- Roddy Doyle writes his first Galaxy® Quick Read in collaboration with the
Booker Prize Foundation
- Bestselling fiction writers Jojo Moyes and
Sophie Hannah amongst other new authors for 2015
1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle is
amongst the six authors announced today, Friday 19 September 2014, as the names
behind the 2015 Galaxy® Quick Reads
titles.
The books, which are sponsored by Galaxy®
for the fifth year running, will be published on 5 February 2015:
Roddy Doyle – Dead Man Talking
Jojo Moyes – Paris for Two One
Sophie Hannah – Pictures Or It Didn’t
Happen
Fanny Blake – Red for Revenge
Adèle Geras – Out of the Dark
James Bowen – Street Cat Bob
With one in six
adults still struggling to read[1], Quick Reads will next year
continue its work to break down the barriers to reading. 98% of literacy
practitioners report that using Quick Reads has been effective at raising
learners’ confidence to read whilst 95% say that the books have been effective
at improving readers’ literacy skills[2].
In 2015 the charity, which has published 129
titles, distributed more than 4.5 million copies and enabled over 3.5 million
library loans since it was founded in 2006, will continue to work with literacy
practitioners, prisons, librarians and retailers to bring the benefits and
pleasure of reading to everyone.
Roddy Doyle, who won the Booker Prize 21
years ago for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, is the first Man Booker Prize
author to pen a Quick Read. The book has come about through collaboration
between Quick Reads and the Booker Prize Foundation, as part of the
Foundation’s commitment to building the bridge between literature and literacy.
Roddy is a passionate advocate for literacy and is involved in various projects
promoting reading and writing in Ireland, as a contributor to the Open Door
literacy series (the original inspiration for Quick Reads) and as Co-Founder
and Chairman of Fighting Words in Dublin.
Dead Man
Talking will be offered to a number of prisons and Young Offenders Institutions
across the UK through the Booker Prize Foundation’s prisons initiative, Books
Unlocked, facilitated by the National Literacy Trust. It will expand
the programme’s existing reach, which promotes reading in prisons by
introducing Man Booker Prize-nominated titles through reading groups and author
prison visits. As well as the Quick Read, Roddy Doyle’s Booker Prize winner Paddy
Clarke Ha Ha Ha will be one of the titles offered through Books Unlocked
in 2014/2015.
Cathy Rentzenbrink, Project Director, Quick Reads,
comments:
‘I love the Man
Booker Prize and it distresses me that one in six adults of working age in the
UK does not have the literacy skills to read the winning book. By asking a
previous winner to write a Quick Read, we are enabling a far wider audience to
experience both literature and the Man Booker Prize as they make progress on a
journey towards becoming part of the reading world. Roddy’s book is a
wonderfully compelling tale about life and death and shows the story
possibilities that can exist even when using simpler language.
‘I am delighted
that Galaxy is continuing to support Quick Reads for the fifth year running.
Quick Reads is about bringing not just the benefits but also the
pleasures of reading to adults.’
Roddy comments on his involvement:
‘I’m delighted
to be involved with Quick Reads as they are all about creating new readers and
I’ve seen at first-hand how low levels of literacy have a negative effect on
people's lives. Literacy is the key to opening doors for everyone.
‘I started to write a story about a man who
was pretending to be dead. But as I wrote, it changed and I realised I was
writing about death. I wanted the story to be funny and a bit frightening
because, while it’s often frightening, death is rarely funny - and I wanted the
challenge.'
Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize
Foundation, comments:
‘I’m delighted about this partnership which I
see as a powerful step in the Foundation’s continual mission to bridge the gap
between literacy and literature. As the foremost literary prize in the English
speaking world, the Man Booker Prize is a password for excellence. It is
inspiring to see that excellence being made available readers at every level.’
Emma Thornton, Galaxy® Marketing
Director comments:
‘At Galaxy we are passionate about helping
people discover the pleasure of reading. A great book and a bar of Galaxy
are the perfect combination, and we are proud to have played a part in the
growth and development of the Quick Reads charity over the last five years.’
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