Kia Abdullah | Malorie Blackman | Matt Cain | Kit de Waal | Jo Nesbo | Karen Swan

The Reading Agency has announced the six best-selling authors championing Quick Reads for 2024. They are Kia Abdullah, Malorie Blackman, Matt Cain, Kit de Waal, Jo Nesbo and Karen Swan.

Publishing on 11 April 2024 and reflecting the very best contemporary writing, the new collection of Quick Reads incudes a mix of original and specially abridged titles including a suspenseful, court room page turner by thriller fiction star Kia Abdullah (Those People Next Door, HQ, HarperCollins); a hard-hitting emotional tale of teenage fatherhood from multi-award-winning Malorie Blackman (Boys Don't Cry, Penguin, Penguin Random House UK Children's); a joyful and surprising tale about love, friendship and football from broadcaster and LGBTQ+ advocate Matt Cain (Game On, Headline, Hachette); Kit de Waal's vibrant and unforgettable memoir of how books saved her life (Without Warning and Only Sometimes, Headline, Hachette); a dangerously dark thriller from global, fan favourite Jo Nesbo (The Jealousy Man, Vintage, Penguin Random House); and an epic, spellbinding historical romance set against the backdrop of untamed beauty of St Kilda in 1930s high society from Sunday Times bestseller Karen Swan (The Last Summer, Pan Macmillan).

Quick Reads plays a vital role in addressing the UK's adult literacy crisis, engaging the one in three adults who do not regularly read for pleasure and the one in six adults who find reading difficult. Since the programme launched in 2006, over 5.3 million Quick Reads have been distributed with over 6.14 million registered library loans.

The titles are available for just £1 at 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 announced today will also be gifted as part of World Book Night 2024, The Reading Agency's annual drive to create a nation of readers. With the support of this year's publishers, copies of the books will be given away to organisations including care homes, youth centres, homelessness centre, prisons, hospitals and other organisations through public library partners.

Karen Napier, CEO, The Reading Agency, said: 'We are incredibly excited as we unveil the remarkable line-up of authors collaborating with Quick Reads to publish a bitesize book for 2024 - and we thank them and all the publishers for their support to this life-changing programme. We would also like to extend heartfelt gratitude to Jojo Moyes for the generous donation in 2020-2022 which helped to shape the future of the initiative. This year we are proudly supported by Penguin Random House and Hachette who have contributed funding to the programme. We will be celebrating Quick Reads as part of World Book Night 2024 in our continued mission to bring high quality, fun and accessible books to a wider audience to discover the transformative power of reading.'