Libraries can order promotional materials that suport this ITV season from our shop. But be quick - the deadline is Friday 22 August.

There are three award categories:

• Best UK author of the year
• Best international author of the year
• Best breakthrough author award

As you would expect when thinking of the best of British crime thriller writers of recent times, the ITV3 programmes will feature Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Colin Dexter, PD James, Ruth Rendell and Lynda La Plante. Starting from 18 August, each author will be given their own week, featuring some of their finest TV adaptations every night, plus an exclusive documentary examining their lives and work.

Readers can vote for free online and by phone to select which of the six will win the ITV3 Writer's Award for Classic TV Drama at the ceremony at London's Grosvenor Hotel on 3 October 2008.

For more information and to get voting details visit the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Season website - you'll find the link in the Resources section of this page.

Andrea Levy (25.3MB)

George MacDonald Fraser (25.0MB)

Hanif Kureishi (25.0MB)

Le Grand Meaulnes (25.1MB)

Lionel Shriver (25.2MB)

Malorie Blackman (25.0MB)

Michael Dibdin (25.0MB)

Muriel Spark (24.9MB)

Oliver Sacks (24.7MB)

Pat Barker (24.9MB)

Paul Auster (25.2MB)

P J ORourke (24.9MB)

Link to the Listening Posts Podcasts

In 2008 World Book Day took place in the UK and Ireland on 6 March 2008 and featured:

• Spread the Word
• Quick Reads
• Children's campaign

Spread the Word

In 2008 Spread the Word is focusing on Books to Talk About. These are publishers' 'hidden gems' that haven't been bestsellers but that deserve to be talked about - and are good to be talked about.

You can view the Spread the Word shortlist of ten titles, along with the longlist of 100 titles, at Spread the Word.

The shortlist titles are listed below:

Before I Die, Jenny Downham
Boy A, Jonathan Trigell
Death of a Murderer, Rupert Thomson
Gods In Alabama, Joshylin Jackson
In Cold Daylight, Pauline Rowson
Ishq & Mushq, Priya Basil
Lint, Steve Aylett
Playing with the Moon, Eliza Graham
Salt & Honey, Candi Miller
Speaking of Love, Angela Young

Follow the links for information about how we supported the World Book Day Children's campaign and Quick Reads initiatives.

In 2008 World Book Day took place in the UK and Ireland on 6 March 2008 and featured:

• Quick Reads
• Spread the Word
• Children's campaign

Quick Reads

Quick Reads is the initiative for adults who have never got the reading bug or who have lost the habit, or indeed avid readers want a quick read.

Ten new bite-sized, fast-paced books by leading bestselling writers and celebrities were published on World Book Day 2008 priced £1.99 each - so everyone can afford them.

• Humble Pie Gordon Ramsay (adapted from his autobiography)
• The Girl on the Platform Josephine Cox (fiction from the bestselling author)
• One Good Turn Chris Ryan (an action thriller from the ex-SAS man)
• Life's New Hurdles Colin Jackson (autobiography of the British Olympic medallist)
• Happy Families Adele Parks (fiction from the bestselling author)
• The Hardest Test Scott Quinnell (autobiography of the Welsh rugby player)
• East End Tales Gilda O'Neill (a collection of childhood memories)
• RaW Voices of Hardship and Hope edited by Vanessa Feltz (real life stories from people around the UK)
• The Ten Keys to Success John Bird (advice on success from the founder of the Big Issue)
• Doctor Who: Revenge of the Judoon Terrance Dicks (the original Dr Who author)

Libraries play a key role in ensuring that readers can get hold of these books (and the Quick Reads that were published in 2006 and 2007) particularly through their partnerships with people who work with adults who struggle to read.

We also provide a range of resources for people working with adult literacy learners using Quick Reads through our The Vital Link website.

Follow the links to see how we are supporting the World Book Day Spread the Word and Children's campaign initiatives.

"Quick Reads has a very ambitious aim. With the help of a wide range of authors, we want to take emergent readers and make them addicted readers - so that reading for pleasure becomes not just a skill but a habit." Gail Rebuck, The Random House Group.

We're doing this by encouraging libraries and adult literacy practitioners (another technical term) to work together to create a brilliant offer to new readers - a welcoming space with friendly staff, support to learn, the right books and lots of creative ways of promoting them.

We know that this can motivate adults to improve their reading skills so that they can read more - and enjoy it.

So our The Vital Link website includes lots of support for librarians and adult literacy professionals who want to work together. This includes toolkits, case studies of successful collaborations, training information and a unique database of books suitable for adults who aren't confident readers - First Choice Books.

We also run many of our projects for adults with lower literacy levels (BBC RaW, Six Book Challenge and Quick Reads) under the umbrella of The Vital Link.

As ever, we can't do all of this on our own so we are running The Vital Link in partnership with the National Literacy Trust. The Vital Link has been endorsed by the Society of Chief Librarians and is part of the government's ten-year vision for public libraries, Framework for the Future. We are also partly funded by the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills to get their reading for pleasure message out to those that work with adults who aren't confident readers.

We were delighted at how everyone involved rose to these challenges earlier this year. To run through some of the statistic that we are most proud of - an estimated 7000 people took part in the Six Book Challenge 2008 through libraries, colleges, community education centre, prisons and workplaces. On average 43 per cent of people who started the Challenge read six books. Eighty-eight per cent of those surveyed said they had gained something from the Challenge and 60 per cent felt that their literacy skills had improved - which, of course, is one of our main aims of this new initiative.

The particularly great news is that 93 per cent of organisations say they will be running the Six Book Challenge again in 2009 and we have high hopes of getting more to sign up - now that the benefits of the scheme are so clear. We also have continuing support from our sponsors Costa and from best-selling author Mike Gayle as patron.

Materials for the Six Book Challenge 2009 are available now - visit the Shop to make your order and start planning.

We are running the Six Book Challenge as part of The Vital Link programme that supports adult literacy learning so you will also find information and resources on that website. Links to our Six Book Challenge and The Vital Link websites are in the Resources section on this page.

"I never thought I could read one book, never mind six! I feel so proud. I've never felt so good about myself. I feel like I can do anything now." Noleen Vine, 2008 Challenge completer, Warrington.

What are you reading this summer?

Richard & Judy's Summer Reads are back and promotional materials are now available to order through our new Shop.

We are the only source for the promotional materials for the Richard & Judy Summer Read 2008, which include the covers of the chosen books (all popular paperbacks) with the added straplines Summer Reads at your library and What are you reading this summer?

The Richard and Judy Summer Read 2008 shortlist has been announced. Here is the list of titles with the dates they appear on the show.

June 25: The Outcast by Sadie Jones

July 2: No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

July 9: East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

July 16: Down River by John Hart

July 23: The Pirate's Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

July 30: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller

August 6: Addition by Toni Jordan

August 13: The Resurrectionist by James Bradley

Best Read of the Year 2008

The Richard & Judy Book Club 2008 (Best Read of the Year) was the very popular A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

For more information check out the Galaxy British Book Awards.

Download the 2007 Reading Partners evaluation report, which includes new information, statistics and other key achievements for libraries and the book trade.

Reading Partners is allowing us to achieve these ambitions.

Reader meets writer programme

A huge Reader Meets Writer programme including some of the UK's best-known authors and covering all of the 149 library authorities in England was announced on 15 April 2008 at the London Book Fair.

The programme has been created by Reading Partners and is part of the National Year of Reading.

• 50 high profile author events will take place in library venues across the country. Kate Mosse will be in Lambeth, Derbyshire and Sutton; Hanif Kureishi appears in Leicester; Iain Banks in Gateshead, Alexander McCall Smith in Warwickshire, Mavis Cheek in Kent and Cumbria and Clare Francis in Brighton. To find out which big name authors are going to be where, and when, you can download the big name author event details.

• Every library authority in England will be paired with a local author, covering major cities and far-flung locations alike. To find out who is going to be where, download the file that relates to your region from Resources. And keep your eyes peeled for what's going on at a library near you.

Reaching Readers

Our current Reading Partners project Reaching Readers is an exciting initiative for Black and Minority Ethnic readers.

Our Reading Partners publishers have teamed up with public libraries on six projects in Birmingham, Leeds, Lewisham, Manchester, Newham and Norfolk. Together they will work on innovative projects to promote books and the joys of reading to a culturally diverse audience. Activities include work with reading groups, exciting book promotions to introduce more readers to books by British Black and Asian writers, and engaging author events. The projects will help publishers and libraries learn more about each other's work and to find out more about all aspects of BME reading and writing.

You can find information and sign-up to the Reading Partners e-letters from Resources. Latest edition now available.

Libraries and publishers working together

Libraries and publishers running joint events can use the libraries and publishers' planning form devised by Nicola Thomas and developed with several West Midlands libraries and Helen Johnstone of HarperCollins.

Reading Partners publishers

Reading Partners has been running for three years and ten publishers have joined us to help realise our vision. They are:

• Bloomsbury
• Faber
• Hachette Livre
• HarperCollins
• Harlequin Mills & Boon
• Independent Publishers Guild
• Pan Macmillan
• Penguin
• Random House
• Time Warner

"The word transformative is blunt with overuse these days but this is a partnership about which it can be used with some justification." Gary McKeone, formerly of Arts Council of England

We created the database with Learn Direct, MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL).

Libraries can add details of reading groups by using this form.

To amend the details of any of the groups already on the database please email resources.

Orange Prize 2008 winners

The Orange Prize for Fiction 2008 winner has been annnouced. It is The Road Home by Rose Tremain. The winner of the New Writers Award 2008 is Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna.

To see video of the award ceremony visit the Orange Prize website.

You can download the longlist and shortlist from Resources and also find out who was on the 2008 judging panel for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction and Orange Broadband Award for New Writers.

Running the Orange Prize

If you sign up to the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction you'll receive the free longlist and shortlist promotional materials and a resources pack full of great ideas about how to run the promotion. You'll also get the support of a Reading Agency project manager and the chance to win one of three pairs of tickets for the awards ceremony. What more could you ask for?

If you still need persuading then we can also tell you that the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction is an extremely flexible promotion. You can get involved at a basic level by running displays at either the shortlist or longlist stage or you can use it to broaden your work with local readers. Many libraries choose to promote the Prize from the longlist of 20 books as this gives them a wider range of titles. The choice is yours.

Got kids? Get reading!™ is our project for adults who are not confident readers who have children aged seven and under. It sits within our The Vital Link. We have produced promotional packs for libraries, family centres, schools and others working with parents with low levels of literacy to use to harness their enthusiasm and improve their reading. These are available to order through Resources.

"For the first time my son has picked up a book and run to me to ask for it to be read." Got kids? Get reading! parent

Galaxy British Book Awards 2008

The Galaxy British Book Awards 2008 winners have been announced at the award ceremony on Wednesday 9 April. The winners are:

The Book People Lifetime Achievement Award
J.K. Rowling

Galaxy Book of the Year
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

Author of the Year
Ian McEwan

Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year
A Thousand Splendid Sons by Khaled Hosseini

Biography of the Year
My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

Crime Thriller of the Year
Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell

Newcomer of the Year
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

Popular Fiction Award
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

Popular Non-Fiction Award
Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman

Children's Book of the Year
Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman by Francesca Simon

See also Richard & Judy.

The Five Minutes promotion supports any work you are doing with families and The Vital Link, our project encouraging adults with low literacy levels to get reading. The reading promotion includes display materials and dedicated booklists for libraries, family centres, children's centres and schools and are available from Resources.

Many exciting activities are going on in the region to introduce the benefits of reading groups to readers who haven’t previously got involved and to support the reading groups that are already established. These include:

• Storytelling for people who don’t have many social opportunities, such as older people, asylum seekers, refugees and adults with mental health problems.
• Activities developed with the RNIB for reading groups for readers with visual impairments.
• A creative interactive writing project for reading groups across the region.

Library staff are working in partnership with care homes, hospitals, mental health support organisations and other voluntary groups. They are also establishing links with other regions through visits, conferences and information sharing.

Our partners in this project are the East Midlands Reader and Library Development group (EMRALD) with support from East Midlands Museums Libraries and Archives Council (EMMLAC) and the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council (MLA).

To find about more about this project and download information about the work we have done so far see Resources.