“Go All In” with Calibre Audio

We're excited to announce our support for the National Year of Reading in 2026 by showcasing a series of events and activities which will help bring Calibre’s services to a wider audience, with accessibility at the heart of the campaign. 

National Year of Reading is a Department of Education initiative designed to reignite a culture of reading for pleasure across the UK. The aim is to make reading relevant and engage new audiences with an emphasis on reaching early years children, boys (8-18yrs) and families from disadvantaged communities and adults. 

At Calibre, we believe passionately that audio is the perfect platform to (re)connect with reading and is the chosen format to make books accessible to those that need it. Audio makes stories come alive, firing imagination and creativity and we are in a position to ensure that we put inclusivity and accessibility at the heart of our National Year of Reading aims. 

We're busy planning our programme of events, which we'll be sharing in the New Year. For now, here's a sneak preview of what you can expect in 2026: 

We begin our National Year of Reading events with our one-day CPD conference for education professionals on Monday 19^th January 2026. “Inspiring a love of reading in children and young adults with SEND” features a programme of key note speakers, workshops and a panel event who will make a call to action to every delegate, to set a goal so no child is left behind in National Year of Reading. For more information and to book your place follow this link: Inspiring a love of reading in children and young adults with SEND Tickets, Mon 19 Jan 2026 at 09:00 | Eventbrite 

Calibre Conversations, our online audiobook festival, is back and bigger than ever with children’s and adult author interviews each month. It will launch at the end of January with Ruth Foster, winner of the self-published category at the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2025 for her first fiction novel “A Perfect Year?” and award-winning children’s author Sally Gardner who talks about her passion for audio which have been integral to her accessing and enjoying stories with her dyslexia. 

Inclusive Voices, our short story competition, will be running from June to September welcoming entries from all and with a new panel of judges to. Watch this space for the new theme and exciting partnership announcements. Audiobook Reading Challenge will launch in October asking our members to read a set amount of books and review them with prizes.

Keep checking the website for more information and to keep updated with new activities added through the year.  

Come along on the reading journey and “Go All In” with us because you never know where reading can take you!