Cause and Effect Public Relations has been working with The Reading Agency to provide PR services for several campaigns this year, including its partnership with Spotify.
Audiobooks can act as a gateway to reading, fit time-poor lifestyles, and help people to feel connected. UK charity The Reading Agency has joined forces with Spotify to make free-to-stream Quick Reads available for World Book Night on 23 April 2026. The Reading Agency and Spotify have partnered as part of a wider joint campaign within the National Year of Reading – including a new audiobook toolkit for libraries and Spotify’s industry-leading reading aids such as ‘Page Match’ and ‘Audiobook Recaps.’
The initiative is part of The Reading Agency’s mission to tackle the UK’s reading crisis, with only around half of adults regularly reading.
For the first time, all six Quick Reads titles will be available in audiobook format, widening access for people who struggle with print, including those who are time-poor, neurodivergent, or lacking confidence in reading. Quick Reads, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, was launched in 2006 to support adults who are lapsed readers, non-readers, or face barriers such as time, confidence or concentration. The short, accessible books are written by bestselling authors across a range of genres.
Audiobooks on the rise
With the average UK adult now spending 52 hours a year listening to audiobooks, audio has become a powerful and increasingly mainstream reading format. Its popularity in the UK is growing rapidly, with the market nearly tripling since 2016, driven largely by 16–54-year-olds and changing, multitasking lifestyles. Spotify’s ‘Multi-Format Readers’ research found more than a third of U.K. readers (34%) are more likely to consider listening to audiobooks as “real reading” than they were a year ago, and over half of readers in the U.K. (51%) now switch between audio and print/e-book formats to meet their reading goals.
The Reading Agency’s State of the Nation report found that almost half of adults (46%) struggle to focus on reading due to distractions, while one in three multitask while reading. Those who read fewer books are more likely to engage with audio: 33% of men listen to audiobooks weekly, compared to 24% of women, while women are more likely to read daily. More than half of 25–34-year-olds are regular audiobook listeners, including 56% of men in that age group.
Audiobooks are also helping to widen access: 52% of adults with learning differences listen weekly, compared to 22% without.
For time-poor adults, audiobooks offer a practical solution. Over half (53%) of parents with children under 11 listen at least once a week, compared to 18% of those without.
Karen Napier MBE, CEO, The Reading Agency said: Audiobooks create shared experiences in new ways — whether families listening together at home or groups coming together in libraries. We’re seeing a real rise in audio listening groups, where people listen and discuss books collectively. We want to challenge the idea that ‘real’ reading must be print. Listening to books delivers many of the same benefits, from supporting comprehension and vocabulary, to increasing wellbeing and empathy.”
Duncan Bruce, Director of Audiobooks Partnerships and Licensing, Spotify said: “Stories have the power to connect, entertain or inform us. But for some, finding the time or confidence to pick up a book isn’t always easy. Audiobooks are helping to change that with people increasingly moving between formats – listening on the go and reading when they can – and that flexibility helps more stories fit into busy lives. We’re proud to help more people discover stories, including this year’s Quick Reads, in ways that work for them, supporting a more accessible and inclusive reading culture across the UK.”
Supporting libraries during the National Year of Reading
As part of the partnership, The Reading Agency and Spotify are developing a new audiobook toolkit for libraries, supporting staff to deliver audiobook clubs, group listening sessions and inclusive reading activities.
The organisations will also work together throughout the National Year of Reading to champion audiobooks as an accessible and engaging way into reading, helping to reach new and underserved audiences across the UK.
Shared listening and national reach
A selection of the 2026 Quick Reads titles will be available to stream for free on Spotify on World Book Night. A new curated audio resource will also be distributed to libraries and schools to support classroom listening, community events and group listening experiences.
The Reading Agency’s research highlights a strong link between audiobooks and wider reading, with one in four listeners saying audiobooks have encouraged them to read more.
Spotify is one of several landmark partnerships marking a step change in ambition for Quick Reads, which has grown from a small intervention into a national reading movement. To mark its 20th anniversary, The Reading Agency aims to gift up to one million Quick Reads to communities across the UK.
About Quick Reads
Quick Reads, delivered by The Reading Agency, aims to bring the power and benefits of reading to everyone, including the one in three adults in the UK who do not regularly read for pleasure, and the one in six adults in the UK who find reading difficult. The scheme changes lives and plays a vital role in addressing the adult reading crisis in the UK.
Each year, Quick Reads commissions high profile authors to write bitesize, engaging books that are specifically designed to be easy to read. Since 2006, 5.6 million books have been distributed through the initiative and 6.4 million library loans (PLR) have been registered and through outreach work, hundreds of thousands of new readers each year have been introduced to the joys and benefits of reading.
About The Reading Agency
The Reading Agency is a UK charity that inspires social and personal change through the proven power of reading. We work with individuals of all ages, communities and trusted partners to share the transformative benefits of reading for happy, healthy and thriving lives. The Reading Agency reaches over two million people a year but with a UK population of over 67 million that’s not nearly enough. We want to get more people fired up about reading because everything changes when you read. Get in touch today to find out more about what we do and to help us on our mission.
readingagency.org.uk | @readingagency
About Spotify:
Spotify is the world’s leading global audio streaming platform, offering music, podcasts and audiobooks to millions of users worldwide. In select markets including the UK and Ireland, US, and Australia, Spotify Premium subscribers receive 15 hours of monthly access to a catalogue of over 700,000 audiobooks at no additional cost, including a wide range of popular titles, new releases and classics. Eligible titles can be streamed directly in the app, with features such as page match, recaps, offline listening and adjustable playback speed. Users can also now purchase physical copies, additional listening time or individual titles via Spotify. Through continued investment in audiobooks and innovative features, Spotify is expanding access to reading and helping more people discover and enjoy books in audio.
About Arts Council England:
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk
About National Year of Reading:
The National Year of Reading is the biggest campaign in a generation designed to help more people (re)discover the joy of reading and make it part of their everyday lives. A Department for Education initiative, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, the campaign aims to tackle the profound decline in reading enjoyment in the UK and reconnect people of all ages with reading as a relevant and immediately rewarding activity. The campaign asks the nation to Go All In on their passions and interests for 2026 and discover how reading in any format can unlock the things they already love – be that music, football, baking, family-time, sci-fi, or … anything. Put simply: if you’re into it, read into it. The National Year of Reading is fuelled by organisations who believe in the power of reading and are committed to investing in the solutions to create change. The National Year of Reading aims sign-up 100,000 volunteers, get one million more people actively using libraries, and encourage millions more to read regularly. https://goallin.org.uk/about/