We support and sponsor the following charities:

 

Let’s Talk Reading. Helping Children to Read in Ipswich

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https://www.letstalkreading.org.uk/

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Suffolk Book League funded £500 for specific work in 2025 to provide books for children with additional needs.

Most of the funding was used to provide books to Thomas Wolsey School, who were very appreciative of the difference it made to children with additional needs in the school. As a result of our contact with them, Let’s Talk Reading (LTR) can offer regular Storytime sessions in the school. We also supplied board books to 4 early years settings for children who needed specific books to meet their learning needs. 

LTR use current research to ensure their offerings are focused on enriching the areas that need it most. In the summer of 2025, the charity commissioned a report from the University of Suffolk An Evaluation of Screening by Let’s Talk Reading: A case for further roll-out

In summary this showed the impact of individual conditions, or combination of conditions on children’s reading and looked at how best to work with early years settings, schools and parents, to meet their needs. The conditions include:

• Dyslexia

• Irlen Syndrome

• Developmental Language Disorder, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, 

• Socio-Economic Disadvantage 

With the funding proposed by Suffolk Book League in 2026, LTR plan to work with these schools and Pupil Referral Units to find out about the needs of individual children and supply books which meet their needs.  

 

Got To Read. Supporting Adults in Ipswich

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https://gottoread.org.uk/index.html

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In 2026 Suffolk Book League chose Got To Read as their Charity of the Year and donated funds to purchase individual copies of Yes We Can Read for volunteers and students. This charity which was formed in 2011 shares our enthusiasm for reading and books. It is run entirely by volunteers and provides bespoke 1to1 support to adults who need help with their reading, writing and spelling. 

They have found that 1 in 6 people in England have a reading age below 11 years, 1 in 2 members of the prison population, and 12 of the 85 neighbourhoods in Ipswich are among the 10% most deprived in the county. People who are illiterate are frequently isolated and vulnerable, they struggle to get support for their health, wellbeing, access to jobs or benefits. In addition, they can struggle to support their children learning to read and hence a cycle of illiteracy forms. 

Got to Read trains volunteers on their reading system and provide advice for sessions, safeguarding and how to support their students.

 

Suffolk Librarian Forum’s Annual Book Mastermind Competition

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Since its inception in 1999 Suffolk Book League has sponsored this competition which plays an important part in helping to foster reading for pleasure amongst children aged 11-13. 

To take part in the event students from 10 schools in the local area, are required to win their school heats and have often compete against 20-30 other students from years 7-9. The competition works as a celebration of their hard work and recognises the accomplishment of getting into the finals, and for some to win.

The range of fiction titles chosen by students include classics such as Michelle Magorian’s Goodnight Mr Tom to sci-fi offerings such as Jennifer Bell’s Legendarium. During the finals, students are called up to the stage, one at a time, and asked 25 questions on their chosen book in two minutes; they generally display amazing knowledge and composure when questioned in front of their peers and supporters. The fiction round is followed by 10 general knowledge questions, representing the ‘non-fiction’ section of a school library. SBL are delighted to present book tokens to all finalists.

Elizabeth Vale, Library Coordinator writes Events like these rely on the support of organisations such as The Suffolk Book League to run and we’re extremely grateful for their involvement. They encourage a love of reading for pleasure and help students associate reading with enjoyment in school, distancing it from just a lesson time activity.  Our students are already preparing for next year’s competition as it’s such an enjoyable event and a wonderful celebration of children’s and teen literature.  

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The New Angle Prize

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The biannual £3,000 New Angle Prize is organised by the Ipswich Institute in partnership with the Suffolk Book League and the University of Suffolk. The 2025 prize was awarded to Ian Collins for Blythe Spirit, his biography of Ronald Blythe. Suffolk Book League was pleased to sponsor the prize for runner-up, Hilary Taylor for Sea Defences. 

 

The Student New Angle Prize (SNAP) 



In addition, SBL are involved with the Student New Angle Prize (SNAP) and the more recent Creative Suffolk Author Award, presented to Erica James in 2025. 

 

University of Suffolk Undergraduate Award for best Dissertation 

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SBL’s support of the English and creative writing courses at the University of Suffolk extends to the annual Dissertation in English Award. 

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In addition Suffolk Book League was delighted to be involved with three important and ambitious local literary festivals in 2026

 

The Ipswich Book Festival.

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Several SBL members volunteered during the festival. 

​James Phillips hosted Robert Holtom and Dymphna Crowe hosted Lori Inglis Hall.

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Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival

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SBL sponsored ‘Artists, Lovers and Outsiders’.

Gill Lowe chaired this event with Damian Barr and Andrew Durbin. 

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Poetry in Aldeburgh’s ‘Infinite Worlds’ festival 

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SBL are sponsors of the ‘Versus Versus: Disability, Identity & Resistance’ panel.  

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