A remarkable 153,862 people from 92 countries and territories joined our Take 10 to Read event in October 2026, setting a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the most people reading online in 12 hours.
Our event in partnership with British Council as part of the National Year of Reading invited people around the world to join online sessions and spend 10 minutes reading something they enjoy.
National Year of Reading ambassadors, including Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Nathanael Lessore, David Larbi, Nadia Shireen, Ben Mercer, Alice Loxton and T.J. Power, supported and participated in the global reading event.
More than 3,000 schools, libraries, workplaces and community groups got involved worldwide.
Reading connects us
The record-setting event showed how reading can connect people across cultures, languages and borders.
"Thank you for this wonderful opportunity! For our 26 students, being part of such a global event was truly special. Despite the challenges our country is facing, our students were excited to connect with children around the world through reading.”
Teacher from Ukraine
"Amazing family event. It helped to reinforce the importance of reading not only for academic work, but for our social, emotional and mental health."
Participating family
Marking the achievement
On Wednesday 4 November, we were joined by Will Munford, Official Adjudicator at Guinness World Records at Malmesbury Primary School in South London, who announced the new record to pupils who had taken part in the record-setting event.
Author Rashmi Sirdeshpande, who delivered one of the event sessions, was also there to celebrate the achievement. She read to the children and answered their questions.
“What's so brilliant about this achievement is that it shows the incredible power of people coming together. From classrooms and libraries to homes across the world, 153,862 people in 92 countries each played their part in making history. At Guinness World Records, we want everyone to feel they can be part of record-breaking, and this is a brilliant example of exactly that. You don't have to do something extraordinary on your own to achieve something extraordinary together. A huge congratulations to everyone involved. Every single reader helped make this record possible, and that's something really special.”
Will Munford, Official Adjudicator at Guinness World Records
Supporting wellbeing through reading
The achievement comes as our new research highlights the positive relationship between reading and reported wellbeing among children and young people.
84.9% of children and young people aged 8-18 across the UK who read daily report high levels of wellbeing, compared with 71.1% of those who rarely or never read.
Our Take 10 to Read campaign promotes the wellbeing benefits of reading and encourages people of all ages to read for 10 minutes on and around 10 October for World Mental Health Day.