Thursday Connectors: National Year Of Reading

By Jilly Henderson-Long

For today’s Thursday Connectors page, I want to start by talking about the National Year Of Reading. This is an initiative started by the Department Of Education and the National Literacy Trust, to reintroduce the joys of reading to young people. It’s estimated that fewer than one in three children enjoys reading these days, so the National Year Of Reading is there to help bridge that gap, with their ‘Go All In’ scheme. Aiming to tackle the steep decline in reading enjoyment, which has apparently  hit record lows, particularly in boys, events and activities are being planned up and down the UK to reintroduce reading into daily and family life.

It’s fortunate that World Book Day, occurring earlier this month, tied in very nicely with the National Year Of Reading. Schoolchildren everywhere were given a one-pound voucher to either purchase a book from those selected, or to put towards any other book they want. The selected books this year covered a wealth of ages and interests, from Peppa Pig to a book featuring amazing world cup football stories, plus a number of magical and adventurous stories in between.

Established in the mid-90s, World Book Day was first celebrated in the UK and Ireland in 1997, its aim being to encourage reading for pleasure in children.  Being able to read is a wonderful gift, but even in this day and age, some children are denied that opportunity. Very sad! I just hope this can be redressed, so reading – and all it has to offer – can be enjoyed by more people across the world.

Here at Pen To Prin and Write On! reading and writing are very close to all our hearts and every aspect and genre is covered. The following is a short extract from a play by Salford-based writer Caroline Lamb.

Excerpt From ‘Make It’

Introduction

After being offered the chance of a lifetime to make her name, sculptor Gina has suddenly discovered she’s pregnant: something she believed to be impossible. Now, holed up in a storage unit on New Year’s Eve, she faces a monstrous choice.

In this extract, Avery – Creative Director of the floundering organisation that may still have the power to resolve Gina’s struggle once and for all, burns a bridge in desperation.

Make It focuses on the impossible decisions facing creatives on the cusp of parenthood.

MAKE IT –  Scene 6

A small cosy snug in a townhouse in Edinburgh. A Hogmanay party is in full swing in the adjacent living room. There’s a large print of Van Gogh’s ‘Café Terrace At Night’ on the back wall.

AVERY – very drunk and quite emotional, half-finished glass of wine in hand, is in the midst of sharing an intense diatribe with another guest.

AVERY: …because it all sort of came from my mother. When she found out about me, that she was having me, she was studying at the Royal College Of Art, and she dropped out and she never really touched it again. ‘Course, in a lot of ways, things were harder back then.

But look, when I was ten or eleven, I’d spend hours in the shower scrubbing my scalp raw. Compulsively. I wasn’t a well kid. But she gave me these canvases and acrylics and told me to do whatever I thought would make me feel better. And I started mixing thick pliable paint and slapping it on, packing it deep, pressing stuff into it … and it was like all these horrible things inside me regurgitating and being crushed onto a board so I could hold them to account. I was the boss of that mess, and it was an order I created. And it helped me start to find a way out, express myself … and it convinced me that this magic I’d discovered should be for everyone.

But now, my company … my company.

Right now, there’s been someone waiting on us for urgent answers over Christmas. And I don’t want to give them false hope and I don’t want to just turn them away cold, but my hands are tied. We’ve been taken over by KPIs and blanket rules. We’re ‘one size fits all’ – but it doesn’t, because the privileged ones will always be able to squeeze in first. Manipulate everything with buzzwords and lip service and their unshakable sense of security. And we have to let them. We have to grovel or the money gets cut off, right?

I mean, I have spent all tonight brown-nosing with vultures and virtual currency wankers and f*****g AI-prolificators – no offence, just in the hopes of achieving…

Claire enters, angry and also drunk.

… a little independent financial banking to …

CLAIRE: Uncle Avery! Stop talking!

AVERY: Oh – sorry, I –

The guest leaves hurriedly.

CLAIRE: I need to speak with you.

AVERY: What’s the matter?

CLAIRE: Me introducing you to one contact does not mean you can go around all night soliciting my guests! We’re trying to have a party. People have been coming up to Barney and I saying you won’t shut up about investment. Have you just come here to beg off a bunch of cash cows?

AVERY: Things aren’t in a good place at the moment…

CLAIRE: Right, well, Barney and I reckon it might be time for you to get to bed. And you might feel like heading off bright and early tomorrow and getting back in touch when you’ve sorted yourself out a bit.

AVERY: I didn’t know I was causing trouble.

CLAIRE: Oh, well – I just…  Claire suddenly boils over. Don’t you have any sense of the entitlement you’re giving off? I’d no idea you’d been riding government handouts for over a decade!

AVERY: What?

CLAIRE: How is that sustainable?

AVERY: And other industries don’t get investment?

CLAIRE: They don’t act like it’s their god-given right! This is money that could be spent to save lives. If you can’t stand on your own two feet after all these years, you’re not a viable enterprise!

AVERY: We’re living in a culture of disdain for anything with a value that isn’t purely monetary –

CLAIRE: But it is f*****g monetary, isn’t it? Otherwise you wouldn’t be panhandling at my party! And I mean, Jesus Christ, there are worse things happening in the world. How many others are coasting along on subsidies? That’s what I want to know.

AVERY: Nobody’s ‘coasting’ OK? – even if we didn’t have the capacity to turn a profit, which we would in a fair  f*****g landscape …

CLAIRE: You reckon?

AVERY: Why shouldn’t we get investment? What else does this country have to be proud of? What else forms such a vital part of our national identity?

CLAIRE: “National Iden –” I can’t believe that just came out of your mouth!

AVERY: What? Sport? Football? Yeah, OK, but that’s it.

CLAIRE: OK, so the people who work, who have managed to use a little acumen – who are willing to graft – we’re expected to give you something for nothing, are we? Throw money down a hole. But what are you bringing to the table? “National Identity!” You expect people to just carry you?

AVERY: What have you done to justify your situation?

CLAIRE: What the f***! Do you?

AVERY: We bring more than a hundred billion into the economy, every year, Claire!

CLAIRE: Who does? Why don’t you just f*** off! Leave my guests alone and go to bed.

AVERY: Claire, can I just – apologise?

CLAIRE: You know where your room is.

Claire exits.

Avery seethes.

They go to leave the room but, suddenly and impulsively, they hurl the remnants of their wine over the Van Gogh print.

Exit Avery.

(c) Caroline Lamb, 2026

Caroline is writer-in-residence for Northern-based theatre company Dangerous To Know.

Writing anger and emotions is hard. It’s difficult to convincingly portray such feelings when writing fiction, but it must be harder when writing a play. Caroline does a great job here because you can feel the emotions of the two characters as surely as if you were having the argument yourself!

*****

Let’s go back to books and reading now, with this lovely poem by Tavinder Kaur New, illustrating how reading a good book can actually be a magical doorway to other worlds!

Take The Book

Take the book into your hand.
then turn the page to whisk away from the
outside world commotion
to the silence of the inside,
Take the book into your hand.
lead the mind into a world of imagination,
of other worlds,
creatures, characters, inspiration.
Take the book into your hand.
the emotions of joy, laughter, tears and horror,
from the words to transform to the
improvement to the self,
Take the book from the shelf at the local library
to borrow, renew, or download as an ebook.
So many to choose from: thriller, fantasy, romance,
crime, horror, or biography.
to the immersion,
Take the book, forget about everything,
Open the page towards another place
to lead you away from the outside world.
and commotion,
to the silence of the inside.

© Tavinder Kaur New, 2026

Connect with Tavinder on Instagram: @Tav_inderknew

*****

The following piece of prose is by Irina Goncherenko who, in this delightful tongue-in-cheek piece, shares with us exactly what reading means to her and the impact it has on her life as an avid reader.

What Reading Means To Me

I’ve escaped for a few days. I took a quick train trip to LA, had a glimpse of the HOLLYWOOD sign and witnessed a love story unfolding in front of me. I danced in the rain and was kissed under the stars. It all started magically, but somewhere, between romantic dinners and endless declarations of love, I grew bored and moved away to work at the Night Circus. This was a dream job! Magic and love were delicately intertwined.

A doorbell brought me back to reality. Did I need farm milk delivered to my doorstep every Tuesday? I might, but definitely not right now. At that moment, I felt as though I was in a storm. Or was it just a story I was reading? I took the man’s leaflet and closed the door. Glancing around my house, I stepped into my bedroom and inhaled the aromas of different worlds – my treasured library. Reading often has that effect on me; I’m transported into the world of a book. Sometimes, it takes me a while to get back to reality. On other occasions, the book is a perfect match, offering solutions to whatever is going on in real life.

Is reading my escape? Yes and no. Books are my teachers and my inspiration. They are my various journeys towards myself and my understanding of the world. Reading offers a vast map of emotions and feelings, a little peek into future scenarios and an opportunity to learn about myself. So, I’m off for another ride. This time into the woods. Happy Reading!

© Irina Goncherenko, 2026

I know just what Irina means here. At the moment, I’m reading the second volume of George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire series. The book is over 900 pages long and I’m about three-quarters of the way through it. Whenever I pick it up, I’m instantly transported back to that ancient world. I can smell the aromas, see the quirks in different characters, witness the architecture of ancient buildings,  even see the dragons flying – dragons that seem incredibly real! I forget this is 21st-century Essex and find myself in Westeros. It’s amazing! Who said time travel is impossible?

Next, we have one of Irina’s poems. It looks at how books can, if we let them, not only take over imaginary worlds, but can truly escalate into the real world!

Piles Of Books

Piles of books are under my bed.
Piles are on my table.
Piles are in my boot.
Hidden piles to get back to.
Piles to be read
and piles to be treasured.
Piles to donate
and such piles I can’t measure.
Piles covered in tears.
Piles covered in dust.
Piles covered in stains.
Piles covered with trust.
Piles which are still,
piles I’ve got from others.
Piles I’ll definitely keep
and piles I’ll give to others.
Piles I want to run away from
and piles of lost minds.
Unopened piles of regret.
And collectible ones.
Then there is this one
among all of the piles,
hiding so far,
only for the child to be found.
The boy brings it to bed
with a smile and a sigh:
“Please read it to me,
it’s your favourite one, mum.”

© Irina Goncherenko, 2026

Connect with Irina on Instagram: @Irina_goncherenko

*****

Finally, a short piece from Mary Walsh, who confesses she’s been an avid reader from an early age.

I Turn The Page

I turn the page.
The world around fades.
I am in a forest.
I am on a train.
I am in a cellar.
I’m with a murderer.
I’m in love,
transported away,
leaving my world behind,
engrossed in the tale
until tea time.

(c) Mary L Walsh, 2026

Connect with Mary on Instagram: @marelwa60

*****

That about wraps it up for my stint of Thursday Connectors editor for now. I’ve really enjoyed it and am happy to hand the reins over to your next Thursday Connectors editor, Afsana Elanko. Thank you all so much for reading. Wishing you many moons of happy reading, exploring, self-improvement and winning!