Reading is one of life’s great joys. It is where imagination begins. A book can take a child from a classroom in the North East to distant oceans, imagined worlds, historical moments or futures not yet written. It allows us to live lives we have never lived and to understand experiences beyond our own.
That matters deeply. Not just as education, but as experience.
Too often, reading is spoken about only in terms of attainment, skills or economic outcomes. Those things are important, but they are not why reading first captures a child’s imagination. Children read because stories are powerful. Because characters feel real. Because books open doors to places they have never been and ideas they have never considered.
Long before reading becomes a skill, it is a source of wonder.
But it is also the foundation for everything that follows. Reading underpins language, communication, confidence and learning across every subject. It shapes critical thinking, curiosity and the ability to engage with the world. Few capabilities matter more in education and beyond.
That is why the Year of Reading should matter. And it matters particularly here in the North East.
We cannot talk about reading in 2026 without acknowledging the world in which children are growing up. Smartphones, social media and digital technology are now part of everyday life. They connect us, entertain us and open up extraordinary opportunities to learn and communicate. They are not, in themselves, the enemy.
But they are designed for speed. For immediacy. For the next notification, the next video, the next scroll.
The digital world is built to keep us scrolling. Books invite us to stop, think and imagine. Technology connects us to information. Reading connects us to understanding.
In a world of constant distraction, reading offers something increasingly rare: the ability to slow down, to reflect, to develop empathy, to concentrate deeply and to inhabit another person’s world. These are not outdated skills. They are essential capabilities for navigating the modern world.
And in the North East, reading sits within a much longer tradition.
A region built on stories
This is a region built on stories. From the songs and oral traditions passed through generations, to our poets, novelists, playwrights and storytellers, narrative has always been central to how we understand ourselves. Stories have helped communities make sense of change, hardship, hope and identity.
Reading is how those stories are passed on – and how new ones begin.
The transformative power of reading
Having served for more than a decade as a trustee of the National Centre for the Children’s Book, and as I continue in my role as Chair of Byker Primary School, I have seen both the transformative power of reading and the commitment of those who work every day to support it. I have also seen how fragile that ecosystem can be.
Schools work tirelessly to foster a love of reading. Libraries remain vital civic spaces. Writers, illustrators, publishers and cultural organisations continue to inspire children across the region. The National Centre for the Children’s Book, based here in the North East, is a nationally significant institution dedicated to children’s literature and storytelling.
Yet too often, this work relies on short-term funding, uncertain cycles and extraordinary commitment rather than long-term stability.
That should give us pause.
Because if 2026 is to be the Year of Reading, it cannot simply be a year of campaigns, events and good intentions. It must leave something behind.
It should leave more children reading for pleasure. It should leave stronger school libraries and better supported teachers. It should leave cultural organisations on firmer ground. It should leave institutions like the National Centre for the Children’s Book properly recognised and supported for the national role they play.
But beyond all of that, it should leave something deeper. A shift in how we see ourselves.
The North East should not simply be known as a region that once told great stories, but as a region that is creating the next generation of storytellers.
That is the opportunity the Year of Reading presents.
Not just to encourage more reading in 2026, but to embed reading so deeply in our schools, homes and communities that it becomes part of how this region defines its future.
Because reading does not begin with policy. It begins with learning words. And it ends with discovering new worlds.
If the Year of Reading helps more children take that journey, it will have achieved something worthwhile. If it also helps the North East see itself as a region of storytellers – past, present and future – then it will have done something far more enduring.
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