Author Dorothy Koomson guest edits BBC radio show

Best-selling female adult fiction writer, Dorothy Koomson, discussed plummeting youth reader levels when she guest edited BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey.

Koomson, who lives in Brighton, penned her first novel aged just 13 - she would write a chapter each night after school.

She has since sold millions of copies of her novels around the world and is a champion for promoting diversity in books and getting children into reading.

She said had wanted to focus on the subject in her show on Friday, adding: "We are in danger of losing a generation of children if we do not do something."

Research from the National Literacy Trust (NLT) in 2024 found that 34.6% of children and young people enjoyed reading - the least amount since surveys began in 2005.

"The importance of the freedom and personal agency that being able to read can give you is hard to understate," Koomson said.

"That so many children don't have the space or opportunity to read for pleasure is especially sad."

Meanwhile, a study by the NLT in 2020 found that 32.7% of people aged nine to 18 said they do not see themselves in what they read.

"It's really not good enough for the publishing industry to look at the figures about the decrease in racial diversity in children's books and do 'sad face' as though they aren't the ones who can change things," the author said.

Koomson was joined by Patrice Lawrence, who works with The Book Trust - a charity working to get children into reading.

She also spoke with Little Green Pig, a charity helping children develop their writing skills, and Carolynn Bain, founder of Afrori Books in Brighton, an independent book shop specialising in works by black authors.

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