Coram Beanstalk campaigns to help 1,000 more children into reading

The Society of Authors is partnering with reading charity Coram Beanstalk in a campaign to support 1,000 children in becoming lifelong readers during the National Year of Reading.

Coram Beanstalk currently helps around 7000 children with their reading at more than 500 schools, supported by some 1,300 volunteers.

The organisations are seeking to raise an additional £25,000 to train 250 more reading volunteers, which will enable Coram Beanstalk to provide 1:1 reading support to 1,000 more primary school children. Amy Lewis, Head of Coram Beanstalk, said: "The in-person support we provide to children gives them individual time and attention allowing them to flourish and we can't wait to bring this to more schools."

The SoA and Coram Beanstalk are inviting people to support the campaign by signing up as a volunteer in their local area, or supporters can make a donation towards the cost of training new volunteers. Coram Beanstalk is already part of a Get Britain Reading campaign, run by the Sunday Times, to encourage volunteers to read with children in schools.

L to R, Anna Ganley, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Amy Lewis and children from Edward Wilson Primary School

Award-winning children's author and SoA member Rashmi Sirdeshpande, who is a new Coram Beanstalk ambassador, helped launch the latest appeal during a visited to Edward Wilson Primary School in West London. Rashmi delivered a session for Year Three and Four children, encouraging them to find the books they love and to explore their interests through reading. She said, "Reading has such a huge impact on wellbeing and future life chances for children and I've long admired the important work that Coram Beanstalk are doing in this space, inspiring a love of reading and making books feel accessible and irresistible. I'm very excited (and honoured) to support them as an ambassador."

Coram Beanstalk was established in 1973 to offer reading support in London primary schools. It now delivers its programme in around 500 primary schools across England, providing trained volunteers who work alongside children to help them discover books that inspire and delight. Edward Wilson Primary School is one of the latest to join this network of schools and it already has two reading volunteers ready to get started. The school's headteacher Katy Lawrence said: "We were proud to be the launch school for Coram Beanstalk's National Year of Reading, with Rashmi as its ambassador, and know that today's event will stay with the pupils and inspire them to read well, widely and more frequently."

The appeal was launched in the same week as the official start of the National Year of Reading 2026, a campaign to address the steep decline in reading amongst children, young people and adults. Research from the National Literacy Trust, which is leading the National Year of Reading with the Department for Education, reveals that just one in three children aged eight to 18 say they enjoy reading in their free time.

Anna Ganley, Chief Executive of the SoA, said, "The decline in reading for pleasure is both alarming and saddening. We know that reading is vital for children's academic attainment, but it also brings so many other benefits, such as nurturing curiosity and imagination and developing self-esteem. We want every child to experience the magic of books, which is why we're proud to support this campaign."

The Society of Authors (SoA) is the UK's largest trade union for all types of writers, illustrators and literary translators, advocating reading for pleasure as a lifelong skill.