Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle heads up authors of 2015 Galaxy Quick Reads

• Roddy Doyle writes his first Galaxy® Quick Read in collaboration with the Booker Prize Foundation
• Bestselling fiction writers Jojo Moyes and Sophie Hannah amongst other new authors for 2015

1993 Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle is amongst the six authors announced today, Friday 19 September 2014, as the names behind the 2015 Galaxy® Quick Reads titles.

The books, which are sponsored by Galaxy® for the fifth year running, will be published on 5 February 2015:

Roddy Doyle – Dead Man Talking

Jojo Moyes – Paris for Two One

Sophie Hannah – Pictures Or It Didn’t Happen

Fanny Blake – Red for Revenge

Adèle Geras – Out of the Dark

James Bowen – Street Cat Bob

With one in six adults still struggling to read^[1], Quick Reads will next year continue its work to break down the barriers to reading. 98% of literacy practitioners report that using Quick Reads has been effective at raising learners’ confidence to read whilst 95% say that the books have been effective at improving readers’ literacy skills^[2].

In 2015 the charity, which has published 129 titles, distributed more than 4.5 million copies and enabled over 3.5 million library loans since it was founded in 2006, will continue to work with literacy practitioners, prisons, librarians and retailers to bring the benefits and pleasure of reading to everyone.

Roddy Doyle, who won the Booker Prize 21 years ago for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, is the first Man Booker Prize author to pen a Quick Read. The book has come about through collaboration between Quick Reads and the Booker Prize Foundation, as part of the Foundation’s commitment to building the bridge between literature and literacy. Roddy is a passionate advocate for literacy and is involved in various projects promoting reading and writing in Ireland, as a contributor to the Open Door literacy series (the original inspiration for Quick Reads) and as Co-Founder and Chairman of Fighting Words in Dublin.

Dead Man Talking will be offered to a number of prisons and Young Offenders Institutions across the UK through the Booker Prize Foundation’s prisons initiative, Books Unlocked, facilitated by the National Literacy Trust.  It will expand the programme’s existing reach, which promotes reading in prisons by introducing Man Booker Prize-nominated titles through reading groups and author prison visits. As well as the Quick Read, Roddy Doyle’s Booker Prize winner Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha will be one of the titles offered through Books Unlocked in 2014/2015.

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Project Director, Quick Reads, comments:

‘I love the Man Booker Prize and it distresses me that one in six adults of working age in the UK does not have the literacy skills to read the winning book. By asking a previous winner to write a Quick Read, we are enabling a far wider audience to experience both literature and the Man Booker Prize as they make progress on a journey towards becoming part of the reading world. Roddy’s book is a wonderfully compelling tale about life and death and shows the story possibilities that can exist even when using simpler language.

‘I am delighted that Galaxy is continuing to support Quick Reads for the fifth year running. Quick Reads is about bringing not just the benefits but also the pleasures of reading to adults.’

Roddy comments on his involvement:

‘I’m delighted to be involved with Quick Reads as they are all about creating new readers and I’ve seen at first-hand how low levels of literacy have a negative effect on people's lives. Literacy is the key to opening doors for everyone.

‘I started to write a story about a man who was pretending to be dead. But as I wrote, it changed and I realised I was writing about death.  I wanted the story to be funny and a bit frightening because, while it’s often frightening, death is rarely funny - and I wanted the challenge.'

Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation, comments:

‘I’m delighted about this partnership which I see as a powerful step in the Foundation’s continual mission to bridge the gap between literacy and literature. As the foremost literary prize in the English speaking world, the Man Booker Prize is a password for excellence. It is inspiring to see that excellence being made available readers at every level.’

Emma Thornton, Galaxy^® Marketing Director comments: 

‘At Galaxy we are passionate about helping people discover the pleasure of reading.  A great book and a bar of Galaxy are the perfect combination, and we are proud to have played a part in the growth and development of the Quick Reads charity over the last five years.’