[PRESS RELEASE – 3 NOVEMBER 2021]

Arts Council England has awarded Penguin Random House UK a £900,000 National Lottery Project Grant to expand its World of Stories programme, with the publisher matching this commitment with a £1million investment made up of cash and in-kind support. The programme, run in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, helps primary schools to improve their libraries and give children better access to the benefits of reading.

The new investment will also allow the programme to bring several independent publishers on board for the first time. The seven independent publishers involved joining the programme are Sweet Cherry, B Small, Barrington Stoke, Scallywag Press, Emma Press, Knights Of and Lantana.

One in four schools in disadvantaged communities do not have a library or dedicated reading space, despite the evidence of the positive impact that access to books and reading for pleasure can have on children’s learning, wellbeing and academic attainment. World of Stories attempts to address this by providing schools with a carefully selected range of books, bespoke online and face-to-face training from the National Literacy Trust, access to a library of free audiobooks, and support to build links with local public libraries and school library services.

The new investment will fund the programme from until 2024, and is expected to impact 125,000 children in 500 primary schools in disadvantaged communities in the Black Country, East London, Blackpool, Essex, Swindon, and Redcar and Cleveland. All of these areas include places that were recently designated as Priority Places by the Arts Council where it wants to develop new opportunities for investment.

The next phase of World of Stories will build on the work the programme has done with over 200 schools since it was launched by Puffin, part of Penguin Random House, and the National Literacy Trust in 2017.  World of Stories is a flagship programme of the new Primary Schools Library Alliance, which is also being launched today by National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House UK to address the chronic lack of investment in primary school libraries. The organisations are calling for large-scale public and private funding, alongside collaboration from other charities, publishers and ambassadors, to provide more resources for 1000 primary school libraries by 2025 and give over half a million children better access to the benefits of reading.

Sue Williamson, Director, Libraries at Arts Council England said “We’re delighted to work with Penguin Random House UK and the National Literacy Trust on this project, bringing together schools and public libraries in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country, which we have designated as priorities for further investment. We know that reading has so many benefits for children, and this funding is a vital step in ensuring that no child has to miss out on the inspiring, educational, enthralling power of literature.”

Siena Parker, Social Impact Director at Penguin Random House UK said “Books offer inspiration, escape, and the ability to step into someone else’s shoes. Research has shown that children who read for pleasure have better life chances in the future, get better grades, and report higher levels of wellbeing.

“Yet so many children are missing out on the joy of reading because our schools simply don’t have the resources they need. To help address this critical issue, we are delighted to increase our own investment in partnership with Arts Council England to expand our tried-and-tested World of Stories programme to 500 more schools across the UK, from Blackpool to the Black Country.”

Jonathan Douglas CBE, Chief Executive of the National Literacy Trust said “Over the last four years that we have been delivering the World of Stories programme with Penguin Random House, we have seen a huge impact on both children and teachers. We are extremely excited to be able to expand its reach
with the support of Arts Council England and Penguin Random House to reach even more schools in areas of the country where children have been so disproportionately affected by the pandemic.”

The next phase of the programme will run from January 2022. Schools can apply if they are located in the Black Country, East London, Blackpool, Essex, Swindon or Redcar and Cleveland, and have a higher than average percentage of pupils receiving free school meals.
More information is available here.

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ENDS

For more information please contact:

Nathan Dean, Communications Officer, Arts Council England
Tel: 0207 268 9648 / Email: [email protected]

Divia Kainth, Head of Sales and Marketing, Sweet Cherry Publishing
Tel: 0116 253 6796 / Email: [email protected]

About Art Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.
www.artscouncil.org.uk

Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies administering the Government’s unprecedented £1.96 billion Culture Recovery Funds. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19.

About Penguin Random House UK
At Penguin Random House we make books for everyone, because a book can change anyone. As the UK’s leading publisher we are home to some of the most brilliant authors in the world; including Margaret Atwood, Bernardine Evaristo, Malorie Blackman, Lee Child, Yuval Harari, Nigella Lawson, Charlie Mackesy, Ian McEwan, Nadiya Hussain, Haruki Murakami, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Jamie Oliver, Philip Pullman, David Attenborough, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and Jacqueline Wilson; along with over 3,000 different Classics.
@PenguinUKBooks | www.penguin.co.uk

About the National Literacy Trust
Our mission is to improve the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of those who need it most, giving them the best possible chance of success in school, work and life. We run Literacy Hubs and campaigns in communities where low levels of literacy and social mobility are seriously impacting people’s lives. We support schools and early years settings to deliver outstanding literacy provision, and we campaign to make literacy a priority for politicians, businesses and parents.

Our research and analysis make us the leading authority on literacy and drive our interventions. Literacy is a vital element of action against poverty and our work changes children and young people’s life stories. Our new site Words for Life provides simple, fun and educational activities for children and young people aged 0-24 to support learning at home and help them feel more confident.

Visit literacytrust.org.uk to find out more, donate or sign up for our free email newsletter. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Sweet Cherry Publishing:
Sweet Cherry is an award-winning children’s publisher based in Leicester. We believe that children from all backgrounds and abilities should have access to great stories, and we’re on a mission to break down the socio-economic barriers that often get in the way of reading. Sweet Cherry specialises in fun children’s books that promote reading for pleasure with reluctant readers to improve their confidence with reading alone. Sweet Cherry recently won Small Press of the Year 2021 at The British Book Awards. In 2021, we are celebrating 10 years in children’s book publishing with the launch of two new imprints, Clock Tower and Cherry Stone.
www.sweetcherrypublishing.com