The Reading Agency Reveals Authors for 2025 Quick Reads

The Reading Agency has announced its exciting line up of Quick Reads authors for 2025. They are Leila Aboulela, Cathy Bramley, Fiona Cummins, Dr Alex George, Abir Mukherjee and Cathy…

Quick Reads

The Reading Agency has announced its exciting line up of Quick Reads authors for 2025. They are Leila Aboulela, Cathy Bramley, Fiona Cummins, Dr Alex George, Abir Mukherjee and Cathy Rentzenbrink.

Quick Reads are short, accessible, diverse, and affordable great reads at just £1 a book. They are written by bestselling authors, supporting The Reading Agency in its charitable mission to empower more people to read and to solve the nation’s adult literacy crisis.

Now entering its 19th year, Quick Reads is a flagship initiative to help new readers access the power of reading and lapsed readers get back into the habit.

The six Quick Reads titles will be available for just £1 in bookshops and are free to borrow from libraries. They are used across the country in colleges, prisons, trade unions, hospitals, and adult learning organisations.

The six titles will also be gifted a part of World Book Night 2025, The Reading Agency’s annual drive to create a nation of readers, on 23 April 2025, with thousands of Quick Reads handed out through public libraries to community organisations across the UK, including food banks, homeless shelters, prisons, and workplaces.

To date, Quick Reads has collaborated with over 30 publishers and produced over 140 titles since 2006, with over 5 million copies distributed, and over 6 million library loans.

Quick Reads: What Can Reading do for you?

Evidence shows that regular reading has far-reaching social impacts; improving health, wellbeing, life chances and social connections. Adults who read for just 30 minutes a week are 20% more likely to report greater life satisfaction. However, only half (50%) of adults now read regularly, down from 58% in 2015, and 1 in 10 find reading difficult. *

Studies have shown reading for pleasure enhances empathy and understanding. Those who read for pleasure also have higher levels of self-esteem, better sleeping patterns and more resilience. Non-readers are 28% more likely to report feelings of depression. **

Considering the wide impacts reading can have on us, personally and professionally, this year’s 2025 Quick Reads campaign will be asking the nation: What can reading do for you?

Karen Napier, CEO, The Reading Agency, said: “In the fast paced, digital world we live in, we often have to sift through lots of noise and distractions which can negatively impact on our mental health and wellbeing. Reading can provide a mindful, focussed, and meaningful outlet. Our Quick Reads are a way to entice reluctant and less confident readers to experience the benefits reading can bring, and hopefully hook them into a reading habit, thanks to the brilliant stories on offer from some of the UK’s leading bestselling authors at work today.”

About the Books

Leila Aboulela is an award-winning novelist whose novels have been translated into 15 languages. She was the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Leila grew up in Sudan and now lives in Scotland.

Leila’s Quick Read, A New Year, follows the story of widow Suad, who moves in with her son’s family in the Scottish countryside, until relations break down with her daughter-in-law as they clash over their different approach to tradition, values, and duty, leaving Suad alone to learn to live as an independent woman.

Cathy Bramley is a British author of sixteen romance novels and has sold almost two million copies worldwide. Her books have hit the UK bestsellers’ list and have been nominated for several awards including the British Book of the Year 2023.

Her Quick Read, Between Friends, follows Claire and Lisa who haven’t seen each other in 25 years, but make their long-distance friendship work with weekly calls. However, both are hiding secrets and maintaining lies. So, when Lisa pays Claire an unexpected visit, their friendship is put to the ultimate test.

Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist. Rattle, her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. She has since written several bestsellers. 

Her Quick Read, A Boy Called Saul, follows the clever but troubled teenager with a dark past, Saul Anguish. A grim discovery on an island near his home town in Essex leads Saul, and a former police detective, to look back to the past when the pair met two years earlier when a five-year-old was kidnapped by a serial killer, whose evil deeds left scars on them all.

Dr Alex George is a TV doctor, author, and Youth Mental Health Ambassador to the government. Alex has become a leading voice in mental and physical health and wellbeing and uses his platform to make health and medicine more accessible to millennials and beyond.

His Quick Read is an abridged version of his bestselling book, The Mind Manual: Mental Fitness Tools for Everyone. It helps readers assess their mental health, complete with a mental health toolkit to help readers thrive.

Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel.

Abir’s Quick Read is an abridged version of the first book in the Wyndham detective series, A Rising Man. The historical crime novel set in India in 1919 received rave reviews, with Ian Rankin dubbing it ‘A thought provoking rollercoaster’.

Sunday Times bestselling author Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache, Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books and Everyone Is Still Alive. It took her twenty years to wrestle her own life story on the page and she uses what she has learnt about the profound nature of writing the self in the service of others. Cathy has taught for Arvon, Curtis Brown Creative, at Falmouth University and at festivals and in prisons.

Her Quick Read is an abridgement of Write It All Down, a guide to putting your life on the page. It offers a compendium of advice to help writers discover the pleasure and solace found in writing. The helpful handbook steers the reader through the philosophical and practical challenges of writing, intertwined with reflections and exercises.

For author interviews, or further media requests around Quick Reads, contact ann@causeuk.com m: 0753 489 2715.

*Findings from The Reading Agency 2024 report: The State of the Nation’s Adult Reading Adult Reading Research Report | The Reading Agency.

**Stats from The Reading Agency Reading Facts

For author bios, author photos, and synopses of 2025’s Quick Reads go to:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/enpozch27in5cnflq31ag/ANtoomMCNoTy0gqTcRu83AY?rlkey=ok2d23s0u0l2lc2akim1xwvxt&st=8001sxsx&dl=0

About The Reading Agency

The Reading Agency is a UK charity with a mission to empower people of all ages to read.

Evidence shows that reading improves health and wellbeing, life chances and social connections. The Reading Agency champions access to the proven power of reading by providing activities for all ages.

Working with public libraries, prisons, hospitals, and other community settings, we reach 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.

www.readingagency.org.uk   | @readingagency

About Quick Reads: A Tool for Social Change

Quick Reads are short, accessible, diverse, and affordable books written by bestselling authors, specifically designed for adults who are less confident readers or have lost the reading habit. These books serve as a powerful tool for social impact and behaviour change by:

1. Providing an accessible entry point to reading for adults with low literacy skills.

2. Offering a way back into reading for lapsed readers.

3. Boosting reading confidence and enjoyment, particularly among young adults who face the most

barriers.

4. Promoting diverse representation in literature to engage a wider audience.

5. Addressing time constraints by offering short, engaging reads

The Need for Change

Recent findings from the Reading Agency’s ‘State of the Nation in Adult Reading: 2024’ report highlight stark trends:

• Only half of UK adults (50%) now read regularly, down from 58% in 2015.

• 35% of UK adults are ’lapsed readers’ who have dropped the reading habit.

• 15% of the population are non-readers, an 88% increase since 2015.

• 11% of people find reading difficult, rising to 22% among young people (16-24 years).

• 30% of people struggle to finish what they’re reading, and 28% find it hard to focus on reading for more than a few minutes.

These statistics underscore the urgent need for intervention to improve adult literacy and reading engagement across the UK.

Quick Reads 2025 Author Bios

Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela is an award-winning novelist whose work has received critical recognition for its distinctive exploration of identity, migration, and Islamic spirituality.

Her novels have been translated into fifteen languages and include Bird Summons, Minaret, The Translator, The Kindness of Enemies, Elsewhere, Home (Fiction Winner of the Saltire Book of the Year Awards) and River Spirit (A New York Times and Scottish Herald Best Book of the Year). Aboulela was the first winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She grew up in Sudan and in her mid-twenties moved to Scotland where she now resides.

Cathy Bramley

Cathy Bramley is a British author of sixteen romance novels, and has sold almost two million copies worldwide. Her books have hit the UK best sellers’ list and have been nominated for several awards including the British Book of the Year 2023.

Cathy has been a lover of stories since she was a small child and used to beg her mother to take her to the library every week for new books. Cathy didn’t start writing until 2013, before that she ran a PR and Marketing agency for many years. Her books are often about ordinary women doing extraordinary things. Cathy has two grown up daughters and lives in a small village in countryside in the middle of England.

Instagram and Twitter @CathyBramley/ Facebook @CathyBramleyAuthor

Fiona Cummins

Fiona Cummins is an award-winning former journalist and a graduate of the Faber Academy Writing a Novel course. Rattle, her debut novel, was the subject of a huge international auction and has been translated into several languages. It received widespread critical acclaim from authors and reviewers. She has since written bestsellers The Collector, The Neighbour, When I Was Ten, Into the Dark and All of Us Are Broken in which she introduces DC Saul Anguish, a brilliant young detective with a dark past. Fiona lives with her family in Essex. 

Dr Alex George

Dr Alex George is a TV doctor, author, and Youth Mental Health Ambassador to the government.

Alex has become a well-known and respected figure amongst healthcare professionals in the UK, from his years as an A&E doctor, bringing the nation accessible and reassuring advice directly from the frontline throughout the pandemic.

Alex is on a mission to improve mental health support for young people, and has become prolific throughout the UK in his campaigning for Early Support Hubs. He has a hugely successful podcast, Stompcast, which promotes the importance of walking in nature for mental and physical wellbeing.

In November 2021, he presented his first full length documentary for BBC One and Children Need, Dr Alex: Our Young Mental Health Crisis. He also hosts his own radio show on Classic FM, Uplifting Classics, which explores the relationship between classical music and wellbeing. Across his platforms, Alex has become a leading voice in mental and physical health and wellbeing, and uses his platform to make health and medicine more accessible to millennials and beyond. His first book, Live Well Every Day was published May 2021. Alex’s first children’s book, A Better Day: Your Positive Youth Mental Health Handbook was published in September 2022.

instagram.com/dralexgeorge tiktok.com/@dralexgeorge <mailto:tiktok.com/@dralexgeorge>  youtube.com/dralexgeorge

Abir Mukherjee

Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Wyndham & Banerjee series of crime novels set in Raj-era India which have sold over 400,000 copies worldwide and been translated into 15 languages. His books have won numerous awards including the CWA Dagger for best Historical Novel, the Prix du Polar Européen, the Wilbur Smith Award for Adventure Writing and the Amazon Publishing Readers Award for E-book for the Year.

Alongside fellow author, Vaseem Khan, he also hosts the popular Red Hot Chilli Writers podcast, where every fortnight, joined by special guests from the media and literature, he takes a wry look at the world of books, writing, and the creative arts, tackling everything from bestsellers to pop culture.

Abir grew up in Scotland and now lives in Surrey with his wife and two sons.

Website: abirmukherjee.com/ Twitter, Threads & Instagram: @radiomukhers/ Facebook: AuthorAbir

Cathy Rentzenbrink

Cathy Rentzenbrink is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Last Act of Love, A Manual for Heartache, Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books and Everyone Is Still Alive. It took her twenty years to wrestle her own life story on the page and she loves to use what she has learnt about the profound nature of writing the self in the service of others.

Cathy has taught for Arvon, Curtis Brown Creative, at Falmouth University and at festivals and in prisons, and welcomes anyone, no matter what their experience, education, background, or story. She believes that everyone’s life would be improved by picking up a pen and is at her happiest when encouraging her students to have the courage to delve into themselves and see the magic that will start to happen on the page.

Cause UK secures The Reading Agency as a new client.