A new project to get Liverpool reading has been launched.
With the aim of transforming Liverpool into the UK’s foremost reading city, a project has been set up by the council in partnership with The Reader Organisation and the Liverpool Echo.
Mayor Joe Anderson has pledged to improve education standards and ensure that no child leaves primary school unable to read, after recent studies demonstrated how important reading is to a child’s social mobility.
Jane Davis, Director of The Reader Organisation, who has been appointed to run the campaign, said: “Reading simply for enjoyment is so important to a child’s development and a wonderful activity to share with others.
“We need everyone in Liverpool to act as role models for our children, reading at home, reading in schools and reading in the community.”
The Reader Organisation is a charity which started in 2002 by setting up ‘Get into Reading’ groups across Liverpool and Wirral. It has now spread nationwide.
While there are groups that the public can attend and get involved with the community, the charity also reads to dementia sufferers and those who are unable to read, as well as holding groups for people detained in the criminal justice system.
Lizzie Cain, The Reader Organisation’s communications co-ordinator, told JMU Journalism: “Our vision is of a place where people from across Liverpool and beyond can come together to read, learn, play, make new friends and find new opportunities.”
The organisation has transformed Calderstones Mansion in to an International Centre for Reading and Well-being, to give the public a place to gather, read literature and meet new people.
City of Readers is asking individuals and organisations to ‘Give Us Five’ towards the project, whether donating £5 towards an event or volunteering for five hours a week.
Ms Davis added: “Together we can make Liverpool a City of Readers.”