Parks kicks off Middlesbrough literacy role

Novelist Adele Parks plans to spread a love of reading throughout her Yorkshire home town as she takes up the role of ambassador for National Literacy Trust campaign Middlesbrough Reads.

The campaign, launched in 2013, is run in partnership with Middlesbrough Council, and aims to improve the literacy of the town's children and young people.

Parks' first engagements saw her participate in storytelling activities with nursery children at Easterside Academy as part of the NTL's Early Words Together programme, followed by a meeting with pupil librarians at the library in Newham Bridge Primary School. She finished with a visit to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at James Cook University Hospital where nurses support a Middlesbrough Reads campaign to provide new parents with books and advice on reading to help them bond with their premature babies while in hospital.

Parks said: “I am thrilled to be an ambassador for Middlesbrough Reads. The work the campaign is doing to help children and families discover the magic of stories, while also giving them the skills and confidence they need to read, is vital. I believe reading is a basic human right that ought to be available to everyone. In my role, I will do everything I can to spread a love of reading to children and families throughout my home town.”

Parks's 19th novel, domestic noir tale Lies Lies Lies, was published by HQ on 5th September.