World Book Day celebrations are starting early this year with two huge flagship events being held in February in Swansea and Wrexham. These events will see a total of a thousand local primary school children taking part in reading and sporting activities to inspire them to read more.
The events, organised by the Welsh Books Council, are designed to encourage more 7–11 year olds, especially boys, to read more and also to help close the literacy gap between the genders.
The two events are mainly sport-based and include reading sessions with well-known children’s authors Cat Weatherill and Dan Anthony. There will even be special guest appearances by players from Swansea City FC, the Ospreys and Wrexham FC, who will emphasise to pupils that reading is important to get ahead even in the sporting world.
Elwyn Jones, Director of the Welsh Books Council, said “World Book Day has now established itself in the Welsh calendar and these major events are fundamental in presenting the message that reading is not only for pleasure but also an essential skill for each individual. It will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to hear their sporting idols and heroes talking about reading and sharing their enjoyment of books.”
The schools taking part in Swansea are Townhill Community School and Terrace Road, Blaenymaes and St Illtyd’s primary schools and, in Wrexham, Gwenfro, Rhosymedre and Hafod y Wern primary schools and Ysgol Gymraeg Bodhyfryd.
These events, which aim to make reading fun, have been arranged for schools in some of the most deprived areas in Wales. A recent report noted that 14% of children and young people in lower income homes rarely or never read books for pleasure.
In Swansea the event is being held at the Liberty Stadium and the LC2 on Tuesday 15th February and the event in Wrexham will be at the Racecourse on Thursday 17th February, with celebrations culminating on World Book Day, Thursday 3rd March.
Other World Book Day activities in Wales include an Enormous Story Session for primary schools, and well-known faces will be supporting the ‘Make Time to Read’ campaign. Schools, colleges, universities and libraries that are organising activities for World Book Day are asked to upload the details to http://bit.ly/worldbookday.
