Friday, December 02, 2011

Bali Rai, Writer in Residence Book Trust

Bali Rai, author of young adult titles The Crew and (Un)arranged Marriage, has taken over as Booktrust Writer in Residence. He is the sixth author to take up the position, and takes over from Clare Wigfall. In his online statement, Bali said "Booktrust is such a powerful voice in support of reading for pleasure and literacy and I feel honoured at being asked to step in."

To promote the concept of "reading for pleasure" at every given opportunity and to continue to link it with achievement in education
To encourage parents, teachers and schools to increase their focus on reading for pleasure and to support the maintenance and promotion of books, school libraries and librarians
To encourage teens and young adults to participate in the wider debate around reading and literacy. This will hopefully include a panel event at the London Book Fair in which teenagers will be asked questions by the publishing industry
To promote the concept of wider diversity in teen and young adult fiction and to challenge the artificial divide between "adult" and "young adult" books
To promote and support a new teenage section on the Booktrust website by encouraging participation from young adults at all levels, through short story competitions, book reviews etc
To actively support any organisation or campaign that seeks to promote literacy, reading and the great work done by public and school libraries.

Booktrust has a new website - go to www.booktrust.org.uk

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