Matt Lucas seeks to inspire next generation of readers and writers at University visit

The 51-year-old, one of the UK’s most well-known male TV comedians from the last 20 years, addressed an audience of children from five Salford primary schools and over a dozen Salford students on Friday 28 November at our New Adelphi Theatre.

Now a bestselling children’s book author thanks to his recent novels The Boy Who Slept Through Christmas and BobLand, Matt addressed the audience with a reading from the latter before interacting with the children through a quiz and then taking their questions.

Afterwards, he sat down with students from across the University to take their questions on his career and his plans for future books.

His visit came as new statistics from the National Literacy Trust found that nine in 10 children and young people aged five to 18 said they had a book at home whilst book ownership rates for this age group in the North West were found to be one of the lowest in the UK at 86.7%.

The National Literacy Trust partnered with Salford City Council last year as part of a ten-year commitment to raise literacy skills by boosting reading for enjoyment levels in the city, after it was revealed that over a third of children in Salford started primary school without the literacy skills needed to thrive.

Matt said: “I think it’s a great thing that the National Literacy Trust is encouraging children and young people to read. Particularly, those who maybe don’t have as much access to books. They’re providing a really vital resource.

“Sometimes I’ll go into school and a lot of the children I talk to have bought a copy of the book. Today’s talk was about more talking to the kids about reading, and each of the schools have been given eight books that will go into their libraries, which just shows how important it is that the work the National Literacy Trust is doing because I don’t want my work to only be read by people who can afford to buy it.

“It's important to me that people go to libraries and have the opportunity to read regardless of whether or not their parents can afford to buy a book or not.”

David Savill, Senior Lecturer and Founder of The Northern School of Writing at Salford, interviewed Matt as part of his chat with the Salford students, who came from a range of research fields to meet the comedian.

He said: “We were delighted the National Literacy Trust’s partnership with the Northern School of Writing enabled us to host children from primary schools across our city.

“The ever-brilliant Matt Lucas gave the children an unforgettable experience connecting creativity to books and reading. Matt was incredibly generous with students from the University, who gained insights into the writing process and what it is like to work as a creative in the arts.

“As we work to develop the Literacy Matters Network for Salford, we hope to play host to many more events like this, bringing the community into our campuses, and showing students the power of reading and writing in our lives.”

Martha O'Brien, Manager for the National Literacy Trust in Salford, said: "It is fantastic that we have been able to offer this opportunity to five local schools from some of the areas of Salford where events like this are most needed.

"Authors like Matt can make a huge difference to children's attitudes to reading simply by visiting schools. Our research shows that children who meet an author are more likely to enjoy reading in their free time, which helps them develop the literacy skills they need to succeed in life."

Image above by Brainne Edge of Pull Focus Productions.