Oxfordshire Reading Campaign Supporters

The campaign is garnering support from local stakeholders, celebrities and authors throughout the county. Here is what they have to say about the Oxfordshire Reading Campaign:

David Cameron

Prime Minister and Witney MP

“If we want to give children the best chance in life, whatever background they are from, we need to help them develop the skills, aspirations and experience they need to fulfil their potential. Reading is absolutely central to this and that is why the Oxfordshire Reading Campaign has my full backing. I loved being read to as a child and Samantha and I try to do the same for our children. Sometimes it’s for five minutes and other times for 20 minutes but I genuinely believe that, no matter how busy we are, it makes a difference.”

Miriam Margolyes

Oxford born actress and former pupil of Oxford High School

“I support the initiative because it will change children’s lives for the better. Words are the currency of thought; if people (never mind children) don’t read, they will stop being able to think, their mind will not grow and flourish, but become small, arid and stunted. And then the world they live in will be the same; imagination must be nourished, it is stories which feed our imagination.”

Mark Haddon

Lives in Oxford and won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for his novel the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

“Learning to read and to read well is a gateway to pretty much everything of real value in society. To turn the argument round and put the case in its simplest and most brutal form, look at the shocking levels of literacy problems in prisons and you start to realise the implications of not learning to read and not getting through the gateway. Learning to read and read well is not just a good thing but a basic human right.”

Geraldine McCaughrean

Children’s novelist who has written more than 150 books including the authorised sequel to Peter Pan in 2006.

“Why live just one life when you can find a fresh one in every book you open? The best stories don’t know or care who their audience is. If a book isn’t good enough to be enjoyed by an adult, it isn’t good enough to be given to a child.”