With or without TV debates, most thoughts at present in the UK are turning to the choice we will make in the forthcoming general election. However, the stark fact is that very many people in the UK will not be a part of that process; not because they don't want to necessarily, but because they lack the most basic skills to do so. They can't read. They cannot make a choice. It is a truly terrible democratic deficit.



So on this World Book Day, if I have one modest wish, it is that, at least for a day, we ponder the real and spiritual poverty of a life lived without the ability to read, without the sheer joy of escaping into a good book. I can't put it half as eloquently as Julian Barnes who, explaining how books can help us steer through the tricky waters of life, said in Flaubert's Parrot: "Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't."

And in a fast-moving world where technology has brought ever more instantaneous decisions to all areas of our lives, we should probably be treasuring even more that which seeks to explain. One thing we can expect to hear a lot about from our politicians is technology and its enormous potential to change and improve our world. Might it also have the power to start to bridge the gap between haves and have-nots in the literacy stakes? Change is happening at a sometimes dizzying speed. In my own industry, no sooner does one new reading device come on to the market, than we are already looking to the next "big thing". In the last 18 months alone, we have seen the Sony e-reader, Amazon's Kindle and now of course we are eagerly awaiting Apple's iPad to glide into stores over here.

But arguably these gadgets will be serving an audience of existing readers. What interests me in particular is the ability to reach new readers through new devices or clever ways of getting content to existing devices. On Boxing Day 2008, Nintendo launched their 100 Classic Books collection for those who had just received a DS for Christmas. And they were overwhelmed by the take-up. It was one of their top-selling products of the season. Now – who would have thought that teenagers would be huddled together round their screens reading Oliver Twist? Not me for one. So there is huge potential if we provide the right content to get young audiences enthused about great stories.

No doubt those same younger audiences will devise many clever new ways to consume content, to read books, to view movies. But there is one thing that remains constant for me and connects us back to our forebears sitting around fires at the beginning of time – the fascination with storytelling, the desire to learn about ourselves and the world through the power of the imagination. The plethora of new ways to express those thoughts can only enrich this age-old culture.

It's true that World Book Day in the UK has always had a huge emphasis, rightly so, on children. We know that if they catch the bug young, children will become lifelong readers. But for those who have missed out on the opportunity, the Quick Reads series launched in 2006 has been a great success. Aimed at reaching out to the millions of adults in the UK with reading difficulties and the one-third of the British population that never picks up a book, they are written by bestselling authors for both emergent readers and for readers wanting a short, pacy read. And research shows that once they have acquired the habit of reading, they never lose it.

This year, we are hoping to square the perfect circle by providing something for all adult readers, encouraging people to give a book to a friend or to charity on World Book Day. This is a new twist on the familiar BOGOF offer, a Buy One Give One Free proposition, and we very much hope that giving books will become a ritual on this day every year. In participating bookshops, readers will be able to buy any paperback under £10 and get a second one free to give to charity or as a gift.

So if I had just the smallest opportunity to bend the ears of our political leaders, my plea on this World Book Day is that we really make sure that not only do children master literacy but also that we fire their imaginations so they can love and treasure the great power of stories.