Did you know that 6 minutes of reading a day can reduce stress by 68%? Welcome to our Reading for Pleasure journey, delivered in one, two or all three stages.

Reading for pleasure inspires creativity and improves mental health and wellbeing, in turn helping to create a positive working environment where individuals thrive. Evidence* shows that regular readers are better equipped to deal with difficult situations, make decisions, and plan and prioritise.

Reading for Pleasure is an hour-long presentation, delivered in person or online by one of the Trust’s own reading specialists, encouraging you and your team to discover the benefits of reading for pleasure and how to make time for this in the way that suits you best.

Developing a Reading Culture is about creating a library or bookshop in a designated space in your workplace. A great way to encourage bonding through a shared meeting point, it can generate interest in visiting the workplace for individuals who mainly or partly work from home, helping to relieve stress caused by isolation. We’ll work with you to build a library, based on interests or a specific theme, and we’ll refresh the books based on your feedback. We can even bring a bookshop to your workplace every quarter!

Creating a Book Club is a great way to bring staff together regularly, helping to develop a strong team dynamic and allowing everyone to take part and share opinions, regardless of their seniority. Our reading experts can help to design and host your book club – online, in person or at our office– and tailor it to suit your business and staff.

*Billington, J. (2015). Reading Between the Lines: the Benefits of Reading for Pleasure. Liverpool: University of Liverpool

Can books make a difference? Absolutely!

 Established in 1998, Scottish Book Trust believes that reading and writing for pleasure has the power to transform lives, from supporting mental health and wellbeing to breaking the poverty cycle, improving employability and inspiring creativity.

As Scotland’s only national reading charity, our mission is to ensure people living in Scotland have equal access to books and, every year, we deliver our world-class programmes and annual awards to well over two million people. From introducing books and storytelling to pre-school children to inspiring and empowering adult readers and writers, we believe it’s never too early – or too late – to begin a magical journey with words.

We deliver our programmes in every local authority area in Scotland and we work with partners ranging from small community groups to the Scottish Government. Our book-gifting programmes through Bookbug and Read, Write, Count reach over 310,000 children across Scotland every year.

You’ll find us in schools and libraries and at community events. You’ll find us in towns and cities and in isolated, rural communities. And you’ll find us bringing books to life for children in care, families living in challenging circumstances and people in prison. In short, you’ll find us wherever we’re needed most.