From eerie adventures at sea, to endearing sausage-dog tales Firefly Press has the stories to encourage children to read for pleasure. And now we are thrilled to announce Let Your Imagination Fly, a book promotion and marketing programme aimed at reaching new readers aged between 7 and 18 in 2024.
As a Wales-based publisher, this outreach programme, funded by the Welsh Government’s New Audiences Fund, will focus on our home country. The latest PISA figures found that children’s reading levels in Wales are the lowest in the UK, and along with other countries, there has been a steep decline post-pandemic. And with a score of 466 in reading, comparable to an OECD average of 476, the need to encourage new readers is stronger than ever.
Research also shows that reading for pleasure is ‘the single biggest indicator of a child’s life chances’. An OECD 2021 report stated that: ‘engagement in reading, framed by a desire to read for pleasure, can mediate socio-economic status and may help address endemic inequalities’.
As our titles are aimed at children and young adults, we feel it is vital that they: a) appeal to young readers as reading for pleasure, and b) are discoverable through schools and libraries and other community spaces as well as bookshops, and virtually, online, where new readers might come across books for the first time. We also believe it is key that our titles can show readers themselves reflected in the books they read, and are empathetic reads that encourage understanding of Wales’ diverse communities.
The Let Your Imagination Fly project aims to organise author visits to schools, libraries or community centres, particularly in low income and/or ethnically diverse areas across Wales, to target potential new readers through social media, and to collaborate with reading promotion agencies to encourage more children from Wales to read for pleasure.
If you would like to find out more about the opportunities to get involved with Let Your Imagination Fly, please contact Megan.Rees@fireflypress.co.uk
This programme has been made possible through the support of Creative Wales and the Books Council of Wales.