As we launch the Born & Read in Suffolk campaign, National Centre for Writing CEO Peggy Hughes urges us to rekindle our love of books and rediscover the life-changing power of reading this year.
The stats are in – fewer of us are reading than ever before. In 2025, enjoyment of reading among children and young people dropped to a 20‑year low, daily reading fell to the lowest level since records began, and nearly half of UK adults say they no longer consider themselves ‘readers’.
Whether it’s because we’re busy with the laundry, distracted by the football results, Netflix or Instagram, or managing the many other competing demands on our time and attention, it’s noisy out there – and you could be excused for putting books to the side in the face of all that!
But the benefits of reading are massive: it expands minds, builds confidence and fuels creativity. From our short time as babies through to our early teens, reading in all its forms brings profound and wide-ranging benefits that can have a lifelong positive impact.
Reading for pleasure – as something we do in our own time outside of the classroom – is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success, with heaps of evidence to show that reading creates closer bonds between children and caregivers, supports better performance at school, and develops empathy and imagination.
READ MORE: Born & Read in Suffolk celebrates the joy of reading
Here in the East of England, reading attainment levels are lower than the national average. lower than the national average. In Suffolk, 73% of Key Stage 2 pupils met the expected standard in reading in 2025, trailing the national reading benchmark of 76%, according to the Department of Education.
If we want our children to read – and enjoy reading – we need to make sure they have access to books, as well as positive reading opportunities and role models, from a young age.
Not only are the benefits huge, but the sheer joy of falling into a groove with a writer you love, especially at a young age, is incomparable!
In the words of Stephen King: “Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
I remember the first novel I read cover to cover. I was six years old and had been given a book token. I used it to get George’s Marvellous Medicine which was – no pun intended – a gateway drug to the world of Roald Dahl.
I inhaled that book while ensconced on the velvet beanbag in my granny’s living room and, after that, there was no stopping me. The worlds of Enid Blyton and Judy Blume and Jacqueline Wilson were thrown open – and those doors have never closed.
Reading has been my life. It has introduced me to new friends and helped me build a career which involves connecting readers and writers, so the 2026 National Year of Reading campaign strikes a profound, personal chord.
The National Literacy Trust is leading the charge on this UK-wide initiative designed to inspire more people to make reading a regular part of their lives. They’re asking the nation to ‘Go All In’ to explore how reading in all its forms can unlock more of what you love.
Here in Suffolk, we’re teaming up with Newsquest – publishers of the East Anglian Daily Times, Ipswich Star and more – to celebrate and explore the joys and opportunities unlocked by reading.
Across 2026, we’ll be working together to share regular features and book lists, competitions and giveaways, quizzes and pop-up events to help inspire a lifelong – or a renewed – love of reading and storytelling across the region, as part of the Born & Read in Suffolk campaign.
Together, let’s celebrate what makes reading truly magical: its unique power to open doors to anything that sparks your curiosity, no matter where your interests lie. Whether it’s sports, music, history, video games… pick up a book about it today.
Take 20 minutes to get lost in another world. Read aloud to someone else. Plug in an audiobook, browse your local library or bookshop and surprise yourself! Take a risk! And don’t be deterred: you’re allowed to leave a book unfinished and try something else instead. Read a book you love again (and again!).
We hope you’ll join us on this Year of Reading journey and make reading part of you and your everyday.
This article is part of Born & Read in Suffolk – a year-long initiative delivered in partnership with the National Centre for Writing and Suffolk Community Libraries, sponsored by Sizewell C and supported by Ipswich Town Football Club highlighting the importance of reading and writing. Follow the campaign throughout the year in our coverage and on social media using #BornAndRead2026 or get in touch at readingmatters@newsquest.co.uk
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