the level of interest and excitement the scheme generates.”
2027 will be a big year for the Carnegies, as Jake points out: “Next year is the 90th anniversary of the Carnegies! It’s amazing to think of the changes that we’ve seen as a society in that time, wars fought and peace made, the growth and decline of political and rights movements. It’s a challenging time for book awards and we’ve seen many come and go in recent years, so alongside celebrating 90 years of outstanding reading, it’s about trying to shore up the awards and secure their position as we move towards their centenary.”
Their history spans nearly 90 years and the past winners and shortlistees offer a rich seam to mine and explore. “Reading and libraries both sometimes suffer from outdated stereotypes of being old-fashioned or no longer fully relevant, being isolated quiet activities. This doesn’t have to be the case at all. Reading is a creative act, an art in and of itself, where we as readers bring ideas vividly to life. It doesn’t have to be solitary, it can be social and we can learn from one another and different perspectives and insights on stories and information that we engage with. Shadowing brings all of this to life, it’s a great scheme where children and young people the length and breadth of the country and even internationally read the shortlisted books and are given a platform for their views, a voice and a vote for the books that resonates most for them. It’s a real celebration of the art of reading and it’s always fascinating
A love of reading
Jake’s passion and expertise for reading and books is born out in his work – not only with the Carnegies and as an author, but as a librarian and reading development and children’s book consultant.
Jake has a strong belief in the power of libraries, saying: “One of the things I’d love to see is libraries being recognised for the astonishing institutions that they are. The experience and expertise of librarians is often overlooked. Across the UK we have an infrastructure of libraries, knowledgeable and experienced staff, stock and access through inter-library loans to almost every book that’s ever been printed. That’s a remarkable thing and we should be capitalising upon it and recognising its value.
“It often feels as though attention and vision goes into new ideas which are costly to establish and which don’t
have the same established network that libraries do. Libraries are all about connections, whether that is connections to ideas, to reading, to other people and communities, to possible futures. “A lot of the innovation we see happening in the education arena around reading for pleasure has been bread and butter for libraries for decades. Joining together to create critical mass and communities and cultures of reading would be a huge step forward and one that libraries can contribute to appreciably with their network of spaces, stock and expertise.”
And commenting on recent research that shows a worrying drop in the number of people, including children, who are reading for pleasure Jake says: “As a society we tend to place a lot of focus on ‘what’, rather than on ‘how’ when it comes to reading and this can risk turning the whole of literature into a giant reading scheme.
“Just as when we eat we ideally look for a balanced and varied diet, the stories and information we consume should be likewise. Sometimes we might want to try new things and expand our palates, but at other times we might want to comfort-eat, re-reading familiar titles.
“The philosophy of reading is almost an alchemy in its own right, we’re able to piece together information and ideas into a sequence and bring these to life when we read. There’s something really remarkable about this. There’s often a bit of a confusion between reading and literacy and people sometimes use the terms interchangeably. Literacy is always purposeful and measurable. Reading on the other hand is about freedom – freedom of choice, of imagination, it’s about wide expansive horizons and one of the things that often appeals to avid readers are those possibilities. “When we put in place measures and rationale, it becomes something quite different and some of our agency is lost. If we can nurture and develop a love of reading the thirst for learning and for curiosity as well as improvements in literacy naturally follow but that love should come first.” PEN&INC.
Spring-Summer 2026 PEN&INC. 17
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