Adele Parks presents prize to Reading Ahead winner
The Reading Agency took bestselling author and Reading Ahead ambassador, Adele Parks, to The Manchester College, St John’s Centre on Friday 22 November. She presented ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) student Sunara Begum with her Reading Ahead certificate and prize for winning the Reading Ahead national draw and spoke to creative writing and ESOL students at the college.
Reading Ahead at The Manchester College
Reading Ahead encourages students to challenge themselves to read and review six reads – they don’t have to be books. The Manchester College run the programme over an academic year with a range of students including those studying ESOL and functional skills. The Manchester College received a Platinum Award for having 630 students complete the programme in 2018/19.
Adele took part in a Q&A session with students, who asked questions about the experience of being a writer, the importance of reading and how to get published.
Adele said that Reading Ahead is, “Important because reading is so good for education, empathy and mental health. Creativity brings us together and many students at The Manchester College are writing themselves which is great to see. Hopefully the students have found today informative and inspiring.”
Reading Ahead prize draw
After the Q&A Adele presented Sunara with first prize in the Reading Ahead national prize draw. Her prize is to have her name written into Adele’s next book that will be coming out in 2021. Adele presented Sunara with her Reading Ahead certificate and a signed copy of Adele’s latest novel Lies, Lies, Lies at the event.
Sunara, who studies on the ESOL Entry Level 2 Programme at The Manchester College, said: “I’m really happy to have received this certificate, and I really enjoyed taking part in the Six Book Challenge (Reading Ahead).”
Sunara’s tutor, Sheila Hampson, also attended the event and said: “Sunara has worked so hard for this. She has done everything I’ve asked of her and is now speaking English with confidence. She is a very worthy winner.”
Get involved
Visit the Reading Ahead site to find out more about the programme and choose your next read
Find out about our new Quick Reads for 2020, which can be used as part of Reading Ahead
