Publishers sign NLT literacy pledge

Fifteen book businesses have signed this year’s Vision for Literacy Business Pledge, organised by the National Literacy Forum.

Signatories to this year’s pledge include publishers Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Egmont, Routledge and The Quarto Group, and booksellers Amazon, W H Smith and Browns Books. Two publishing bodies, The Publishers Association and The Professional Publishers Association, have also signed up.

By agreeing to the pledge, companies have promised to address literacy problems in their workforces and local communities as well as on a national level.

The National Literacy Form is led by the National Literacy Trust (NLT), whose director, Jonathon Douglas, said: “Over the past decade, more than 500,000 disadvantaged children started school without the reading, writing and communication skills they need to succeed in education, work and life - their futures cut short before they have even started. But with the backing of UK publishers, we have the power to transform these young lives through literacy.”

In total, 63 businesses have signed the 2018 pledge including, for the first time, John Lewis, Clarks and Metro Bank.