Top titles gifted across Warrington as part of World Book Night

Staff from LiveWire libraries helped gift more than 330 books to organisations across the town, including; James Lee House, The Recovery Centre, and Read To Relax groups – which meet in libraries.

There are also plans to distribute books to a number of prisons that LiveWire work with.

The Salvation Army, who run the services at James Lee House, commented: “We are really pleased to receive the World Book Night books and they will be well used in our library downstairs.”

Carmel, from The Recovery Centre, added: “A lot of our clients, especially those with anxiety issues, find comfort in reading – so the gift means a lot to us.”

The national event, which is held on 23 April each year, focuses on reaching people who don’t regularly read.

It is run by The Reading Agency – a national charity that inspires people to become confident and enthusiastic readers.

This year, the charity has focused on targeting book giveaways to people who aren’t likely to read, including; adults with low literacy levels, people will mental health issues, parents and vulnerable pregnant women, and men and women in UK prisons.

Among the titles gifted were bestselling memoir The Last Act by Cathy Rentzenbrink, modern class Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and The Girl Who Wasn’t There by Ferdinand von Schirach.

The varied titles from publishers large and small were selected with the needs of the audiences in mind.

This more targeted approach to this year’s World Book Night builds on the work already carried out by The Reading Agency since it began running the event in 2013.

Chris Everett, senior LiveWire advisor for reading, said: “This new approach to World Book Night will allow us to reach and develop new readers who might not have the opportunity to access books on a regular basis.”

After World Book Night 2015, 80% of recipients who said they previously never read or read less than once a month said that they had read more since World Book Night.

After the 2016 event, a follow-up survey gleaned further positive results; 99% of recipients said that they were pleased to have been given a World Book Night title as a gift. 72% had already recommended the book to someone else, while 47% had gone on to buy more books and 37% had borrowed more books from the library.