Reading in Prison Day 2026: a celebration of what books can do behind bars
On Friday June 12th more than 100 people gathered at the glorious Stationers’ Hall in central London for Give a Book’s biennial event to explore the power of books and reading in prisons.
The day began with a personal video message from Lee Child, the first Prison Reading Laureate to be appointed. He paid tribute to the work of all those promoting reading in prison and in particular to the ‘passionate and committed’ voluntary sector: ‘You are doing good and you are changing lives, you are making the nation a better place’.
Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, was the Keynote speaker. With characteristic clarity and straight-talking, Charlie gave us a wide-ranging overview of reading education in prisons and shone a light on both the achievements and the shortcomings of current provision. The panel that followed took up the issues that Charlie raised from the point of view of a governor, a librarian, an officer and a prison reading consultant.
We also heard from some of those running really inspirational reading projects: the book for every new prisoner initiative at Chelmsford; reading groups at an A Cat prison that have built empathy and community for prisoners on long term sentences; and a reminder from two of our Reading the Way specialists of the skills and expertise that even adults who feel they struggle with reading can bring to a group of emergent readers.
Professor Jenny Hartley co-founded Prison Reading Groups (PRG) in 1999 and is still a very active volunteer with groups at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. She is also currently researching what prisoners read for pleasure and the findings she presented were fascinating.
The afternoon started with TV and film writer director Richard Curtis in conversation with journalist and PRG volunteer Caroline Hutton. Richard entertained us mightily with stories of his reading and in particular his discovery of the pleasure of books by women: ‘What good company women writers are’! And his parting shot was hard to argue with: ‘I like books that agree with me’.
A highlight of the day was the ‘Fiction and Philosophy’ conversation between Andy West and Kirstin Anderson. Andy teaches philosophy in prison and is author of the memoir that became the 6-part BBC series Waiting for the Out. Kirstin works in a university criminology department and for 10 years has also run a PRG reading group in a Scottish prison. Together Andy and Kirsten highlighted similarities and differences, not least the ways both pursuits encourage empathy but also critical self-examination.
The climax of the day was the Prison Reading Groups (PRG) awards for outstanding contributions from librarians and volunteers followed by drinks and the famous PRG cake.
Above all it was a day of conversation and networking among those on the frontline of reading in prison. Their slido feedback says it best: ‘inspiring’, ‘eye-opening’, ‘fun’.
Sarah Turvey – Director of Prison Reading Groups (PRG), part of Give a Book
An edited version of this piece appeared in the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance newsletter.