For €1.50, readers can pick up a new Booker short story collection shaped by Roddy Doyle, with the aim of making great writing feel closer and more accessible. Announced as part of the Quick Reads initiative, All Around The World brings together prize-winning voices at a time when fresh research shows many adults are being pushed away from reading by cost, time and the pressure of busy lives.
The new Booker short story collection includes work from Anne Enright, David Szalay and Nadifa Mohamed, and has been curated by Dublin writer Roddy Doyle. Speaking about the project, Doyle said it is “an invitation to read”, describing Quick Reads as a way to remove some of the barriers that can make literature feel distant.
Booker short story collection aims to break down reading barriers
Research shared by the Booker Prize Foundation and The Reading Agency found that adults often struggle to read because of:
- competing demands on their attention
- busy daily routines
- the rising cost of books
That is the thinking behind this Booker short story collection, which will also see 12,000 copies donated to people facing barriers to reading. The hope is simple: put strong, memorable stories into more hands, at a price that feels manageable.
The collection features:
- Until the Girl Died by Anne Enright
- Afternoon at the Bakery by Yoko Ogawa
- The Buggy by Roddy Doyle
- Flight by David Szalay
- Filsan by Nadifa Mohamed
- No Need to Fear the Depths by Andrey Kurkov
- Into the Mud by Yael van der Wouden
Doyle said some readers may feel books have little to say about their own lives, but the stories in All Around The World offer “access points” that may help change that. It is a small idea with a wide reach: lower the threshold, and more people may step in.
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In that sense, the Booker short story collection is not just about celebrated names. It is about giving readers a starting point. And sometimes, that is all it takes to begin. Image Courtesy: DailyDigest.ie
