The Booker Prize Foundation and The Reading Agency are gifting 12,000 copies of a new Booker Prizes Quick Read across the UK as new research finds that key barriers to reading include competing demands on adults’ attention, busy lives and the cost of books. 

• 35% find it hard to finish what they’re reading
• 21% say books are too expensive to buy more often
• 44% would like to see greater representation in books
• 22% don’t have enough time to read
• 26% get distracted before finishing a book 

A preview, released exclusively today, from The Reading Agency’s forthcoming State of the Nation Adult Reading report found that of 4,000 UK adults three in ten (35%) find it hard to finish what they are reading and 55% say they read less than they intend to. A separate survey of 2,018 UK adults, commissioned by the Booker Prize Foundation, found that four in ten (40%) who abandon books do so because they lose interest, while more than a quarter (26%) become distracted and more than one in five (22%) say they simply don’t have enough time to read.  

An additional barrier to reading includes the cost of books, with 21% of respondents to the Booker Prize Foundation survey saying that books are too expensive to buy more often. In addition, The Reading Agency found that 78% of adults with low reading confidence identify as non-readers, compared with 15% of the wider population. When asked what might get them into or back into reading, 24% of non-readers and 33% of lapsed readers thought that ‘a quick and easy read’ would help. 

Further findings from The Reading Agency’s State of the Nation Adult Reading research preview suggest readers want to see themselves better reflected in the books they read. One in 10 (11%) adults said they cannot easily find themselves or their culture represented in books, rising to 19% of 16-24-year-olds. Exploring this issue deeper, research commissioned by the Booker Prize Foundation found that almost half (44%) of adults would like to see greater representation in books, including more diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds and family structures. 

The figures are released as the Booker Prize Foundation launches All Around the World: Stories by Booker Prize Writers, a brand-new Quick Read published in collaboration with The Reading Agency and Vintage. The collection of short stories featuring seven authors, who include Booker Prize winners Anne Enright and David Szalay and Booker Prize and International Booker Prize shortlistees Nadifa Mohamed and Yoko Ogawa, is curated by Booker-winning writer Roddy Doyle. It has undergone the Quick Reads editorial process to ensure accessibility – including testing for readability, concentration, and suitability for those building reading confidence.  

‘It’s an invitation to read. Quick Reads is like dipping your toe in the water of literature, with some of the barriers that might put people off removed. A lot of people might feel there is nothing about their world in books. The stories in All Around the World have access points, and I hope they alert readers to the fact that, actually, their life might be in here somewhere.’ 

10,000 copies of the book will be gifted by the Booker Prize Foundation and The Reading Agency through libraries and community partners across the UK, including Bookbanks and the Big Issue, helping the collection reach adults facing barriers to reading, such as affordability, confidence and accessibility. As part of the partnership with the Big Issue, readers of the magazine will get a free download of the digital and audio editions of All Around the World with their copy of the Big Issue this week, while 300 free physical copies will also be shared with Big Issue vendors, helping introduce the stories to more people in their communities. An additional 2,000 copies will be distributed via the Booker Prize Foundation’s prison reading programme Books Unlocked, delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust. The collection will be available to buy for £1 through retailers including Waterstones, Bookshop.org and BookKind from Thursday, 11 June 2026. 

Delivered by The Reading Agency, Quick Reads are short, accessible books written by popular authors and aimed at adults who may lack reading confidence, struggle with concentration or time, have English as a second language, or those that simply want stories that fit more easily into everyday life. The programme celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year. 

‘We know from previous research from The Reading Agency that regular reading can transform lives, improving wellbeing, social mobility, and long-term life chances, but these new findings highlight the real barriers preventing many adults developing or sustaining a reading habit.  

‘This collection was created to make some of the world’s best fiction more accessible to people facing some of these barriers, without compromising on the highest quality fiction from Booker Prize and International Booker Prize-nominated authors. Making the book available to as many people as possible was incredibly important to us, and we’re very grateful to our partners The Reading Agency, Bookbanks, the National Literacy Trust and the Big Issue for helping us to get 12,000 copies of All Around the World out into communities across the UK, as well as  to publishers Vintage.  

‘Thoughtfully curated by Roddy Doyle, who is beloved for his own witty and tender portrayals of everyday lives, it brings together seven tales by these master storytellers that take readers to different parts of the world and to different places in their minds. Designed to fit into real lives, we hope it will inspire new and lapsed readers to discover and rediscover the joy of reading great fiction.’ 

‘For 20 years, Quick Reads has shown that when books are accessible, relevant and easy to fit into busy lives, more people discover the pleasure and power of reading. The findings from our research show that many adults want to read more, but factors such as limited time, competing demands and confidence can get in the way. That’s why All Around the World is so exciting. Working with the Booker Prize Foundation and Vintage, we’re bringing exceptional storytelling to people in a format designed to meet them where they are. We hope this collection helps spark a reading habit that lasts a lifetime, opening the door to new stories, new perspectives and new possibilities.’ 

‘Reading is almost like mindfulness. It takes you into a different place while keeping you in the here and now. Many people in Big Issue land maybe don’t come from strong reading backgrounds. John Bird himself [the founder of the Big Issue] struggled to read and write because of his circumstances growing up and actually learned in prison. And he went on to create one of the most well-known magazines on the planet.’ 

The collection features stories from Anne Enright (winner of the Booker Prize 2007 with The Gathering and longlisted for the 2015 prize with The Green Road), Andrey Kurkov (longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023 with Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv and in 2024 with The Silver Bone), Nadifa Mohamed (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2021 with The Fortune Men), Yoko Ogawa (shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020 with The Memory Police), David Szalay (winner of the Booker Prize 2025 with Flesh and shortlisted for the 2016 prize with All That Man Is), Yael van der Wouden (shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2024 with The Safekeep), as well as a story from Doyle (who won the Booker Prize in 1993 with Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and was Chair of the Booker Prize judges in 2025).  

The stories in All Around the World are: 

• ‘Until the Girl Died’ by Anne Enright
• ‘Afternoon at the Bakery’ by Yoko Ogawa
• ‘The Buggy’ by Roddy Doyle
• ‘Flight’ by David Szalay
• ‘Filsan’ by Nadifa Mohamed
• ‘No Need to Fear the Depths’ by Andrey Kurkov
• ‘Into the Mud’ by Yael van der Wouden  

Quick Reads is a proven high-impact programme designed to help adults overcome barriers to reading. Since it launched in 2006, it has distributed over five million books, collaborated with over 30 publishers, and resulted in over six million library loans.  

The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity designed to inspire more people to read – and write – the world’s best fiction. There are three Booker Prizes: the Booker Prize, the International Booker Prize and the Children’s Booker Prize. Through them and other projects, the Foundation’s aim is to become a partner for life: engaging new and existing readers from childhood onwards.  

Working together, The Reading Agency and the Booker Prize Foundation hope to create a new library of Quick Reads by Booker Prize authors. These may lead readers to other books by those writers, to other Quick Reads, or they may form a way into the reading habit more generally. 

For more information, visit TheBookerPrizes.com/QuickReads.