Keep The Heid And Read This Wednesday 11th May

9th May 2022

Readers young and old are being challenged to spend six minutes reading on Wednesday 11May 2022.

It is part of Keep the Heid and Read campaign, a Scotland-wide reading initiative led by The Scottish Library and Information Council. The campaign aims to inspire and encourage people to read every day to boost their mental health and wellbeing.

High Life Highland (HLH) libraries will be holding a photo competition which can be you reading or your tome of choice, whether a book, magazine, graphic novel, or blog.

There will be an overall winner and a second and third prize, consisting of £50, £30, and £20 book tokens, provided by the Scottish Library and Information Council.

Principal Libraries manager for High Life Highland Julie Corcoran said: "We know just how treasured our libraries are and we want to encourage even more people to take up reading for pleasure.

"The initiative takes place during Mental Health Week and research has found that reading a book for six minutes a day can boost your mental health by 68%.

"Getting lost in a good book is an excellent stress reliever and people have told us how much they missed their libraries during the pandemic.

"We'd love to see everyone getting involved on May 11 by pledging to read for six minutes and come and reconnect with their local libraries where we have an abundance of free reading choices."

The judging criteria topics are calm, whacky, cool, funny, and happy. Pictures should be taken on May 11 and emailed to your local library by 5pm on May 18.

High Life Highlands runs 40 libraries and eight mobile libraries and are free to join, giving people access to not just physical books, magazines, newspapers and computers, but thousands of titles through its online service too.

To find your local library, visit www.highlifehighland.com/libraries or search Facebook which includes terms and conditions.

People are encouraged to pledge to read on the Keep the Heid and
www.keeptheheid