacy-project-loses-funding