Fall in love with reading again: Oldham residents urged to rediscover their libraries in 2026

Remember the hush of turning pages while rain tapped the windows and someone at the next table breathed the same quiet sigh over a plot twist? That feeling is waiting for you again. Councillor Peter Dean reckons 2026 is the year Oldham rekindles its affair with reading, and he's not talking about polite book-club nods.

Oldham's 12 libraries have never really gone away, they've simply been keeping the kettle warm. From the moth-bright lamps of Northmoor after its facelift to the duck-pond calm of Uppermill, each building still smells of paper and possibility. The Cultural Quarter branch alone welcomed 900,000 visitors last year and was nudged onto the British Book Awards shortlist, proof that word is already slipping out.

Joining costs nothing and takes less time than queuing for a coffee. If you can't cross the threshold in person, the digital shelves are open at 2 a.m. in your slippers: Borrowbox hands out eBooks, audiobooks, magazines and newspapers without a single shush.

The National Literacy Trust has declared 2026 the National Year of Reading, and Oldham is answering back with Adam Farrer talking broken biscuits and male failures tomorrow at 1 p.m., and tiny listeners gathering for Little Reads on 30 January at 10 a.m. No one is checking whether you've read Dickens or just the back of a cereal box. The only qualification is curiosity.