Anthony Horowitz: “It's pointless leaving school without basic literacy because literacy is everything. I've visited schools in Britain where reading is a foreign culture and you can tell immediately — they feel grey and empty. The fact that an initiative like this is necessary — after 10 years of a Government that promised to improve education — is in itself disturbing.”

Lionel Shriver: “Despite the accelerating profusion of technologies, we still communicate overwhelmingly by the written word. E-mail, blogs and texting all depend on being able to read. Illiterates, or even people whose reading comprehension is slow and limited, are cut off from their own culture.”

Joanna Trollope: “I am staunchly in favour of any campaign of this kind because, fundamentally, I think that as we are all stuck with living with ourselves all our lives, we might as well make the inside of our heads as interesting as we can, and that process isn't possible without being able to read with ease.”

Meg Rosoff: “A lot of people feel unwelcome in libraries and bookstores — they not only don't know what to take out or to buy, but feel somehow excluded. Giving kids at school more confidence when it comes to books and reading can help to break down barriers, so that reading becomes a pleasure available to all, not a privilege for those in the know.”

Robert Harris: “Reading is not just our culture, it's our democracy. Our political system is moving away from speeches, books, pamphlets to images, soundbites and fleeting impressions. If reading starts to slide, the way is paved to a really debased political culture. We've got to man the barricades constantly.”

Audrey Niffenegger: “Who could deny someone the pleasure of reading? I'm supporting this campaign because reading and writing are the primary interests of my life, and I want everyone to share them.”

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